Learning how to thinking isn’t as complicated as some people have believed. After learned, thinking skills can be readily applied to lessons to enhance students’  learning. While our knowledge about subjects can change and fade, or become obsolete, our abilities to think effectively remains constant. Effective thinking strategies help students to acquire the necessary knowledge and apply it appropriately.

Graphic organizers can be used to enhance students’ thinking skills by encouraging brainstorming and generating new ideas or connecting parts to the whole, drawing sequence…..It has been scientifically proven to be an effective way for teaching and learning. Using them can be useful for both teachers and students as they’ll make lessons more engaging as well as easily comprehensible.

We’ll list below 10 types of graphic organizers you can use during various scenarios, whatever you’re reading, writing, doing research,or studying for exams.

What is Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are a powerful, visual learning tool that teachers like to using to help students organize their ideas. They can also be used to clarify or simplify the complex concepts, and help with matter solving or decision making, be used to plan research or brainstorm ideas. Moreover, Graphic organizers help

present information in concise ways that highlight the

organizations and relationships of concepts.

Types of Graphic Organizers and its Usages

1.    Venn Diagram

Image source ：EdrawMax

A graphic organizer is useful for helping to visually represent a comparison of similarities and differences between two subjects, is the Venn diagram.

The similarities in Venn diagrams are placed in the union between two or more circles, while the dissimilarities are placed where the previous circles do not meet.

Venn diagrams can many circles overlapping in different areas, showing comparisons and differences between many different things.

Another great use for Venn diagrams is to show how one topic can include lots of different things to define it and how some of this can even be compared to each other, like in the example below.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Writing down the topics being compared on the top of each circle.

Step 2: Writing down the differences or unique characteristics inside it is own sector avoiding the overlapping area.

Step 3: Listing the similarities in the common area.

2.    Timeline Infographic

Image source ：EdrawMax

Timeline infographic is a type of graphic organizer that shows a sequence of events in chronological order.

They come in useful when studying history, because you can use them to display major historical events that occurred during a period of time along with important details, such as dates and locations, which they took place.

In addition, Timeline infographic can also be used to show the progress of something or changes.

The mainline representing can be visualized horizontally or vertically, or even as a free-hand structure. Timeline charts can often look like a chained series of activities.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Identifying the different events, and the sequence of order in, which they took place.

Step 2: Using a timeline template to arrange them chronologically.

Step 3: Include significant details, such as dates, locations or other additional information as needed.

3.    Storyboard Graphic Organizer

Image source ：EdrawMax

A Storyboard graphic organizer can be used to identifying the different elements, such as characters, themes, techniques…… It is a useful tool that teachers can integrate into the lessons to improve students’s comprehension.

 A common use for a storyboard is the creation of imagine and movies. A storyboard visually likes a simple comic strip. The purpose of storyboards are to visualize a story with images.

 Some steps to use it

Step 1: Reading the book and understand it well.

Step 2: Discussing the different significant elements that were involved in the story. This could be the characters, setting, matter and solution…. You can fill the story maps during the discussion.

Step 3: After the map is complete, you can discuss each element individually.

4.    Mind Map

Image source ：EdrawMind

A Mind Map is visual maps of your ideas. It is laid out in a radial format around a central thought. Using mind maps for study, simply take the central subjects and then organise your notes around this point.

Moreover, a mind map is a tool that helps capture the free flow of thought and it is widely used for brainstorming around lots of topics. In addition, it can also be used to organize or group information about a topic.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Writing down the topic you’re brainstorming around in the center.

Step 2: On branch emerging from the middle, write down brainstormed ideas or thoughts.

Step 3: Expanding each sub idea with more facts. You can keep on add more information to your mind maps until you have enough.

5.    Spider Map

Image source: EdrawMax

The aim of a spider map is to establish the main theme with clear descriptive relations. In this instance, the center circle emerges from other circles which surround it, creating a visual image of a spider. Each linked leg and circle will have a defining adjective or phrase description. The contrast between a circle map with a spider map is that the circle map is more suited to an organizing level, while the spider maps are better suited to explain a subject.

The spider map is great for defining a topic in detail. In schools, spider maps make regular appearance in science class. Students can learn to define new lessons visually by defining the main topic with spider maps.

