- What is a synoptic table?
- What is a synoptic table for?
- Synoptic table in the educational field
- Characteristics of a synoptic table
- Types of summary tables
- How to make a synoptic table?
- Examples of summary tables
We explain what a synoptic table is, what it is for and its usefulness in the educational field. Also, its advantages, functions and examples.
What is a synoptic table?
A synoptic table is a graphic representation of ideas or concepts. You can make a synoptic table on a specific topic that you want to analyze in a limited way, using boxed keywords and connected by lines and connectors. Graphically it is like a tree: it begins with an initial word from which several others emerge.
A synoptic table is normally implemented as a strategy to organizeknowledge in a simple and clear way. It is based on a particular theme and its various relationships.
Synoptic tables are very useful to analyze a topic or a theory, since they contrast and relate variables to find similarities and differences between them.
See also:Conceptual map
What is a synoptic table for?
Synoptic tables are one of the most useful tools when studying or analyzing a topic.
They are used to dump the information most important of a text or a theme and allow information to be organized and arranged by establishing links or relationships between the main concepts. This type of tool allows you to easily visualize concepts in order to understand and memorize them simply and quickly.
There are different types of tables, most usually order the information according to its hierarchy or relevance.Subtopics branch off from a main topic, facilitating the assimilation and study of key ideas and their relationships. These diagrams They are used to approach and study complex subjects or that include a great variety of concepts and relationships.
They can be useful when preparing an oral presentation, brainstorming ideas on paper and assimilating concepts, which is why they are widely used in the school environment by teachers, professors and students.
Synoptic table in the educational field
Synoptic tables are used in the student environment as a tool to study or teach concepts or ideas in an organized and synthetic way. They enable an easy reading and understanding thanks to the use of the key system, the shape of a diagram, or the organization in rows and columns
Theseschemes They serve as a mental aid to memorize because one can remember the key words that make it up and, in this way, manages to develop the whole (initial) concept in itself. Some ways to rank ideas are: place keywords in a box, write them in a larger font than the rest, use colors, etc.
Characteristics of a synoptic table
In a synoptic table, subtopics emerge from a general topic.- Its name comes from the term "synopsis", which refers to the type of resume brief and general of a certain thing or theme.
- It is a graphical representation that uses geometric figures in its design.
- From a general topic, the subtopics emerge.
- There are several types of summary tables that vary according to their design: some arrange the information horizontally, others vertically, and others as brainstorming.
- They usually arrange the information in a hierarchical way: the concepts are arranged from the general to the particular.
- They can be done by hand or using digital tools.
- They are used in the academic field for the study of a certain subject.
- They are used to highlight the main ideas of a text, to prepare an oral presentation, to graph the hierarchical structure of a business.
Types of summary tables
There are three types of synoptic tables that vary among themselves due to their design and the way in which the information is presented:
- Synoptic table of keys. It is the most widely used type of synoptic table. The concepts are arranged from left to right from a main idea from which a series of secondary ideas emerge that are usually characteristic of the main idea.
- Synoptic table of diagram. The information is arranged from top to bottom, the concepts are hierarchical. Secondary ideas roll down according to their importance.
- Synoptic table in network. The information is arranged freely, without prioritizing the concepts. It is used to compare theories that address the same topic or to brainstorm ideas. Starting from a main idea, a series of secondary ideas emerges towards both sides.
How to make a synoptic table?
- Read and interpret the material. The first step is to read the material from which you are going to work, it allows you to know the subject in general terms and become familiar with it. In this example, a text was read about the language.
- Identify main ideas. To detect those main ideas (or central ideas) in the text, you can underline these main ideas and write down the main concepts. In this example, elements of language and construction were among the main ideas highlighted in the text.
- Write the prayer topical. Determine a concept, in one or two words, that describes the central idea or theme of the writing. This will be the title of the painting and the main concept that will be placed on the left or above. In this example, the term “language” was selected as the main concept of the table.
- Group the concepts. Starting from the main ideas, all those concepts that share common characteristics can be grouped together in a global way. In turn, the information is hierarchized. In this case, the concepts that alluded to one of the two main ideas of the language were grouped together.
- Main ideas, secondary ideas and details. A categorization is made of all the main ideas (which were previously identified) in order to sketch them in a first draft of the table to which the complementary ideas and their details are added. From the prayer Topical, the rest of the information is ranked and advances from left to right or from top to bottom, from the most general concepts to the most particular ones. In this case, the secondary ideas are derived from the main ideas: elements and construction and, in some cases, a characterization or classification of them was made.