May 17 2010
Learning Hacks Re-visited
In my presentation to folks here in Goochland last school year on the 7 Learning Hacks, I implored teachers to use pictures and videos to introduce concepts, treating them as media as part of an anticipatory set or as an advance organizer.
Dr. Robert Marzano has recently published some findings about non-linguistic representations, and these can include drawings students make themselves.
Nonlinguistic strategies require students to generate a representation of new information that does not rely on language. In the hundreds of action research projects that we have conducted with teachers throughout the years, this approach is one of the most commonly studied. Specifically, across 129 studies in which teachers used nonlinguistic strategies—such as graphic organizers, sketches, and pictographs—with one class but not with another class studying the same content, the average effect was a 17 percentile point gain in student achievement (Haystead & Marzano, 2009).
- NLR come in many forms.
- NLR must identify crucial information.
- Students should explain their own NLR.
- NLR can take a lot of time.
- Students should revise their NLR when necessary.
