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A schema, or scheme, is an abstract concept proposed by J. Piaget to refer to our, well, abstract concepts. Schemas (or schemata) are units of understanding that can be hierarchically categorized as well as webbed into complex relationships with one another.

For example, think of a house. You probably get an immediate mental image of something out of a kid's storybook: four windows, front door, suburban setting, chimney. However, if I were to amend the object's name slightly, your scheme would shift to a more refined version. How about: Shotgun house? One door, maybe no front windows, low income setting. Mansion? Multiple windows, side entrance for the help, sweeping front drive.

That is a simple example, but our schemas get incredibly complex as we learn more about the world, and particularly as we become experts in a field. The more we know, the bigger and more complex our schemas become. However, the more we know, the easier it is to remember new information related to the schema - because there is more pre-existing information in our heads that we can relate - and thus attach - it to.

For students, their schemas pretty much amount to what they already know about a concept. They may have learned it in other classes or through their own experiences. What they "know" may be incorrect. Our job is to either expand or correct their schemas about important concepts in our fields.

However, no information will attach to their schemas if they we aren't thinking about that schema when the information comes in. Let's say you know a fair bit about prehistoric fossils and take a trip to the Gray Fossil Site. While the guide explains a fossil find that is new to the field (and thus to you), yet you are thinking about the design and outlay of the museum, the information will go in one ear and out the other.

Therefore, the most important rule for teaching based upon Schema Theory is

Make sure students' existing schemas are up and running at a conscious level

What can I do to make students conscious of their schemas?

1. Use advance organizers.

"Advance organizer" is an educational term that refers to activities done prior to introducing new material that help students organize - and perhaps prepare to re-organize - their thinking. These can take multiple forms:

Review previous lessons or material. This approach works well for linear material, such as mathematics, that builds upon itself.

Ask students what they know. By simply starting a class with, "What do you know about ...?" and writing down the answers, you not only raise their schemas to consciousness, but also get a feel for what students already know, as well as where they may have things wrong.

2. Find a "synonym" with which students are likely to be familiar.

A similar concept to the one you are about to explain can help students recognize patterns and more quickly learn the new material. Examples:

If the new concept is about Gandhi and nonviolent protest, you might first ask students what they know about the Civil Rights movement here in the U.S.

If teaching about balancing large-scale budgets, ask first about personal income, expenditures, and borrowing.

More on Schema Theory:

Using Schema for Teaching History
Although this short article addresses K-12 education, its ideas can easily be applied to post-secondary education, and can be transferred from History to any number of subject areas.

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Short article on using schemas or templates or scaffolding to increase teaching and learning effectiveness at ETSU.

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How We Make Memories: Crash Course Psychology

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How We Make Memories: Crash Course Psychology

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How We Make Memories: Crash Course Psychology #13

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Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge

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Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge

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Home

How to Teach

Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge

Why is it important?

A fundamental goal of education is to promote enduring learning that equips students with the skills, knowledge, and beliefs that can be applied to solve problems in novel settings or explore issues in original ways. To support students' acquisition of concepts and skills, and to develop their understanding of how and when to apply them, there are three key learning processes to reinforce in your teaching:

Retention refers to long-term storage of concepts and skills in memory. Students forget rapidly when concepts and skills are not activated and applied after initial learning (Fisher & Radvansky, 2018). By integrating learning activities that promote long-term retention, you can help make concepts available for students to apply later in the semester, outside of the class context, and beyond.

Organization refers to developing a rich, interconnected, cognitive network of concepts that allows us to connect new learning to prior knowledge, categorize similar pieces of information, and access relevant concepts when needed. By including learning activities that promote organization in memory, you increase the likelihood that students will access and recall relevant information from long-term memory when it is needed.

Integration refers to the application, interpretation, and/or synthesis of information from disparate contexts and perspectives (Barber, 2012) to reveal new insights, clarified meanings, or broader perspectives (AAC&U, 2009). Designing learning activities that promote integration enables interdisciplinary learning and supports students' development of innovative solutions to problems or perspectives on complex issues.

To promote enduring learning, we should design teaching practices and learning activities to help students retain, organize, and integrate key concepts and skills identified in the intended learning outcomes to endure and extend beyond the class context.

Teaching Practices That Support Students' Enduring Learning

Learning strategies that promote long-term retention, organization, and integration require students to actively engage with concepts and skills through deliberate practice of relevant tasks. Each learning strategy below involves students in the construction of knowledge, sometimes in collaboration with peers, and falls into the category of active learning (Freeman et al., 2014).

Ascertain and leverage students' prior knowledge

Prior knowledge can bolster retention, organization, and integration of new learning by enabling connections to robust, interconnected networks of concepts in memory. By adopting teaching practices that activate accurate prior knowledge, you not only bolster student learning but also gather key information that helps you to adapt your teaching to leverage students' knowledge more effectively. However, prior knowledge can also get in the way of new learning if it is inaccurate, insufficient, or inappropriate (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman, 2010). See Caveats and Misconceptions (and how to address them).

The following activities offer a purposeful route into learning for students as they transition into or out of the classroom context and inform how you can adapt class sessions to meet students where they are, address gaps or misconceptions in their knowledge, and guide their practice to help them reach intended learning outcomes. You can also analyze common errors to discuss with the class, correct misconceptions, and normalize students' struggles with confusing concepts.

Prior Knowledge

Engage students in retrieval of previously learned information

When you pose a question about a recently learned concept to students in a class session or on a quiz, students engage in retrieval practice whenever they pull information out of long-term memory to produce an answer. Robust research demonstrates that actively retrieving information, compared to simply restudying or reviewing it, improves students' long-term retention (i.e., the testing effect; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Carpenter, Pan, & Butler, 2022) and their ability to apply information in novel contexts (i.e., transfer of learning; Carpenter, 2012). Retrieval practice also helps students evaluate what they do and don't know, which can guide their studying or help-seeking behaviors (e.g., asking clarification questions in office hours).

Retrieval Practice

To help students get the most learning benefits from retrieval practice, prompt students to call to mind previously learned concepts and skills through frequent, "low stakes" opportunities (i.e., as formative assessments). By including opportunities for students to practice retrieval without a grade, you emphasize retrieval as a learning opportunity, reduce pressure and student anxiety (Khanna, 2015), and encourage them to attempt retrieval even when they don't think they know the answer.

Promote deep understanding through self-explanation

Self-explanation practices deepen conceptual understanding by making connections with related concepts and elaborating on learned concepts by asking why or how questions. For example, when learning about a circuit model of a neuron, a student could deepen their understanding by going beyond solving a problem to consider the meaning of one part of the equation for the biological system, as illustrated in this video of an MIT student describing how they study.

