Comparison Matrix for Teaching Culture

A comparison matrix helps students to organize the information they have learned and to demonstrate the higher-order skills of comparing and contrasting. I was introduced to them through exposure to Robert Marzano during professional development. In my Latin classes, this has been very fruitful when covering different topics of ancient culture and comparing them to our society.

Below you can see the comparison matrix we recently used to understand the English culture reading in Stage 7 of the Cambridge Latin Course, a reading about ancient burial rituals and attitudes toward death.

Note: A template for this document was distributed school-wide after a professional development session covering the strategy. I am still trying to figure out who created it to begin with... 

You can download this document below and change whatever you want based on the needs of your class. Feel free the change to title, directions, and in the first column the "things to be compared." Make sure that your students complete the "Ah-HA! and SO WHAT!?" section: The best learning happens there.

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Roman Death and Burial Comparison Matrix (53k .docx)