Advance organizers are instructional strategies used to introduce new material and help students connect it to their existing knowledge. Developed by educational psychologist David Ausubel, these tools are designed to bridge the gap between what learners already know and what they need to learn.
Types of advance organizers include:
- Expository organizers: Provide new knowledge students will need
- Comparative organizers: Highlight similarities and differences with known concepts
- Skimming: Quickly reviewing main ideas before in-depth study
- KWL charts: What I Know, What I Want to know, What I Learned
By providing a cognitive structure for new information, advance organizers can enhance comprehension, retention, and transfer of knowledge across different contexts.