Research by Smith, Holliday, and Austin (2010) demonstrated that engaging with explanatory questioning (e.g., after learning the fact, "Saliva must mix with food to initiate digestion," students explained why it was true) improved retention of both learned concepts as well as related ideas. Moreover, Wong, Lawson, and Keeves (2002) found that prompting students to explain concepts to themselves during initial learning also helped them apply their learning to new problems (see also Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989). Explanatory questions also encourage students to retrieve relevant prior knowledge, thereby allowing for more effective organization and integration of new learning with previously learned concepts.

Self-Explanation

When students consider these questions, they build connections among concepts and/or elaborate on concepts with everyday examples to support organization and integration of knowledge.

When to Implement These Strategies

The teaching practices above focus on how students practice with concepts and skills in the course. Another key consideration in how you support students' retention, organization, and integration of key concepts and skills concerns when students practice with them.

Space out students' engagement with concepts across the semester

Spacing out repeated exposure and engagement with concepts, practice problems, or skills over time bolsters retention, especially when compared to reviewing concepts (i.e., cramming) or repeatedly working on the same types of problems in succession (Carpenter et al., 2022; Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2006). The standard practice in many college courses of not revisiting concepts once they are covered in class undermines the benefits of spacing. When you space out students' engagement with concepts across the semester, you intentionally revisit concepts for problems from previous units and signal that the information continues to be useful and relevant.

Interleave students' engagement with different concepts

Mixing up or interleaving different types of material (e.g., distinct concepts, types of problem sets, or content from different units or disciplines) goes a step further than spacing to improve retention, organization, and integration of concepts (Rohrer & Taylor, 2007).

Spacing and interleaving often co-occur. For example, in a math course, a student might work on various types of problems all mixed up, so that practice with any one type of problem is spaced out (an example of spacing), with other types of problems occurring between examples of the same type (an example of interleaving). Rohrer and Taylor (2007) argue that interleaving helps students not only to recognize how to solve a problem but also to determine which type of strategy is appropriate for each kind of problem.

Spaced & Interleave Practice

MIT Worked Examples

Caveats and Misconceptions (and how to address them)

Robust research in cognitive and educational psychology supports the powerful benefits to students when active learning strategies draw on retrieval and explanatory questioning, and are spaced out and/or interleaved with other topics (Agarwal & Bain, 2019; Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014; Roediger & Pyc, 2012). However, the effectiveness of these strategies depends on how they are implemented to engage all students with the concepts and skills at the appropriate level of difficulty. Two key implementation strategies are introduced below.

How to design learning activities to engage all students

The benefits of these learning activities depend on students' active engagement with concepts; accordingly, these learning activities should be designed to encourage and demand participation from all students, not just those who readily raise their hands.

Integrating opportunities for all students to share their responses with the class through polling software (e.g., Poll Everywhere or Slido) or with neighboring students by working in pairs or small groups (e.g., think-pair-share) can encourage equitable participation.

Structuring active learning activities to broaden participation by encouraging, demanding, and actively managing who participates rather than relying on student volunteers. One such strategy involves asking for multiple hands and multiple voices to respond to any posed question by saying that you will begin calling on students when there are at least five hands in the air. This approach works particularly well to invite a range of different ideas and perspectives on an open-ended question and to broaden participation beyond the most frequent contributors. Tanner (2013).

How to design learning activities for the appropriate level of difficulty

The difficulty of learning activities through retrieval, explanatory questioning, or interleaving may be undesirable if the questions are too challenging. Vygotsky (1978) described the ideal level of difficulty as the skills or concepts that students can master but only with guidance and support from a skilled partner.

There are several key strategies that can be used to inform the design of learning tasks that are appropriately difficult:

Ascertain students' prior knowledge (as described in implementation strategies),

Design learning tasks that align with intended learning outcomes.

Scaffold learning activities by breaking down large tasks into smaller chunks and deliberately drawing on skills and concepts that students already know.

How to Address Common Concerns and Misconceptions

There are several common concerns and misconceptions about these learning activities, which can be addressed through deliberate design and transparent framing of the learning activities.

Students might generate errors during learning activities that may result in retention of incorrect information.

One common concern is that retrieval of inaccurate prior knowledge, an incorrect response, or problematic explanations of processes may actually harm learning by strengthening the retention of incorrect information. In contrast, much of the cognitive research suggests that generating errors during retrieval practice and explanatory questioning improves learning of correct information (for a review, see Metcalfe, 2017), particularly when corrective feedback is provided (Roediger & Butler, 2011). Accordingly, learning activities that activate prior knowledge, engage retrieval, or encourage elaboration should be consistently followed by feedback with the correct response and, ideally, an explanation of why the answer is correct. Finn, Thomas, and Rawson (2018) found that elaborating on correct answer feedback by providing concrete examples of concepts enhanced the retention and application of key concepts.

Feedback can take many different forms, as long as student misconceptions are addressed. With multiple-choice or short-answer questions, a correct response and brief explanation could be provided either by the instructor or by a student after polling the class. For more open-ended questions (e.g., what are two things you recall from last class?), the instructor can share the outline or learning outcomes from the prior class, prompt students to review their notes, or have students pair up with a classmate to provide feedback (see also, How to Give Feedback).

In sum, research suggests that learning activities improve retention (and, in some cases, application) of concepts even when students generate incorrect responses and underscores the importance of providing feedback with the correct answer or elaborated explanations.

Students may be less likely to engage in challenging learning activities with a risk of failure.

Many of the learning strategies that promote enduring learning also introduce challenges that can make learning feel slow and frustrating for students. Indeed, students overwhelmingly choose more passive (and less effective) learning strategies, such as cramming over spacing (Kornell & Bjork, 2007) or re-reading over retrieval practice (Karpicke, Butler, & Roediger, 2009). As a result, students may resist or disengage from challenging learning activities implemented in class.

Bjork (1994) describes challenging learning activities such as spacing, interleaving, and retrieval practice as "desirable difficulties" because they often produce superior long-term retention and application of learning compared to more passive learning activities, such as rereading. Zepeda, Martin, and Butler (2020) proposed motivational strategies to engage students in desirable difficulties by helping them recognize the value of learning and by reducing the cost of engaging.

Help students see the value of the learning activities

Clearly communicate the value of the learning activities in the class (e.g., how they help students reach intended learning outcomes), in the discipline or major, and, as relevant, in life and career contexts (Canning & Harackiewicz, 2015).

Explain the benefits of these strategies, drawing on the research explained in this post to help students recognize that the difficulties are desirable for learning and to encourage them to adapt similar strategies to their own studying. You can draw on supporting resources developed by learning scientists from retrievalpractice.org or learningscientists.org. See supporting resources below for more information.

