The Concept Comparison Routine

Resources:

• Concept Comparison Routine Research (.pdf)

Research Articles: 

• Schumaker, J.B., Fisher, J.B., & Walsh, L.D. (2010). The effects of a computerized professional development program on teachers and students with and without disabilities in secondary general education classes. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33, 111-131. Two studies indicate a computerized Concept Comparison Routine professional development program was at least as effective as a face-to-face workshop on measures of teacher learning and student results.
• Bulgren, J.A., Lenz, B.K., Schumaker, J.B., Deshler, D.D., & Marquis, J.G. (2002). The use and effectiveness of a comparison routine in diverse secondary content classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 356-371. This article reports the results of two studies of the Concept Comparison Routine: Study 1 provides evidence that students benefit from use of the routine and graphic organizer device, and Study 2 provides evidence that teachers can learn to use the device quickly.
• Bulgren. J., & Scanlon, D. (1997). Instructional routines and learning strategies that promote understanding of content area concepts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41(4), 292-302. This article provides examples of using content enhancement routines (Concept Diagram, Comparison Table, ORDER) to promote an understanding of middle and secondary school content area concepts.

The Story Behind the Concept Comparison Routine from author Jan Bulgren:
The development of the Concept Comparison Routine followed shortly after the development of the Concept Mastery Routine and the Concept Anchoring Routine, and it is a logical extension of understandings about how students learn. Although the exploration of characteristics and examples related to a major concept was a common and well-researched approach to helping students acquire an understanding about that critical concept, there appeared to be other paths for achieving this. One of these was teaching through comparing and contrasting. Therefore, the development of this routine was a logical next step in helping teachers as they ensured that students acquired knowledge, understanding, and use of critical concepts.

Indeed, the three routines, Concept Mastery, Concept Anchoring, and Concept Comparison, share common components. The most important of these is that key characteristics of a new concept are identified and highlighted by the teacher and students working together. With the Concept Comparison Routine, however, students learn about a new concept by building on characteristics shared and not shared by two or more concepts. In other words, through the use of this routine, students are building on their knowledge of concepts by determining how they are alike and different. As such, this routine brings richness into the learning process.

Moreover, this routine contributes to a series of instructional practices that support a taxonomic hierarchy of learning that is reflected in subject-area learning demands. This routine supports students as they acquire understandings of concepts, and these understandings may be applied to more complex and higher order thinking demands. This hierarchy of supports for thinking begins with facts and concepts, supports the manipulation of information, and finally leads to the use and generalization of important ideas and concepts.

Author's thoughts about Content Enhancement Instruction:
Ideally, Content Enhancement Instruction involves the use of integrated sets of carefully planned instructional routines based on students’ needs and content-learning demands. This means that teachers use routines like the Course Organizer Routine, Unit Organizer Routine, and Lesson Organizer Routine to plan their courses and communicate to students about their courses. They use other routines, like the Concept Comparison Routine, as they are teaching the subject-area information. Through the use of several routines by teachers, students not only learn information, but they also progress to a higher level of thinking complexity. Our research has shown consistently that the performance of all types of students improves if the Content Enhancement Routines are used.

Teacher Feedback on the Concept Comparison Routine:
Teachers were involved throughout the development and research associated with the Concept Comparison Routine. They provided direction and guidance to our team. During the development process, they told us that instruction on comparisons and contrasts often consisted of merely developing one list of similarities and another list of differences for students to remember. They indicated that they would value an instructional approach that would make learning more efficient and effective.

Once they used the routine, they reported that they appreciated the chance to help students acquire strategic thinking steps and to practice one of the most commonly required types of higher order thinking. They especially liked the opportunity to check students’ ability to transfer and generalize learning to new topic areas, something that is greatly emphasized in higher order thinking demands across the national content standards. Some of the participating teachers invented another use for the Comparison Table. They prompted students to use it as an outline while the students were producing written essays, and the teachers reported great improvement in student writing when they used the table in this way. This is just one of the many examples of how I continue to learn from expert content teachers.