Advance organizers are used to teach specific contexts with different levels of complexity. Regardless of the educational level or context, the advance organizer (graphic organizer) is a tool that helps the learner connect the known to the unknown and remember the knowledge gained. To help in understanding this process, a case study was developed based on higher education faculty and undergraduate and graduate students opinions on the value and usefulness of graphic organizers to connect visual language with verbal language in order to optimize active learning. Five faculty members and 17 students, both graduate and undergraduate, responded to questions about graphic organizers. Students appreciated the value of the graphic organizer and recognized the connection with prior knowledge and usefulness as a teaching strategy. Faculty members also found graphic organizers to be valuable teaching tools, and they acknowledged the value of graphic organizers in helping teacher candidates develop higher level critical thinking skills. (SLD)