Make it easier for students to engage in learning activities

Explain all instructions verbally AND display them written visually to clarify instructions and to minimize confusion about the task.

Direct students to supporting resources and invite students to ask for help (e.g., raising hand to ask an instructor or TA, visiting office hours, or hyperlinks to relevant information or supporting resources).

Encourage students to take risks and make mistakes, emphasizing the value of errors for learning (Metcalfe, 2017), to support a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006).

Acknowledge that learning activities may feel challenging and express confidence that students will be able to succeed (Yaeger et al., 2016).

Supporting Resources

Agarwal, Roediger, McDaniel, & McDermott (2020). How to use retrieval practice to improve learning. (See other guides on Metacognition, Spaced Retrieval, and Applying Knowledge)

Carpenter, Pan, & Butler, 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-022-00089-1

Dunlosky (2013). Strengthening the student toolbox: Study strategies to boost learning.

Weinstein, Smith, & Caviglioli. Six Strategies for Effective Learning: Materials for teachers and students. Free downloads of bookmarks, posters, and presentation slides summarizing six strategies for effective learning.

References

Agarwal, P. & P. Bain. (2019). Powerful teaching: Unleash the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works. John Wiley & Sons.

Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Integrative and Applied Learning VALUE rubric. https://www.aacu.org/initiatives/value-initiative/value-rubrics/value-rubrics-integrative-and-applied-learning

Barber, J. P. (2012). Integration of learning: A grounded theory analysis of college students' learning. American Educational Research Journal, 49 (3) 590-617. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212437854

Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe & A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185- 205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Canning, E. A., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2015). Teach it, don't preach it: The differential effects of directly-communicated and self-generated utility-value information. Motivation Science, 1(1), 47 - 71. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000015

Carpenter, S. K. (2012). Testing enhances the transfer of learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 279 - 283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412452728

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354-380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P. & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13 (2), 148-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/0364-0213(89)90002-5

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New psychology of success. Random House.

Finn, B., Thomas, R., & Rawson, K. A. (2018). Learning more from feedback: Elaborating feedback with examples enhances concept learning. Learning and Instruction, 54, 104-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.08.007

Fisher, J. S., & Radvansky, G. A. (2018). Patterns of forgetting. Journal of Memory and Language, 102, 130-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2018.05.008

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.131903011

Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A. C., & Roediger III, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17(4), 471-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210802647009

Khanna, M. M. (2015). Ungraded Pop Quizzes: Test-Enhanced Learning Without All the Anxiety. Teaching of Psychology, 42(2), 174-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315573144

Kornell, N., & Bjork, R. A. (2007). The promise and perils of self-regulated study. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(2), 219-224. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194055

Lang, J. M. (Feb. 8, 2016). Small changes in teaching: Making connections. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Small-Changes-in-Teaching-/235230

Metcalfe, J. (2017). Learning from errors. Annual Review of Psychology, 68(6), 1 - 25. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022

Roediger III, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003

Roediger, H. L. III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x

Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics practice problems boosts learning. Instructional Science, 35, 481-498.

Smith, B. L., Holliday, W. G., & Austin, H. W. (2010). Students' comprehension of science textbooks using a question-based reading strategy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47, 363-379.

Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(3), 322-331.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wong, R. M. F., Lawson, M. J., & Keeves, J. (2002). The effects of self-explanation training on students' problem solving in high-school mathematics. Learning and Instruction, 12, 233-262.

Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., Akcinar, E. N., Paunesku, D., Keane, L., et al. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(24), E3341-8. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524360113

Zepeda, C. D., Martin, R. S., & Butler, A. C. (2020). Motivational strategies to engage learners in desirable difficulties. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 9(4), 468-474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.08.007

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Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge

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Home How to Teach Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge A fundamental goal of education is to promote enduring learning that equips students with the skills, knowledge, and beliefs that can be applied to solve problems in novel settings or explore issues in original ways.

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Brain Rule # 5 -  Short Term Memory - Schema

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Make connections between prior experiences and new experiences (self-to-self connections)

Prompt students to explicitly make connections between new learning and prior experiences by asking questions (e.g., "Does this remind you of something you've seen or done before? What is the same? What is different?").

Makes connections between new experiences and prior knowledge prior to Inquiries or Design & Builds

Encourage students to draw on their prior knowledge and experiences when making predictions about how their inquiries might turn out (e.g., "What do you already know about...that might help you...?").

Make connections between new experiences and prior knowledge during Inquiries or Design & Builds

Remind students to refer to prior knowledge and experiences while conducting investigations (e.g., " Have you seen that happen before?"). Connections made during inquiries help students to make more insightful observations as well as providing inspiration for solutions to problems.

Make connections between new experiences and prior knowledge after Inquiries or Design & Builds

Prompt students to compare results of inquiries and Design & Build challenges with previous inquiries or Design & Build challenges. These connections help students to reflect and evaluate their learning.

Make connections between inquiries and materials read or viewed

Facilitate making connections between what happens in student inquiries to stories and other media (e.g., a video, a movie, a television show), for example, by thinking aloud about a connection: " When I see how much our seeds have grown, it reminds me of a story we read last week. Do you know the story I mean? "

Make connections between their inquiries and the world beyond the classroom ( world-school connection)

Use language such " You are thinking like a scientist when you....", or " When you were doing .....you were thinking like a mathematician." when students are engaged in inquires.

Help students make connections between events and phenomena in their world and science and technology at school. For example, when a child brings in a nest he/she has found, use the opportunity to connect back to student inquiries about living things.

Make connections between what occurs inside and outside of school ( home-school connection)

Provide opportunities for students to share their experiences at home and/or in their community with their classmates (e.g., ask students about their gardens at home).

Provide opportunities for families to learn about what is happening at school (e.g., through a class blog or other social media, during school open house events, or by students sharing their learning with their families in various ways such as by bringing home plants they have germinated and grown at school, taking science-focused books home to read with their families over the weekend, or sharing stories about photographs of their block structures).

Make connections between scientific principles and scientific phenomena while engaged in inquiries

Notice and name scientific principles and scientific phenomena observed during student inquiries (e.g., "Remember when we were at the park and we saw the apple tree with lots of bees near the flowers? This...makes me think of that because..."; "We talked about the things humans need to live and grow. I wonder what our tomato seeds will need to live and grow? Will it be the same as we need or will it be different? How do you know that?").

Make connections between the processes of science employed and the nature of science understandings that are relevant to inquiries and/or Design & Builds (e.g., developing an understanding of what it means to "think like a scientist")

Remind students that they are doing science, as real scientists do, when they engage in scientific inquiry.