Example: consider the subjects of animal families. The center circles are mammals, the surrounding circles represent characteristics like give birth, or live young, have fur….

6.    Double bubble map and bubble map

Image source: EdrawMax

The double bubble map and bubble map are one of the popular thinking maps. It is much like a Venn diagram and it is used to identify similarities and differences qualities between two things.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Writing down the two ideas or topics, you’re comparing in the two bubbles in the center.

Step 2: As you brainstorm and analyze the topics, writing down the differences in the bubbles radiating from the center.

Step 3: Writing down the similarities in the bubbles that’re common to both topics.

7.    T chart

Image source: EdrawMax

A T-Chart is simple, but it’s quite a versatile organizational chart. It is used mainly for comparing two topics. The most popular use for a T-Chart is to compare the disadvantages and advantages of a decision that needs to be made.

Another visual use for this type of organizational charts is to compare two things through their differences. T-Charts aren’t for finding similarities between things.

In visually, T-charts have a large heading at the top with the title and two columns side by side that’s filled in with information according to each topic. The information can organize as a list with text, or with images to support visually.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Drawing a T-chart and writing down the two areas, which you want to brainstorm around on each column head.

Step 2: Writing down facts on each column as you carry out your brainstorming.

8.    KWL & KWS chart

Image source: EdrawMax

KWL and KWS charts are used for gathering information from student’s knowledge or experience. This three-column chart captures the before (what the reader already knows), during (what the reader want to learn), and after (what the reader learns) stages of reading.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Getting students to brainstorm around the selected topics and writing down everything, they know about it in the K column.

Step 2: Asking them to generate a list of questions about what they want to know in the W column of the charts.

Step 3: During or after reading the book or lesson get them to answer these questions in the L column or S column.

9.    Hamburger Writing – graphic organizer for writing

Image source: EdrawMax

The ” Hamburger writing ” is a writing organizer that visually outlines the key components of a paragraph. Topic sentence, and detail sentences, and a closing sentence are the main elements of a great paragraph and each one forms a different “piece” of the hamburger.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Discuss about the three main components of a paragraph or story. The introduction , the internal or supporting information  and the conclusion

Step 2: Asking students to write a topic sentence that clearly indicates what all paragraph is going to be about.

Step 3: Have students compose several supporting sentences that give the more information about the topic.

10.Sequence Chart

Image source: EdrawMax

A sequence chart is a tool that helps visualize the order of steps of a process or a timeline of events… It can also be used for note-taking, and lesson planning, and essay writing.

Some steps to use it

Step 1: Identifying the steps in the process or event.

Step 2: Using a sequence chart, and arrange these steps in sequential order.

The best ways to design a Graphic Organizer with EdrawMax?

EdrawMax is a professional all-in-one software for the creation of diagrams of all kinds of diagrams. Except from above mentioned Venn Diagram, Timeline Infographic, Spider Map, it can be used for creating more than 280 types of diagrams. The diagrams range from science to business, from industry to daily life.  No matter you are new to EdrawMax or are an expert at it, anyone can create  professional diagrams. With its powerful toolkits, 1500+ inbuilt templates, 26,000+ vector symbols, make ideas visualized can’t be easier.  It also offers a gallery of diagram templates. There are thousands of templates to chose from, all templates are shared by EdrawMax users across the world.

Lastly, you install and launch EdrawMax on your computer to start working with your next graphic organizer. The tool has a big arrange of professionally designed, and readily available vectors as well as pre-made templates. You just simply select any template and copy the available vectors.

These vectors can change as per your preferences. You can add your own contents, can change the overall appearance of the diagram, and even export it’s in different formats.

With some steps to use it

Step 1: Identifying a problem

Firstly, you need to know what topic you will discuss topic.

Step 2: Picking a diagram

Step 3: Using EdrawMax

EdrawMax aims to help people to create highly professional diagrams.

If you want to try a new graphic organizer, you can use EdrawMax or visit its website to explore lots of graphic organizer examples from our resources. Moreover, they’re extremely diverse, you can use them for different purposes, such as learning or teaching. Let’s explore more with graphic organizers, and try to make engaging illustrations on your own using EdrawMax for free download.