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What Is It?
Brainstorming is a thinking strategy that involves students in free association of concepts.
Brainstorming is a way to value prior knowledge and prior experience by inviting students to associate
concepts with a selected topic.
How Is It Used?
The teacher poses a problem or a topic for discussion and solicits ideas from students. Teachers can capitalize on the
varied backgrounds of their students by engaging them in associational thinking and responding. There are four
requirements that should be taught to students for a profitable brainstorming session. These requirements are sometimes
referred to as the DOVE guidelines to brainstorming.
D DEFER JUDGMENT! All ideas are accepted. Any
remarks, both positive and negative, should not be
made about other’s ideas.
Page 1 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
The compare and contrast process is a helpful technique for clarifying and understanding concepts.
Concepts may include objects, organisms, people, places, institutions, or ideas. The comparison
step (how alike?) allows learners to relate a new concept to existing knowledge. The more similarities
the learner can identify, the more clearly the new concept will be understood and remembered. The
contrast step (how different?) allows learners to distinguish the new concept from similar concepts.
This promotes clear understanding and memory by eliminating confusion with related knowledge.
from Book II Organizing Thinking, Graphic Organizers, Howard and Sandra Black, ©1990.
Reproduced by permission of Critical Thinking Books & Software, P. O. Box 448, Pacific
Grove, CA 93950, 800-458-4849. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
VENN DIAGRAM
The Venn Diagram is another graphic organizer strategy, derived from mathematics, that is used to
create a visual analysis of information representing the similarities and differences among, for example,
concepts, events, styles of performance, interpretations of existing works, and individual creative
efforts.
To use the Venn Diagram, students draw two overlapping circles. Students list unique characteristics of
two concepts, artifacts, or performances (one in the outside part of the left circle and on in the outside
part of the right circle). In the middle section, students list shared characteristics.
More than two circles can be used for a more complex process.
Benefits of using the Venn Diagram or the Compare and Contrast Diagram:
• helps students organize knowledge and ideas
• helps students develop a plan for writing
• develops the ability to draw conclusions and synthesize
• stimulates higher cognitive thinking skills
ESOL Strategy
In the Broward County Multicultural/Foreign Language/ESOL
Department’s ESOL Instructional Matrix, Venn Diagram is listed as
B8 in the “Visuals: Graphic Organizers” section. The Venn Diagram is
used to create a visual analysis of information that represents similarities
and differences among concepts, peoples, and things. As students
complete the Venn Diagram and discuss the content, both language
and content are being reinforced.
Page 3 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
CONSEQUENCE DIAGRAMS
and DECISION TREES
What Are They?
Consequence Diagrams and Decision Trees are graphic organizer strategies in which students use
diagrams or decision trees to illustrate real or possible outcomes of different actions. These graphic
organizers enable students to structure the decision-making process.
Problem
Page 4 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
DIVERGENT—CONVERGENT TREE
What Is It?
The Divergent—Convergent Tree is a graphic organizer that students use to create new ideas by
forcing familiar words, ideas or things together in different ways. This organizer helps students see
common things in new ways.
After the tree is complete, ask students to complete the following statements:
Association 1:
Word #1 is like Word #5 because both
.
Association 2:
Word #1 is like Word #5 because both
.
Association 3:
Word #1 is like Word #5 because both
.
Ask students to share their thoughts on this process. Ask students, “Were new thoughts or ideas generated as a
result of forcing your minds down different paths?” “How could this process be used to generate new ideas?”
See Right Angle for information about another graphic organizer that helps students connect ideas and apply the
ideas to their personal lives.
Page 5 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
FLOW CHART
What Is It?
A flowchart is a graphic organizer strategy used to depict a sequence of events, actions, roles, or
decisions. Flow charts help students sequence a series of actions or tasks chronologically.
ESOL Strategy
In the Broward County Multicultural/Foreign Language/ESOL Department’s ESOL Instructional Matrix, Flow
Charts are listed as B1 in the “Visuals: Graphic Organizers” section. This graphic organizer strategy assists
students in representing position, role and order relationships among group elements. Students draw a
representation of a sequential flow of events, actions, character roles, and/or decisions. Based on the
situation, the graphic frame for the flowchart can be student and/or teacher generated.
Page 6 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
RANKING
What Is It?
Ranking is a specialized form of sequencing. Ranking involves sequencing items or actions by
quantity and/or by quality. Ranking may be relative to a specific property or it can be based on
combining multiple criteria. Prioritizing is a form of ranking in which the highest ranked item is the
most important.
ESOL Strategy
In the Broward County Multicultural/Foreign Language/ESOL Department’s ESOL Instructional Matrix,
Charts is listed as B3 in the “Visuals: Graphic Organizers” section. The use of charts or other visual aids
allow teachers to demonstrate relationships between words and concepts. Teachers should use visual
displays in lessons and assignments to support the oral or written message. The provision of additional
contextual information in the form of a visual should make the comprehension task easier.
Page 7 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000
RIGHT ANGLE
What Is It?
The Right Angle is a graphic organizer designed to help students explore the implications of ideas
and apply those ideas to their personal lives.
If students are researching different vocations, a Right Angle organizer could be used to record the results of
their research. In Section 1, students write the name of the profession. In Section 2, students write the key
points of the profession: job responsibilities, education or training required, job outlook, salary, etc. In Section
3, students select one of the key topics from Section 2 and expand on it, providing additional information and
supporting details. Finally, in Section 4, students connect the topic to their individual life and describe how it
relates to them personally.
For information about a graphic organizer that involves divergent and convergent thinking, see Divergent—
Convergent Tree. By using this graphic organizer, students force their thoughts down unusual paths and make
connections between ideas that at first seem unrelated.
Page 8 Created by the Department of Program Development and Alignment, The School Board of Broward County, Florida, 2000