Help students understand and attend to the accepted processes of science and technology, with consideration of their ability and stage of development.

Show students that doing science involves processes and methods that have evolved and become established over time in order to advance understanding (introduce the historical origins and innovators of science and technology processes and methods).

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The ability to make connections involves a process of connecting prior knowledge to new knowledge and experiences.

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How to Teach Children to Use Their Schema for Reading Comprehension!

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How to Teach Children to Use Their Schema for Reading Comprehension!

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How to Teach Children to Use Their Schema for Reading Comprehension!

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Understanding Long-term Memory w/ 75+ Research-Based Strategies

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Understanding Long-term Memory w/ 75+ Research-Based Strategies

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Long-term Memory | Learner Variability Project

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Learner variability is the recognition that each learner is a unique constellation of strengths and challenges that are interconnected across the whole child. Understanding these connections and how they vary according to context is essential for meeting the needs of each learner. It embraces both students’ struggles and strengths. It considers the whole child.

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An introduction to schemas and why your students can’t have too much knowledge : My College

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Learning builds in schemas; knowledge allows you to accrue more knowledge. What does it mean? As we learn, we arrange information into sets of ideas (schemas) that help us make sense of the world. This makes future recall easier because whole sets of ideas can be recalled together. This is why knowledge builds on knowledge. […]

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Schema Explained for Educators (Infographic)

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Schema Explained for Educators (Infographic)

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Teaching for Understanding: Schema-Building and Generative Learning

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Teaching for Understanding: Schema-Building and Generative Learning

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Teaching for understanding: Schema-building and generative learning.

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I've had the privilege of observing a lot of lessons already this term - with huge thanks to the teachers concerned for their warm welcome. As I've been doing this, I realise I'm applying a continually evolving mental model of the learning process to what I'm seeing - and this is what influences the dialogues...

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10 Strategies to Enhance Students' Memory

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10 Strategies to Enhance Students' Memory

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You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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10 Strategies to Enhance Students' Memory

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Effective and efficient memory is critical for reading and school success. Here are 10 strategies to help children develop their memories.

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What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It?

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What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It?

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Today's guest post is written by Julie Stern, an author and consultant who focuses on conceptual understanding.

Have you ever been frustrated by how quickly students seem to forget what you've taught them? Or by their struggles to use what they've learned in one context in a new, but related context? When we intentionally help students build schema, we can solve both problems.

Schema is a mental structure to help us understand how things work. It has to do with how we organize knowledge. As we take in new information, we connect it to other things we know, believe, or have experienced. And those connections form a sort of structure in the brain.
Consider the following quotes from education researchers:
"The reason experts remember more is that what novices see as separate pieces of information, experts see as organized sets of ideas." Donovan & Bransford, 2005

"It turns out that people who do well in math are those that make connections and see math as a connected subject." Jo Boaler, 2014

"Cognitive scientists think of deep learning-or what you might call 'learning for understanding'-as the ability to organize discrete pieces of knowledge into a larger schema of understanding." Meta & Fine, 2019

If a hallmark of expertise is organized thinking, how do we help students to see the structure of the subject we are teaching?

Enter the noble index card. This low-tech tool has the power to revolutionize your teaching practice. Post-it notes work, too. They allow students to physically build and manipulate schema as they learn. Let me show you.

First, we start with individual concepts, which are the building blocks of schema. Concepts are words we use to organize and categorize our world. When we look at our curriculum standards or learning outcomes, the nouns are usually the concepts. Examples include: story patterns, character, fraction, whole number, living things, organelle, leadership, and sovereignty.

We can start with examples of concepts that students already know. For instance, we can use ocean, desert, and rain forest as examples of the concept of habitat. Or we can put groups of different concepts in front of students and ask them to try to determine the features that differ between the groups. One middle school science teacher put a few simple circuits on one table and a few parallel circuits on another table. Students tinkered with the circuits on each table and discussed what differences they noticed between the two groups.

Once students acquire initial understanding of a concept, it's time to consolidate their understanding (Fisher, Frey & Hattie, 2017). They can do this using index cards, collecting these cards as visual representations of the building blocks of expertise. Many teachers use the SEE-IT model. See the steps in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: SEE-IT Model for Consolidating Understanding of Single Concepts
Source: Adapted from Stern et. al, 2017; originally adapted from Paul & Elder, 2013.

Social studies teacher Jeff Phillips asked his students to complete this activity to consolidate their understanding of the concept of "services." And English/language arts teacher Trevor Aleo asked his students to complete the steps with the concept of "symbol." See both student examples in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: SEE-IT Card Examples for Social Studies and Language Arts
When students elaborate on their understanding of concepts, it presents an opportunity to correct any lingering misunderstandings. See the student example in Figure 3 below. Notice that the student wrote that a leader has a "right" to change society's perspective, demonstrating a common confusion in social studies. In a democratic society, governments have authority derived from the people, while people maintain rights, derived from birth. This is an important distinction that we can now correct.
Figure 3: Example of Misconception of a Concept
Now-on to the really good stuff. Once students have acquired, corrected, and consolidated their understanding of individual concepts, it's time to connect the concepts in relationship. That's where schema is built.

This next step comes during and after students have explored a fact-rich context such as a complex mathematical problem, science experiment, literary text, or social studies context. Students use their learning experiences to generalize into organizing principles about how the world works (Erickson & Lanning, 2014). They can now physically arrange the note cards or Post-it notes to demonstrate how concepts are related. Then, they should write a sentence or paragraph that explains the relationship.

Science teacher Julia Briggs asked her students to connect the concepts of matter, arrangements, subatomic particles, and properties. Then, Ms. Briggs asked students to write a couple of sentences about how the concepts are related. Notice how the note cards serve to make a structure among the science concepts in the example in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4: Science Example of Sorting and Connecting Concepts to Build Schema
Similarly, math teacher Courtney Paull asked her students to connect five concepts using Post-it notes: linear models, table, story, graph, and equation. Then, they wrote a paragraph about how the concepts are related.

The students wrote,

Wow. Imagine if we had all learned mathematics this way. See the picture in Figure 5 below.
Figure 5: Mathematics Example of Sorting and Connecting Concepts to Build Schema
The index cards and Post-it notes help students to physically build an organizational structure or schema directly on their desks. Importantly, schema is not built with just one pass at making connections. Schema is built through multiple experiences of making connections. This activity can and should be repeated throughout the unit, semester, and school year. Students can add more concepts and make more connections each time they transfer their understanding to a new situation, eventually writing several paragraphs about how the concepts are connected and related.

