The effectiveness of graphic organizers for three classifications of secondary students in content area classes

Previous research concerning the graphic or visual display of information with academically handicapped students has not addressed the instructional conditions that exist in mainstream settings. This article investigates the effectiveness of graphic organizers for three classifications of secondary students enrolled in content area classes: students with learning disabilities, remedial students, and students in regular education. The results of three separate experiments indicated that graphic organizers, whether teacher-directed, student-directed with text references, or student-directed with clues, produced significantly higher performance than self-study for each group of students. Several practical issues involving the use of graphic organizers with heterogeneous groups of secondary students are discussed.