FACILITATION OF LEARNING AND RETENTION OF ORAL INSTRUCTION USING ADVANCE AND POST ORGANIZERS

Gave 270 5th-, 6th-, and 7th-grade students oral instruction in social studies (multicultural content). In conjunction with the oral instruction, students were also randomly assigned to 1 of 5 organizer treatment conditions, including a control condition in which no organizer was presented. Treatment conditions consisted of either an advance or a post organizer presented visually or orally; the control condition involved no organizer, but augmented exposure to the oral instruction. Ss in each of these treatment conditions were tested on the oral instruction to measure learning; 2 wks later, Ss were again tested for retention. It is concluded that nonwritten cognitive organizers facilitated both the learning and the retention of oral instruction. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.