Regular readers of this blog are likely familiar with John Hattie's research, called Visible Learning. His meta-analysis of factors that influence student learning shows that an effect size of .40 is the average of all influences. So, we can think of .40 roughly as a year's worth of growth. Anything above .40 has the potential to accelerate student achievement (Visible Learning Plus, 2019).

Here's how the strategies above measure up:

Using examples of concepts from students' prior knowledge = .93

Clarifying misconceptions about concepts (conceptual change) = .99

Asking students to elaborate and organize their understanding of concepts = .75

Mapping concepts in connection to other concepts = .64

Strategies to transfer learning = .86

Exciting, isn't it? Intentionally teaching for schema is supported by both cognitive science and meta-analysis of student achievement. Grab some index cards or Post-it notes and help your students both retain information and transfer it to new situations.
For more practical ways to apply this research in the classroom, see References: Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding, Secondary or Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding, Elementary.
Boaler, J. (2014). Tour of Mathematical Connections. YouCubed, Stanford Graduate School of Education. Retrieved from: https://www.youcubed.org/resources/tour-mathematical-connections/

Donovan, S., & Bransford, J. (2005). How students learn: History, mathematics, and science in the classroom. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Erickson, H. L., & Lanning, L. A. (2014). Transitioning to concept-based curriculum and instruction: How to bring content and process together. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2017). Visible learning for literacy, grades K-12: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate student learning.

Meta, J. & Fine, S. (2019). In search of deeper learning. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2013). How to write a paragraph: The art of substantive writing (3rd ed.). Tomales, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Stern, J., Ferraro, K., & Mohnkern, J. (2017). Tools for teaching conceptual understanding, secondary. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, A SAGE Company.

Visible Learning Plus. (June, 2019). 250+ Influences on Student Achievement. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, CA. Retrieved from: https://us.corwin.com/sites/default/files/250_influences_chart_june_2019.pdf

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What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It? (Opinion)

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Schema can help students understand how things work and how to organize their knowledge.

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Thinkport.org | Leaders in Educational Products

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We offer a collection of pre-formatted graphic organizers that you can integrate into activities and lesson plans or use by themselves.

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Schemas are patterns of repeated behavior that allow children to develop an understanding of the world around them through play and exploration. Schemas are mental models or processes that we create by trial and error

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List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

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List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

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Exploring Graphic Organizers?

Graphic organizers integrate both text and visuals. This has been scientifically proven to be an effective way of teaching and learning. Using them can be extremely useful for both teachers and students as they will make lessons more engaging as well as easily comprehensible.

We have listed below multiple types of graphic organizers you can use during various scenarios, whether you are reading, writing, doing research or studying for exams. Each tool is accompanied by a template that you can use right away.
1. What are Graphic Organizers 1.1. Benefits of graphic organizers 2. Types of Graphic Organizers 2.1. Graphic Organizers for Writing 2.1.1. 1. Persuasion map 2.1.2. 2. Sequence Chart 2.2. Graphic Organizers for Reading 2.2.1. 3. Story map 2.2.2. 4. Biography graphic organizer 2.2.3. 5. KWL chart 2.3. Graphic Organizers for Teaching 2.3.1. 6. Learning map 2.3.2. 7. Analogy graphic organizer 2.3.3. 8. Vocabulary graphic organizer 2.3.4. 9. Problem-solving organizer 2.3.5. 10. Math Graphic Organizer 2.4. Graphic Organizers for Learning 2.4.1. 11. Timeline graphic organizer 2.4.2. 12. T chart 2.4.3. 13. Hierarchy chart 2.4.4. 14. Star diagram 2.5. Graphic Organizers for Brainstorming 2.5.1. 15. Cluster diagram 2.5.2. 16. Lotus diagram 2.5.3. 17. Cause and effect graphic organizer 2.5.4. 18. Mind map 2.6. Graphic Organizers for Compare and Contrast 2.6.1. 19. Double bubble map 2.6.2. 20. Venn diagram 2.6.2.1. Add to Our List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students
What are Graphic Organizers

A graphic organizer is a teaching and learning tool that is used to organize information and ideas in a way that is easy to comprehend and internalize. By integrating text and visuals, graphic organizers show relationships and connections between concepts, terms, and facts.

Graphic organizers can be used in all grade levels, and have proven to be effective learning tools for gifted children and students with special needs. And with adult learners, graphic organizers can help enable the connection between what they already know and newly acquired knowledge.

Benefits of graphic organizers

Different types of graphic organizers can be used across the curriculum for teaching, learning, and note-taking. They are easy to create and impactful in simplifying information.

Help visualize or present information in a way that is easier to comprehend, by breaking down larger or complex concepts or ideas into smaller and simpler parts.

Provide students the opportunity to actively contribute and participate in the learning process through the creation of graphic organizers.

Help develop cognitive skills such as brainstorming, critical and, categorizing and prioritizing content, reflection, etc.

Help recall prior knowledge about a subject and quickly connect it to new information

Promotes self-learning. By using graphic organizers for note-taking, analyzing, studying, etc. students can familiarize themselves with a lesson far more easily.

Types of Graphic Organizers

Here we have listed 19 types of graphic organizers for teaching and learning. Based on their varied purposes, you can utilize them in reading, writing, researching, brainstorming, and analyzing.

Graphic Organizers for Writing

1. Persuasion map

The persuasion map is an interactive graphic organizer that helps students familiarize themselves with the process of persuasive writing . It assists them with outlining and preparing arguments for their essays, speeches, debates, etc.
How to use it
Step 1: Choose a topic of interest for your essay/debate. Do proper research around it to collect enough information.

Step 2: Define the claim that you want to make with your essay. Persuasive writing by writing this down first.

Step 3: Next to it, write down the reasons for making that claim.

Step 4: Then write down facts, examples, and information to back up your reasoning.

Step 5: End your persuasion map with the conclusion of your essay.

2. Sequence Chart

A sequence graphic organizer is a tool that helps visualize the order of steps of a process or a timeline of events, etc. It can also be used for note-taking, lesson planning, and essay writing.
How to use it
Step 1: Identify the steps in the process or event.

Step 2: Using a sequence chart arrange these steps in sequential order.
Template
Graphic Organizers for Reading

3. Story map

A story map can be used to identify the different elements such as characters, character plots, themes, techniques, etc. in a book students are reading. It's a useful tool that teachers can integrate into the lesson to improve students' comprehension.
How to use it
Step 1: Read the book and understand it well.

Step 2: Discuss the different significant elements that were involved in the story. These could be the characters, setting, problem and solution, etc. You can fill the story map during the discussion.

Step 3: Once the map is complete you can discuss each element individually.

