Surviving Accelerated Courses: How Foldable® Graphic Organizers

Can Help Engage LearnersDr. Melanie Narkawicz

Dr. DiAnn B. CasteelTusculum College

Let’s make a Foldable®!

Provide results of research to support the use of graphic organizers in teaching college students

Provide participants with hands-on experience in constructing different types of graphic organizers

Presentation Goals

Let’s make a Foldable®!

Hands-on manipulatives that helps students construct meaning from assigned readings or lectures (Hoffman, 2003)

Foldables® - Quick and inexpensive graphic organizers that require just colored paper and scissors

Developed for medical school students, but used in kindergarten and beyond

What are Graphic Organizers?

Professors desire teaching strategies that engage students in active learning

Accelerated courses present unique challenge to cover a semester’s amount of info in only a few class meetings

This study examined effectiveness of Foldable® graphic organizers in improving students’ retention of course content in an accelerated course

Reasons for Study

Research has found that students’ retention of information begins declining after about 15 minutes of lecture (Lake, 2001)

Constructing Foldables® shortens longer lectures to 10-15 minute segments

Foldables® provide students with a study tool

Question: Will those taught basic research methods in an accelerated course using lecture interspersed with Foldables® perform better on quizzes than those taught with lecture only?

Study Introduction

Population (N=67): Adult students, age 22+ (91% White; 71% female; median age=33; in Organizational Management BS program taking required basic research methods accelerated course of three 4-hour sessions)

Retrospective study of students taught by one instructor (Dr. Narkawicz) for one year (after seeing greater understanding of key concepts in the courses when students had constructed Foldables®)

Control Group (n=33): First half of the year taught with PowerPoint based lecture (notes provided)

Treatment Group (n=34): Second half of the year taught with PowerPoint based lecture (notes provided) PLUS Foldables®

Quasi-Experimental Methods

Night 1: Foldables® made for three topics (experimental v. non-experimental designs; ethics in research; and elements in research reports)

Night 2: Foldables® made for two topics (sampling

designs and validity v. reliability)

Topics had been selected because students seemed to have the most difficulty understanding these particular concepts

PowerPoint lecture presented these topics, then students created a Foldable ® as described on the PowerPoint slide

Quasi-Experimental Treatment

Let’s make a Foldable®!

4-Tab Hot Dog Foldable®

Example

Let’s make a Foldable®!

How Foldable® Graphic Organizers Can Help Engage

Learners

AnalysisResults

DiscussionLimitationsConclusions

Examined percentage right versus wrong on three quiz questions that directly related to the topics on which Foldables® had been made (discuss 4 elements in research reports; explain difference between validity and reliability; explain ethical obligations of researchers toward subjects, including informed consent)

Quizzes had been graded several months before study and at the time of grading, if any information was incorrect (even partially), the question was counted as wrong

Analysis

Treatment group did 51% better, a significant difference (χ2=9.539; p=.002; df =1; Φ= .22)

Treatment Group (n=98) got 65% correct

Control Group (n=95) got 43% correct

Results

Evidence using Foldables® in accelerated class was an effective tool for enhancing students’ retention

Foldables® allowed a break so that the 1.5 hour lecture actually became a series of mini-lectures of about 15-20 minutes each

Foldables® address visual and kinesthetic learning styles in addition to auditory learning style of lectures

A simple pause of a few minutes to construct a Foldable® allowed students to refocus their attention for several minutes before moving back to the lecture (students visibly perked up…asking more questions, paying more attention, not yawning, becoming more focused on the lecture following construction of a Foldable®);

Discussion

Intact groups and not randomly assigned, so there may have been unidentified differences between the groups that were related to the use of the Foldables®

Older adult students studying in a business discipline, many of whom worked during the day and attended classes at night (may not well represent traditional aged students)

Limitations

Question: Will those taught basic research methods in an accelerated course using lecture interspersed with Foldables® perform better on quizzes than those taught with lecture only? Yes!

Previous research indicated the effectiveness of graphic organizers in multiple ages and disciplines (DeMeo, 2007; Hall & Strangman, 2002; Katayama & Robinson, 2000; Schau & Mattern 1997)

Previous research indicated graphic organizers were helpful for students from primary school to medical school (Casteel & Narkawicz, 2009; DeMeo, 2007; Hall & Strangman, 2002, MacKinnon & Keppell, 2005; Katayama & Robinson, 2000; Schau & Mattern 1997)

Other faculty members at Tusculum reported successfully using Foldables® among traditional-aged students and adult students and in diverse disciplines ranging from education, psychology, and statistics, to English. Faculty members indicated both graduate and undergraduate students have successfully used Foldables®

Conclusions

Any questions about the research study?

(Future research might focus on the role of color of paper in effectiveness since students indicate

they can visualize different colored Foldables®)

We hope you will find Foldables® useful!