The Frayer Model

Vocabulary is essential in all content areas; in fact, for math, science, and social studies, understanding of the content often hinges on essential terms or concepts. The Frayer model (developed by Frayer, Frederick, and Klausmeier in 1969) is an efficient, engaging way for students to make meaning of a difficult, complicated concept.
You don’t really have to even copy or make a graphic organizer for the students; they can do it themselves by taking a blank piece of paper and folding it in half and then half again, resulting in 4 blocks. At the center of the opened paper, where the blocks intersect, they should draw a circle or another box in which to write the term or concept.
The four blocks can be labeled with a variety of headings, depending on the term, the level of students, the needs of the unit. Here are a few options:
• Essential characteristics/nonessential characteristics/examples/nonexamples
• Definition/characteristics/examples/nonexamples
• Definition/sentence/I think . . ./non-verbal representation (a drawing)
• What others say/what I say/what it is/what it isn’t

It’s always a good idea to try out a new graphic organizer or note-taking organizer with an easy concept that requires little background information first so students can use the format before moving on to difficult content material. Once you are certain students understand the organizer itself, then move on to the material they are to read, view, listen to, or research and from which they will use to fill out their Frayer model notes.

The Importance of Similarities and Differences

Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock, in their book Classroom Instruction that Works (2001), give strong evidence for the effect that the individual classroom teacher has on student achievement. In this researched-based book, they describe 9 instructional strategies that affect student achievement. The strategy that they consider “the core of all learning” is identifying similarities and differences.
According to Marzano et al. (pp. 15-16), teachers enhance “students’ understanding of and ability to use knowledge” when they
• present students with explicit guidance in identifying similarities and differences
• ask students to independently identify similarities and differences
• represent similarities and differences in graphic or symbolic form

While the most recognizable similarities and differences organizer is the Venn diagram, using other lesser-used activities will often yield fresher insights. Besides comparing and contrasting, the following three are processes that require students to think at higher levels:

Classifying—this process asks students to note specific qualities or characteristics. A semantic features analysis chart or a comparison matrix that lists categories or characteristics would use this process.
Creating metaphors—similar to creating analogies, this process asks students to identify a general or basic pattern in a specific topic and then find another topic that appears to be quite different but that has the same general pattern. An example that Marzano’s group uses is comparing the function and structure of the cell to Star Trek’s Enterprise (the nucleus would be like the bridge).
Creating analogies—this process asks students to identify the relationship between pairs of concepts. Analogies are the most complex of the similarities and differences formats as they deal with the “relationships between relationships” (p. 26). Remember the old SAT analogy questions? (Newton is to force and motion as Bernouli is to air pressure.)

With these three levels of similarities/differences, modeling examples for the students before they work on finding their own analogies, metaphors, etc. will reap better results.