4. Biography graphic organizer

This is a tool that assists with understanding a character from a novel, autobiography or movie or a historical figure more in-depth. It brings attention to various important factors about a person's life.
How to create it
Step 1: Gather as much information you can about the character you are studying. You can also refer to online resources, or ask from teachers or experts.

Step 2: As you analyze the information you have gathered, isolate the facts that stand out or you think are important.

Step 3: Use your biography graphic organizer to lay out the information in a presentable way. You can add images to make it more comprehensible as well.

5. KWL chart

KWL chart is used for gathering information from student's prior knowledge or experience. This 3 column chart captures the before (what the reader already knows), during (what the reader wants to learn) and after (what the reader learned) stages of reading.
How to use it
Step 1: Get students to brainstorm around the selected topic and write down everything they know about it in the K column.

Step 2: Ask them to generate a list of questions about what they want to know in the W column of the chart.

Step 3: During or after reading the book/ lesson get them to answer these questions in the L column.

Graphic Organizers for Teaching

6. Learning map

Learning maps visually depict the key takeaways - skills, ideas, knowledge - students should get from a lesson. It usually provides a high-level view of the lesson/ unit/ course that is to be studied and the connection between its different components. Students can also use learning maps in the classroom for note-taking.
How to use it
Step 1: At the center of the map, write down the topic (i.e. name of the lesson or unit)

Step 2: Brainstorm ideas and information related to it. Write these down on branches emerging from the center. Make sure that you place them in a way that makes sense to teach or in a logical sequence around the center.

Step 3: Add connectors between these elements and add labels to highlight the kind of relationship between them.

Learning map template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Learning Map Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

7. Analogy graphic organizer

The analogy graphic organizer uses analogy to help students identify similarities and differences between a new topic and a topic that they are already familiar with.
How to use it
Step 1: Select a topic/ concept that the students already know and is analogous in certain aspects to the new topic

Step 2: Introduce the new concept and get the students to read and discuss it

Step 3: Using an analogy graphic organizer, ask the students to brainstorm and write similarities and differences between the two topics.

Step 4: Based on the completed graphic organizer, ask the students to write a brief description of the new topic

Analogy Graphic Organizer (Click on the template to edit it online)

8. Vocabulary graphic organizer

This tool can be used to assess the vocabulary knowledge of students. You can create graphic organizers including various elements to help students learn new words, and learn antonyms and synonyms.

9. Problem-solving organizer

Problem-solving graphic organizers can be used to improve the problem-solving skills of the students. It helps students identify and evaluate solutions to problems.
How to use it
Step 1: Identify the problem and write it in the problem box

Step 2: Ask students to then write down why they think it is a problem in the first place

Step 3: Get them to brainstorm all possible solutions along with the pros and cons relates to them.

Step 4: Once they select the best possible solution, ask them to list down all its possible consequences

Step 5: Students can then make suggestions to improve the selected solution further

10. Math Graphic Organizer

Math graphic organizers are used to describe math concepts graphically to students. It helps with simplifying and solving complex math problems.
How to use it
Step 1: Select the math problem you want to identify and a relevant graphic organizer that you can use to solve it.

Step 2: Invite your students or colleagues to collaborate as you wish.

math graphic organizer template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Graphic Organizers for Learning

11. Timeline graphic organizer

Timeline diagrams are a type of graphic organizer that shows a sequence of events in chronological order.

They come in handy when studying history as you can use it to display major historical events that occurred during a period of time along with important details such as dates and locations in which they took place.

In addition, timeline charts can also be used to show the progress of something (i.e. growth of a business) or changes.
How to use it
Step 1: Identify the different events and the sequence of order in which they took place.

Step 2: Use a research on your target audience to arrange them chronologically

Step 3: Include significant details such as dates, locations and other additional information as needed.

12. T chart

T charts allow students to study two facets of a topic. For example, disadvantages and advantages, pros and cons, differences and similarities, etc.
How to use it
Step 1: Draw a T chart and write down the two areas you want to brainstorm around on each column head.

Step 2: Write down facts on each column as you carry out your brainstorming.

13. Hierarchy chart

Hierarchy charts visualize the elements of a system, organization or concept from its highest position to the lowest. Students can use this tool to understand the superordinate and subordinate categories of a topic and the relationship between them.
How to use it
Step 1: Identify the most important element under the topic you are studying. Write this down at the top of the hierarchy chart.

Step 2: List down the second layer of sub-elements stemming from the first component you have identified. Add a third and fourth as necessary.

Step 3: Connect these with lines to show how they are connected to each other.

14. Star diagram

Star diagrams are used to organize the characteristics of a chosen topic. It can also be used to brainstorm around new topics.
How to use it
Step 1: Select the topic you want to study and write it down in the center of the star diagram.

Step 2: Write down the characteristics or attributes related to the central topics on each point of the star. Adjust the points of the star depending on how many traits you write down.

Graphic Organizers for Brainstorming

15. Cluster diagram

Cluster diagrams can be used to facilitate a brainstorming session or structure idea generation and even to help with exploring new topics.
How to use it
Step 1: Pick your topic of interest to explore. This should be placed in the middle of the diagram.

Step 2: Brainstorm around this main idea and come up with sub-topics related to it. Place them around the center.

Step 3: Brainstorm around each of the sub-topics and write down related ideas around them.

Step 4: Add as many layers as you want. However, use color-coding to emphasize each branch of thought. This will make it easier for you to read and understand the cluster diagram.

16. Lotus diagram

Lotus diagram is an analytical tool that can be used to breakdown broader and more complex topics into smaller components for easy understanding. It can be used for brainstorming and studying new topics.
How to use it
Step 1: Draw a 3×3 grid in the center. On the square in the center, write down the main topic to be explored.

Step 2: Write down the related sub-topics around it as you brainstorm.

Step 3: Draw 8 more 3×3 grids around the one in the center. Each of these can be used to write down facts that you brainstorm around each subtopic.

17. Cause and effect graphic organizer

This type of graphic organizer shows the causes and effects of an event. The cause is the reason why something has happened, and effect is the result of what has happened. Visualization helps clearly understand the different cause and effect relationships.
How to use it
Using a cause and effect graphic organizer, identify the causes and effects related to the problem you are studying or writing about. There could be several models of cause and effect events, such as one cause leading to one effect or multiple effects, or multiple causes leading to one effect or multiple effects.

One cause leading to several effects

Several causes leading to one effect (You can use a fishbone diagram here)

Each cause having one related effect

One cause triggering another cause that leads to another

18. Mind map

A mind map is a tool that helps capture the free flow of thought and is widely used for brainstorming around topics. Additionally, it can also be used to organize and group information about a topic.
How to use it
Step 1: Write down the topic you are brainstorming around in the center.

