Episode Details

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sarah Frampton, who conducts research on, amongst other things, improving how we teach, learn, and organize information using behavior-analytic strategies. We explore her career journey, her research on graphic organizers and the Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) strategy, and the broader implications for stimulus equivalence, educational technology, and effective teaching.

• How Sarah's unconventional path led her from economics and psychology into Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
• Why note-taking and structured learning strategies, like CCC, matter for retaining and applying complex information.
• How stimulus equivalence principles can enhance learning beyond direct instruction.
• Insights from Sarah's research combining CCC with graphic organizers, including practical takeaways for educators and learners (see Frampton, Vesely and Jackson, 2025).
• How visual learning tools and educational technology can improve engagement and retention.
• Strategies for training learners to use these approaches independently and effectively.

Sarah's Path Into ABA Sarah shares how a thesis requirement and a Craigslist job posting led her to ABA, including formative experiences working with Dr. Alice Shillingsburg at the Marcus Autism Center. These experiences sparked her interest in efficient, broadly applicable learning strategies.

Why Note-Taking Strategies Matter We discuss the value of graphic organizers and the Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) strategy:

• Graphic organizers visually display relationships between concepts.
• CCC is a structured, active-response method that strengthens memory, similar to flashcards. Sarah emphasizes how behavior-analytic techniques can support higher-order thinking processes often considered "cognitive."

CCC and Stimulus Equivalence Sarah walks through stimulus equivalence with clear examples, showing how teaching certain relations can produce broader learning without direct instruction. She also highlights a study where CCC and graphic organizers helped learners prepare for tests—even under intentionally challenging conditions.

Graphic Organizers in Action Key findings from Sarah's research:

• Learners who drew more structured organizers performed better.
• Teaching organizer use during test conditions did not hinder performance.
• Visualizing relationships among stimuli predicted task success.

Training Learners to Use These Strategies Sarah outlines her training sequence, including pre-tests, video instruction, practice with familiar material, and application to abstract stimuli. A core goal was strategy generalization—ensuring learners could apply CCC to new material independently.

Research Findings Most participants quickly mastered abstract relations and passed post-tests after brief training. Notably, all participants used the CCC strategy—some even more meticulously than required.

Educational Technology, Engagement, an