EFFECTS OF UTILIZING VERBAL AND GRAPHIC ADVANCE ORGANIZERS ON LEARNING AND RETENTION OF AN AERONAUTICAL CONCEPT

This study sought to determine the effects of two types of advance organizers on the learning and retention of an aeronautical concept, and the interaction of both advance organizers across the learner variable of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). The 126 subjects selected for testing consisted of students enrolled in the Aircraft Turbine Engine Theory course at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. Students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups within four intact class sections. The treatment instrument was two different modes of "The Bernoulli Principle of Energy Conservation in a Moving Fluid." The experimental treatment was administered at the beginning of the sixth week of a 14 week course. The first group read a verbal advance organizer; the second examined a graphic organizer; and the third received a placebo. Following the treatments, the subjects began a six hour block of instruction, Aircraft Turbine Compressor Theory, which extended over two weeks. Following the instruction, a learning test was administered to each intact class section. Seven weeks later, a delayed retention test was administered. A statistical analysis of the results indicated that: (1) the advance organizer in verbal or graphic form was an effective approach to learning and retention of an aeronautical concept; (2) the verbal advance organizer tended to be more effective than the graphic in both learning and retention; and (3) the graphic advance organizer was most effective in the retention of material by those students who had exhibited a lower standand of over-all performance (CGPA) in the past.