Step 2: On branches emerging from the middle, write down brainstormed ideas/ thoughts.

Step 3: Expand each sub idea with more facts. You can keep on adding more information to your mind map until you have enough.

Graphic Organizers for Compare and Contrast

Here we have listed 19 types of graphic organizers for teaching and learning. Based on their varied purposes, you can utilize them in reading, writing, researching, brainstorming, and analyzing. Best of all you can use our Compare and Contrast Chart Maker to draw them.

19. Double bubble map

The double bubble map is one of the popular thinking maps. It is much like a Venn diagram and is used to identify similar and different qualities between two things.
How to use it?
Step 1: Write down the two ideas/ topics you are comparing in the two bubbles in the center.

Step 2: As you brainstorm and analyze the topic, write down the differences in the bubbles radiating from the center.

Step 3: Write down the similarities in the bubbles that are common to both topics.

20. Venn diagram

Another graphic organizer that helps you visually represent a comparison of differences and similarities between two subjects, is the Venn diagram. What makes it different from the is that it can include more than two topics and one common area.
How to use it
It works similar to the double bubble map.

Step 1: Write down the topics being compared on the top of each circle.

Step 2: Writ down the differences or unique characteristics inside its own sector avoiding the overlapping area.

Step 3: List the similarities in the common area.

Add to Our List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

Although we have covered 19 types of graphic organizers in this post, there are plenty more that can be useful to our users. Know more? Mention in the comments section below to keep expanding the list of ultimate graphic organizers.

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The Ultimate List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students | Creately

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19 types of graphic organizers for reading, writing, teaching, learning and brainstorming. Explained with editable templates for graphic organizers."

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What Are Schemas, and How Can They Help Your Students Learn?

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What Are Schemas, and How Can They Help Your Students Learn?

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What Are Schemas, and How Can They Help Your Students Learn?

Everything you know is tied to a schema. What does that mean? Consider this example: when you read the word car, you know that it refers to a mode of transportation that has tires, doors, seats, and a steering wheel. When you get in a car, you seamlessly put on your seatbelt, turn the car on, and check your mirrors before you shift gears, put your foot on the gas pedal, and drive away. All these facts and behaviors are part of your car schema.

"Cognitive scientists think of deep learning-or what you might call 'learning for understanding'-as the ability to organize discrete pieces of knowledge into a larger schema of understanding." (Meta & Fine 2019 as cited in Stern 2019)

A schema is a knowledge structure that allows the brain to more easily understand the world and how we should act it in it (Nickerson 2023). As we take in new information, we connect it to other things we know, believe, or have experienced, and those connections form an intricate web of related information in our brain (Stern 2019). The schemas in our brain are always changing, and the more we use them, the more developed they become and the easier it is to remember them ( Cognitive Load Theory 2022).

Why Do Schemas Matter for Teaching and Learning?

When you teach students something new, you want them to remember what they've learned and to be able to flexibly apply and extend that knowledge. Taking new information in and integrating it into long-term memory, again and again, is how students build a body of knowledge and skills that sticks with them throughout school and their lives. But the reality is that students often quickly forget what they've learned or struggle to apply their learning in new contexts. If that's the case, where might things be breaking down, and where do schemas come into play?

Our working memory has a limited capacity, and cognitive load refers to the effort it takes for our working memory to make sense of information at any given time. The complexity of a task or material, the amount of information being taken in at once, and the effort needed to convert new information into schemas in our long-term memory all contribute to the overall cognitive load placed on a learner (Pande 2022). When that load is high, learning-or successfully organizing information and moving it into long-term memory-will be much more difficult.

One way to free up space in our working memory and ease the learning process is to engage schemas that we already have in our long-term memory. Why does this help? Because even highly complex schemas count as one chunk of information in our working memory, and these schemas provide context that allows us to make sense of new information ( Cognitive Load Theory 2022). In other words, grouping information into schemas acts as a shortcut in our brain that makes storing and recalling new things much quicker and more efficient.

Unlock the Power of Schema with a Knowledge-Building Curriculum

Supporting students' learning so that knowledge and skills stick with them can be tricky. The good news is that students are not blank slates; they come to school having already developed schemas that can help them access new content. The challenge is that it takes effort and intention to not only activate students' existing schemas in a way that really helps their learning but to also help students expand those schemas and build new ones that will support their learning over time.

This is difficult in practice because schemas are not built with one pass at something new; they are built through multiple experiences that allow us to make and refine connections between new information and what we already know (Buschkuehl, n.d.; Cognitive Load Theory 2022; Stern 2019). Crafting those experiences for students needs to be deliberate, which takes a lot of planning and coordination. This is where a high-quality, research-based curriculum can be a valuable tool for teachers and students in the learning process. Curricula can intentionally help students learn and build knowledge through thoughtful design that attends to topic sequencing, scaffolding, and breadth and depth of content covered.

Wit & Wisdom® and Geodes ® do just that: They were built with the benefits of knowledge building in mind. Both programs consider students' entire learning journey and make sure that students have the guidance and structure they need to develop rich and meaningful schemas that they understand, remember, and can use again and again. This design reduces cognitive load and supports students as they develop strong reading and writing skills.

Let's explore the three primary ways that Wit & Wisdom and Geodes consider and build schemas within a grade level, across grade levels, and even across content areas.

Building Schemas Across Grade Levels: Instead of having students read a random collection of texts-maybe about animals one day and the moon the next-each

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Institute for Education Policy developed a Knowledge Map™ for English language arts and analyzed curricula for the knowledge they offer students about the world and the human condition.

The analysis included a quality assessment of the texts included in the curricula, Heat Maps of exposure to different knowledge domains within and across grades, and the coherence of each module in the curricula.

Wit & Wisdom and Geodes were highly rated by the Knowledge Map analysis with all grade levels meeting or exceeding the 70% threshold defined by JHU for high quality.

Wit & Wisdom grade level contains four modules, with each focusing on a single topic for several weeks at a time. Wit & Wisdom writers carefully selected texts that would build students' knowledge on a topic from a variety of sources and perspectives, allowing words and concepts to strategically recur with greater depth of meaning and complexity over time. Texts are sequenced throughout a module in a way that supports students in comprehending new ideas, acquiring new vocabulary, and asking strong questions that help them add to their knowledge of the topic and the world.

