Graphic organizers, also referred to as semantic maps, webs, thinking maps, structured overviews, etc., are a powerful learning strategy that can be used to:

• represent students’ background knowledge about a topic,
• provide a framework for the topic concepts to be learned,
• deepen analysis of the topic, and/or
• organize newly acquired information about the topic

In The Power of Retelling: Developmental Steps for Building Comprehension, Carrice Cummins and Vicki Benson emphasized how students learn to use graphic organizers as a way to prioritize and organize their thinking. This process then facilitates the activation of existing schema and helps students chart new knowledge. As a result, students are engaged in a continuous process of establishing cognitive categories, or schema, as they work with the graphic organizers.

In this age of accessible digital resources, there are a variety of easy graphic organizer applications to support our students’ thinking.  Students can use these tools to create graphic organizers to facilitate brainstorming ideas, create outlines, illustrate topics or concepts, and plan presentations. Many applications are either cloud-based or available for download to your iPad, iPhone, or Android, making the apps readily accessible to students.

Inspiration is probably the most widely known program in terms of graphic organizers used in educational settings. Inspiration has also shown that it can grow with the digital age and the basic version can be downloaded as a free application available for the iPad. Features include adaptable templates or templates built from scratch as well as a variety of fonts, colors, styles, shapes, and graphics.  One especially neat feature is that students can add audio to different elements of the graphic organizer they create.  The graphic organizer can be shared through iCloud or emailed. 

Popplet is a cloud-based application designed to make textual and visual experiences available to users. Students can draw or add pictures to illustrate, and they can include lines to show relationships between each element. Once students are done creating, they can save the Popplet to their account, or they can export as jpeg or PDF. Students can either use Popplet through the cloud or download to their iPhone or iPad. 

Idea Sketch enables students to create a graphic organizer with the additional capability of switching back and forth from visual view for your more spatial learners to outline view for your more linear learners. Students can insert pictures, change text size, add connecting lines, and use the color feature to show relationships between key thoughts or ideas.

A fourth tool, iBrainstorm, facilitates students’ ability to capture and share information.  As sticky notes are added, then each note can be dragged to change the hierarchy or order, colors can be assigned to indicate relationships, and the freeform drawing tool can be used to add lines or arrows indicating relationships. This application can also be shared between devices.

Graphic organizers are a time tested learning strategy that can be used by students to arrange information about a topic, identify patterns and relationships, and apply labels to signal those relationships.  In their book, Cummins and Benson emphasized that the power of the graphic organizer is not as much in the product as in the process of learning to organize information. This type of technology application enhances processes for digital learners as they become more adept in creating new understandings, mapping out their learning, demonstrating their understandings, and developing their cognitive organizing skills.

Kimberly Kimbell-Lopez is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University. She has been an educator for over 25 years, and her areas of expertise include literacy and technology. She can be contacted via email. 

Carrice Cummins is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University. She has 40 years’ experience as an educator with primary areas of interest in comprehension, content area literacy, and teacher development and is a past President of the International Literacy Association. She can be contacted via email.

Elizabeth Manning is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University. A veteran K-8 teacher of over 25 years, her interests include content area literacy, writing workshops, and curriculum design and development. Manning can be contacted via email.