Non-linguistic Representation
Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student AchievementCompiled from:
Classroom Instruction That Works!By: Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering & Jane E. Pollock
Curriculum & Staff Development Center
Training Outcomes
Non-Linguistic Representations
Definition Examples Classroom applications
Participant K-W-L
What do I already Know about
Non-Linguistic Representation?
What I Want to Know?
What I Learned.
Categories of Instructional Strategies That Affect Student Achievement
Category Ave. Effect Size (ES)
Percentile Gain
No. of ESs
Identifying Similarities and Differences 1.61 45 31
Summarizing & Note Taking 1.0 34 179
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition .80 29 21
Homework & Practice .77 28 134
Nonlinguistic representations .75 27 246Cooperative Learning .73 27 122
Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback .61 23 408
Generating & Testing Hypotheses .61 23 63
Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers .59 22 1,251
What do we know about how knowledge is stored?
Dual Coding Theory (Paivio, 1969, 1971, 1990)
Linguistic (language form) Non-linguistic (imagery form)
talk to students about new content have them read about new content students left on their own to generate mental imagery of new content
enhances students’ ability to represent and elaborate on knowledge using mental pictures or physical sensations (i.e., smell, taste, touch, movement, or sound).
What is Non-Linguistic Representation?
~ Generating mental pictures or physical models of information and creating graphic representations for the information.
What does research tell us about non-linguistic representations?
Explicitly engaging students in the creation of nonlinguistic representations stimulates and increases activity in the brain. (Gerlic & Jausovec, 1999)
Four Planning Questions for Instruction
What knowledge will students learn?
Which strategies will provide evidence that students have
learned that knowledge?
Which strategies will help students practice, review, and
apply that knowledge?
Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate
that knowledge?
Four Planning Questions for Instruction
What knowledge will students learn?
Which strategies will provide evidence that students have
learned that knowledge?
Which strategies will help students practice, review, and
apply that knowledge?
Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate
that knowledge?
Non-Linguistic Representations
Two Generalizations from the Research on Non-Linguistic Representation
1. A variety of activities produce nonlinguistic representations.
2. Nonlinguistic representations should elaborate on knowledge.
“Elaborate On”
Simply means “add to” knowledge.
Results in students not only understanding the knowledge in greater depth, but students also recalling it more easily.
Asking students to explain and justify their elaborations enhances learning.
Recommendations for Classroom Practice:Nonlinguistic Representations
Use graphic organizers to represent knowledge. Have students generate physical models of the
knowledge. Have students generate mental pictures of the
knowledge they are learning. Use pictures or pictographs to represent
knowledge. Have students engage in kinesthetic activities
representing the knowledge.
What does this strategy look like in the classroom?
Recommendation # 1:Use graphic organizers to represent knowledge.
The Six Types Purpose
1. Descriptive Vocabulary terms or facts.
2. Time Sequence Organize events in chronological order.
3. Process/cause-effect Organize information into a casual network leading to specific outcome or into a sequence of steps leading to a specific product.
Graphic Organizers, cont.
The Six Types Purpose
4. Episode Organize a large quantity of information about specific events.
5. Generalization/Principle Organize information into general statements with supporting examples.
6. Concept Organize information about a work or phrase that represents entire classes or categories.
Descriptive Patterns Organizer
Sample:
TOPIC
Fact
Fact
Fact
Fact
Fact Fact
Example of Descriptor Patterns Organizer Hurricanes
Hurricanes
Eyewall
Spin counterclockwise
In NorthernHemisphere
Seasonal Move heat from equatorial region
to higher latitudes
Spin clockwise
In Southern Hemisphere
Categorized by wind speed
Time Sequence Pattern Organizer Example
Sample: E
VE
NT
EV
EN
T
EV
EN
T
EV
EN
T
EV
EN
T
NASA’s Space ShuttleOfficial name - Space Transportation System (STS)
Space Shuttle Program
19
60
’s v
isio
n o
f a re
us
ab
le
sp
ac
e c
raft to
se
rvic
e
Inte
rna
tion
al S
pa
ce
S
tatio
n
Ja
nu
ary
2, 1
97
2, P
res
ide
nt
Ric
ha
rd M
. Nix
on
a
nn
ou
nc
ed
NA
SA
w
ou
ld p
roc
ee
d w
ith
de
ve
lop
me
nt o
f re
us
ab
le lo
w c
os
t sp
ac
e
sh
uttle
sy
ste
m.
Firs
t fully
fun
ctio
na
l o
rbite
r, Co
lum
bia
la
un
ch
ed
on
Ap
ril 1
2, 1
98
1.
Ch
alle
ng
er w
as
los
t du
ring
la
un
ch
on
Ja
n. 2
8,
19
86
. Th
e S
hu
ttle
pro
gra
m w
as
g
rou
nd
ed
un
til.
