The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that the learning and retention of unfamiliar but verbal material can be facilitated by the advance introduction of relevant subsuming concepts (organizers). This hypothesis is based on the assumption that cognitive structure is hierarchically organized in terms of highly inclusive concepts under which are subsumed less inclusive subconcepts and informational data (Ausubel, Robbins, & Blake, 1957). If this organizational principle of progressive differentiation of an internalized sphere of knowledge does in fact prevail, it is reasonable to suppose that new material becomes incorporated into cognitive structure in so far as it is subsumable under relevant existing concepts. It follows, therefore, that the availability in cognitive structure of appropriate and stable subsumers should enhance the incorporability of such material. If it is also true that meaningful forgetting reflects a process of memorial reduction, in which the identity of new learning material is assimilated by the more inclusive meaning of its subsumers (Ausubel et al, 1957), the same availability should also enhance retention by decelerating the rate of obliterative subsumption. In the present study, appropriate and relevant subsuming concepts (organizers) are deliberately introduced prior to the learning of unfamiliar academic material, in order to ascertain whether learning and retention are enhanced thereby in accordance with the theoretical premises advanced above. METHOD