{"id":6812753,"date":"2026-09-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/?p=6812753"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:45:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:45:37","slug":"graphic-disorganizers-revisited-do-decorated-handouts-muddle-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/graphic-disorganizers-revisited-do-decorated-handouts-muddle-students\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Graphic Disorganizers&#8221; Revisited: Do Decorated Handouts Muddle Students?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two years ago, a friend asked me to look at a <a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/record\/2012-33946-001\">study about decorated handouts<\/a>. These researchers found that younger students &#8212; in Kindergarten to second grade &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/graphic-disorganizers-or-when-should-teachers-decorate-handouts-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7767\">struggled to interpret decorated graphs<\/a>. (They got better as they got older.) From my perspective, this study fit a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/do-classroom-decorations-distract-students-a-story-in-4-parts\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"6530\">broader pattern of concern<\/a>: research suggests that our efforts to decorate classrooms might go too far. Perhaps, this study suggested, our overdecorating has also made handouts difficult to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve recently come across more studies exploring the question of handout decorations: these studies add helpful guidelines to a small but useful research pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">First: Location, Location, Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional research offers a sensible suggestion: the <em>placement<\/em> of the decoration matters. In the graph study I just described, the graphs themselves were central to the students&#8217; cognitive work. They could not look away from the graphs and the decorative touches they included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11251-012-9256-z\">Another study<\/a> from the same year looked at images decorating physics handouts for 7th and 8th graders. This study included images <em>related <\/em>to the topic, but not actually instructional. For example, in a unit on light and shadow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An <em>instructional<\/em> image would have labeled rays from a light source to a solid object, creating a shadow<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <em>related<\/em> image would be a picture of a sunset creating shadows<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An <em>irrelevant<\/em> image would be a cute animal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This study focused on &#8220;related&#8221; images, and found that they neither helped nor harmed learning in the short run. And &#8212; most interesting for our purposes &#8212; the eye-tracking equipment they used found that <em>students simply ignored those related images<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One potential take away: the easier a decoration is to ignore, the less of a concern it creates. Off-to-the-side photos probably distract readers less than those embedded in the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In brief: if an image isn&#8217;t instructional, put it off to the side where students can skip it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6834034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-768x513.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_1441984792-2048x1367.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Second: Knowledge (Always) Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cognitive science researchers routinely find that students&#8217; <strong>prior knowledge<\/strong> shapes their learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Students who have relevant background knowledge are likelier to absorb new ideas and information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Those who lack background knowledge often have a harder time with that new material.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students&#8217; <em>prior misconceptions<\/em> often hamper learning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When researchers measure the effect of prior knowledge on decorations, they find a similar pattern. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0959475212000515?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">this study<\/a>, eighth graders studied geometry problems with a computer program. The problems deliberately included irrelevant decorations: a picture of a bicycle, or of a compass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This research team found that these irrelevant decorations hampered near transfer for students with relatively lower prior knowledge. Only for students at the very high end of prior knowledge did these decorations improve near transfer. (The decorations had no statistical effect on far transfer.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a working-memory perspective, this finding simply makes sense. Students with high prior knowledge have lots of WM headroom, and can process irrelevant images without difficulty. Those with lower prior knowledge might already feel WM strain&#8230;and those images could push them into cognitive difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In brief: when students have relatively low prior knowledge, avoid irrelevant decorations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Third: The Clue Is in the Name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Above I listed three categories of decoration: instructional, related, and irrelevant. Those words give us a strong hint about the potential benefits of such images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We&#8217;re not surprised that instructional images help; they do instructional work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We&#8217;re not surprised that irrelevant images might distract; they&#8217;re irrelevant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What about related images? <a href=\"http:\/\/Scherer, D., Verk\u00fchlen, A., &amp; Dutke, S. (2023). Effects of related decorative pictures on learning and metacognition. Instructional Science, 51(4), 571-594.\">This study<\/a> offers teachers some modest comfort. In it, fifty-six 8th graders read a passage about <strong>population growth<\/strong>. Half of them read the undecorated version; the other half read pages with related images. For instance: the page about population growth in industrialized countries included a picture of a factory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m simplifying a bit, but the headline is: very little changed. The research team found very modest benefits here and very minor concerns there, but basically students learned the same amount with or without these related decorations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In brief: if a decoration is meaningfully related to the topic, that&#8217;s probably fine. (If you&#8217;re stressed for time, don&#8217;t worry about decorating.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A (Modest) Grand Summation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This summary must be modest, because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We don&#8217;t have a large research pool, and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>None of the studies I&#8217;ve found measures learning after a meaningful amount of time. It&#8217;s good to know that students learn more an hour after they read a passage&#8230;but until we check with them a month or so later, we can&#8217;t really say they learned it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>With those caveats in mind, I&#8217;ll offer these tentative recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First<\/strong>: if an image helps us teach meaningful content, by all means use it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Second<\/strong>: If an image is purely decorative &#8212; if it&#8217;s not even related to the topic &#8212; we should probably leave it off our handouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Third<\/strong>: If an image is related to the topic but doesn&#8217;t directly support cognitive work, it&#8217;s probably okay&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fourth<\/strong>: &#8230;but be cautious if your students have low prior knowledge, or the decorations visually compete with material requiring cognitive work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaminski, J. A., &amp; Sloutsky, V. M. (2013). Extraneous perceptual information interferes with children&#8217;s acquisition of mathematical knowledge.&nbsp;<em>Journal of Educational Psychology<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>105<\/em>(2), 351.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lenzner, A., Schnotz, W., &amp; M\u00fcller, A. (2013). The role of decorative pictures in learning.&nbsp;<em>Instructional Science<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>41<\/em>(5), 811-831.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Magner, U. I., Schwonke, R., Aleven, V., Popescu, O., &amp; Renkl, A. (2014). Triggering situational interest by decorative illustrations both fosters and hinders learning in computer-based learning environments.&nbsp;<em>Learning and instruction<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>29<\/em>, 141-152.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scherer, D., Verk\u00fchlen, A., &amp; Dutke, S. (2023). Effects of related decorative pictures on learning and metacognition.&nbsp;<em>Instructional Science<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>51<\/em>(4), 571-594.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two years ago, a friend asked me to look at a study about decorated handouts. These researchers found that younger students &#8212; in Kindergarten to second grade &#8212; struggled to interpret decorated graphs. (They got better as they got older.) From my perspective, this study fit a broader pattern of concern: research suggests that our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6834034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6812753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6812753"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6834300,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812753\/revisions\/6834300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6834034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6812753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6812753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6812753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}