NA
SA
retu
rne
d to
fligh
t on
J
uly
26
, 20
05
with
s
uc
ce
ss
ful la
un
ch
an
d re
-e
ntry
of D
isc
ov
ery
. S
hu
ttle D
isc
ov
ery
wa
s
als
o th
e firs
t orb
iter to
fly
afte
r the
Ch
alle
ng
er
ac
cid
en
t.C
olu
mb
ia w
as
los
t du
ring
re
-en
try, F
eb
. 1, 2
00
3
on
ce
ag
ain
gro
un
din
g
the
sh
uttle
pro
gra
m
Process/Cause-Effect Patterns Example
Sample:
EFFECT
Process/Cause-Effect ExampleWorld Events Leading to the Vietnam War
Vietnam split into North (Communist) and South (Non-Communist)
U.S. Destroyer Maddox attacked in Gulf of Tonkin
U.S Support of South Vietnam
US Troops moved into
fight Vietnam Conflict
Gulf of Tonkin ResolutionCivil War in
Vietnam
Episode Pattern Organizer Example
Sample:
Person
EPISODE
DurationPlace
Time
Cause Effect
Person Person
Discovery of New World
Example using Discovery of New World
Christopher ColumbusQueen Isabella
Of Spain
Discovery of New World
Aug. 3, 1492 – Oct. 12, 1492
Atlantic Ocean
Aug. 1492
Seek a shorter, Western Route to
India
Colonization of the New World
King Ferdinand of Spain
Nin
a
Pin
ta
Sa
nta
Ma
ria
Generalization/Principle Patterns Example
Sample:
Example
Example
Example
Generalization/Principle
Generalization/Principle Patterns Mammals
Have hair
Warm-Blooded
Nourish young with milk
Characteristics of Mammals
Concept Patterns Example
ConceptExample
Example
Example
Characteristic
Example Example
Example
Characteristic
Example
Characteristic
Concept Patterns Example Using Hurricanes
HurricanesCategory One – Winds 74-95 mph
Weather Terms
Hurricane WatchHurricane Force Winds
expected within 36 hours
Hurricane WarningHurricane Force Winds
expected within 24 hours
Seasonal
June 1 – Nov. 30Wind Speed Classification
Category Two –
Winds 96-110 mph
Category Three–
111-130 Winds mph
Category Four–
131-155 Winds mph
Category Five –
greater than 155 Winds mph
Physical Models
~ Concrete representations of the knowledge learned
~ Think “Manipulatives”
~ Be sure the activity will extend students’ understanding of the knowledge
Recommendation # 2:
Make Physical models to represent knowledge
Example of Physical Model
To extend student learning of the concepts of proportion and the relationships between two- and three-dimensional shapes, a teacher asked the students to build a three-dimensional model to scale. The assignment:
Students were to choose any common object, identify a scale to use, draw a two-dimensional sketch, build the model and write two paragraphs explaining the proportional model and the process used.
A student chose to build a model of her cylindrical lip balm container and chose a scale of 4:1 for the model to the original. Some steps were easier than others in the process, but figuring out the circumference of the cylinder was a little harder. Working with construction paper, she was able to make the connection between the length of the rectangle she was rolling to create a cylinder and the circumference of the cylinder. This concrete representation solidified the connection between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.
Mental Pictures
~ Help students to create mental pictures by facilitating their thinking about the sounds, smells, tastes, and visual details associated with the knowledge.
~ The most direct way to generate nonlinguistic representations.
Recommendation # 3:
Have students generate mental pictures to represent knowledge they are learning.
Example of Mental Pictures
Help students create mental pictures by focusing them on the sounds, smells, tastes, and visual details associated with knowledge.
If you are teaching a unit on tides, have them “feel” the breeze on the beach, feel the sand in their toes, the sun on their faces, smell the water and the seashells, hear the birds and the waves hitting the shore.
Pictures or Pictographs
~ Pictograph is a drawing that uses symbols or symbolic pictures to represent information.
Recommendation # 4:
Draw pictures or pictographs to represent knowledge.
Pictographs ExampleWhat is your favorite cookie?
Chocolate Chip
Gingerbread Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Engage in Kinesthetic Activities
~ Physical movement activities that represent knowledge
~ how an electric circuit works, the way the planets move around the sun, the exchange of the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, adding and subtracting
Recommendation # 5:
Engage in kinesthetic activities that represent knowledge.
Kinesthetic activities
Modeling /Group activity:
Example of kinesthetic activities….
Stand up and imagine that you are 4th graders studying geometry topics. Use your arms to demonstrate the following: Radius of a circle Diameter of a circle Circumference of a circle Acute angle Obtuse angle Right angle
Three Key Points
1. We store what we know in a language form (linguistic) and an imagery form (nonlinguistic). The imagery mode is expressed as mental pictures or physical sensations.
Key Points, cont.
2. Teachers can take a variety of approaches to help students generate nonlinguistic representations of knowledge. These approaches have a strong positive effect on student achievement.
Key Points, cont.
3. Constructing nonlinguistic representations of knowledge helps students elaborate on their knowledge.
Reflection on Learning
1. What have you learned about nonlinguistic representation?
2. What questions do you have about nonlinguistic representations?
3. What changes might you make in your practice related to nonlinguistic representation?
4. What support might you need to make these changes?