Geodes also intentionally build student knowledge by exploring connected topics across multiple books, which are organized into modules based on the content and progression of the Wit & Wisdom module topics. That means those same Grade 2 students studying how food nourishes their body during English language arts (ELA) instruction can continue to expand their knowledge of the module 4 topic, Good Eating, with Geodes books. While practicing new skills that were explicitly taught during foundational skills instruction, students read and learn about the processes of the digestive system with books such as How Do You Chew? and Body of Water and about the celebration of life through food with books such as Mooncakes and Matzo Meal. Carefully selected Recurring Content Words that repeat across books in the module help students access and express knowledge about each topic.

These texts all contribute to the knowledge puzzle, the larger body of knowledge or schemas, that students will be able to reflect on and demonstrate through their work in the module.

For example, at the end of Grade 2, students study how food nourishes their body physically and emotionally, how food can build community, and the importance of making informed choices about what we eat.

The two texts students rely on for evidence in their End-of-Module Task are information dense, language rich, and require background knowledge about food and nutrition. But the way the text sets are organized in the module helps students develop their ability to access these texts.

Core Texts

How do these texts build students' knowledge in the module?

The Digestive System - "© 2008 Scholastic, Inc." and "© Teacher Created Materials, Inc."

Students start by learning the basics of digestion with their first two informational texts, learning how food moves through the body and provides it with energy. Through these texts, students acquire academic vocabulary and extended practice with using text features to guide them in reading informational texts. Students build useful content-specific vocabulary such as digest, starches, and stomach that they will use throughout the module.

Bone Button Borscht - "© 1996 Aubrey Davis and Duyan Petricic"

Stone Soup - "© 1974 Marcia Brown"

Then students read literary texts that explore how food can bring people together and nourish a community while they also practice opinion writing for the first time. Students build useful academic vocabulary such as cooperate, benefit, and community.

The Vegetables We Eat - "© 2007 Gail Gibbons"

Students learn about different types of vegetables and how they are grown, processed, and moved to grocery stores and farm stands. Students learn content vocabulary such as root, tuber, and harvested.

Good Enough to Eat - "© 1999 Lizzy Rockwell"

Students learn more about how they can choose nourishing foods by reading about how different foods nourish their bodies. Students continue to build useful vocabulary with words such as nutrients, vitamin, and mineral.

Building Schemas Across Grade Levels: Wit & Wisdom module topics vertically align so that from Kindergarten through Grade 8, students continue to cohesively build knowledge across different topics related to science, history, geography, and more. Providing opportunities for students to experience the same topic in an age-appropriate way over an extended period allows them to expand their vocabulary, make connections within and between texts and ideas, and not only broaden but also deepen their body of knowledge and transfer it to new contexts.

Grade

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

6

"Resilience in the
Great Depression"

A Hero's Journey

Narrating the Unknown

Courage in Crisis

In the map of ELA modules above, knowledge-building topics related to science are highlighted in blue and show how students will revisit common concepts and themes across grade levels. For example, in Kindergarten, students explore some of the science that is essential to farm life, including the effects of the seasons and how different farm animals help humans. Then, in Grade 1, students study animals and their characteristics followed by the power of the wind and how humans have harnessed its energy. In Grade 2, students focus on seasons as an example of change and transformation and the science behind the transition from fall to winter. Later, in Grade 4, students read about the science of extreme settings-about how weather, terrain, wild animals, and other natural elements can make a setting challenging for humans to survive in. And then in Grade 6, students build on their learning by studying how the natural environment is both affected by and poses challenges during major historical events.

Through these experiences, students are building robust schemas about different animals and their unique qualities, types of weather, each of the four seasons, and more that they can use to access increasingly complex texts and ideas, which serve as a foundation for their growing literacy skills.

Building Schemas Across Content Areas: Many of the science-related schemas that are built with Wit & Wisdom and Geodes also support, and are supported by, instruction with PhD Science®. The first way this is done is at the text level. There are at least 10 texts-including The Buffalo Are Back, Amos and Boris, and Over and Under the Pond-that are Wit & Wisdom core or Volume of Reading texts that are also
PhD Science core texts, and two additional
In addition to shared texts, Geodes books that are core or suggested texts in PhD Science. By exposing students to some of the same texts in both literary and scientific contexts, students can draw on their knowledge of the text and the schemas they have built around it as a foundation for learning new information and applying what they know.Wit & Wisdom, Module Map to the ELA module topics, you see that several topics repeat across content areas, including modules related to weather and climate, survival, forces and energy, animal traits, ecosystems, and outer spaceGeodes, and
PhD Science work together more broadly at the topic level to help students build and use well-developed schemas in their learning. Comparing the
Since instruction with PhD Science

Wit & Wisdom and

Animals: In Wit & Wisdom Grade 1, Module 2: Creature Features, students discover the diverse characteristics, or features, of the bodies and behaviors of all kinds of animals and identify similarities and differences across species. Core texts such as What Do You Do With A Tail Like This and Me ... Jane offer rich content as students learn to describe the main ideas and key details of informational texts and write informative paragraphs with growing independence.

During foundational skills practice with Geodes, students build more Creature Features knowledge as they explore types of animal communication in Smell Tells and Elephant Talk and study defense adaptations that animals use to survive in Super Spiny Mouse and Thorny Devil. Throughout this ELA module, students build schema for different animals and learn terms such as features, unique, reproduce, mammal, sea, group, and more.

Students will be able to use this knowledge during science instruction when they encounter the traits, unique, reproduction, species, variation, mate, individual, and PhD Science modules on Traits and on Sense and Response. In Level 3, Module 3: Traits, students study individual variation in humpback whales, the anchor phenomenon, and answer the Essential Question, "What makes an individual humpback whale unique?" In doing so they learn about traits of different species, how traits are influenced by inheritance and the environment, and how traits affect the life cycle of an individual and a species. These experiences help students build knowledge of key scientific terms such as advantage. Later, in Level 4, Module 3: Sense and Response, students investigate the anchor phenomenon of elephants' ability to sense rainstorms from a great distance to study how animals use their senses to learn about their environment.

Wind: In Wit & Wisdom Grade 1, Module 3: Powerful Forces, students discover the capacity of wind and the emotions it evokes. Throughout the module, students read core texts including The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and Gilberto and the Wind and engage with supplementary poetry, videos, and paintings that feature wind and windmills. Students learn sensory words to describe the invisible force of wind and explore how wind moves objects and generates power.

During foundational skills practice with Geodes, students build more knowledge of Powerful Forces as they read about the wind and its effects in In Motion, explore how wind energy can be harnessed and used in Kite Messengers and The Wright Brothers, and learn about the history and function of windmills in Wind Giants and Towers of Nashtifan. Vocabulary words that students learn throughout this module-such as air, blow, windmill, fly, sky, and powerful-provide context for their future science learning.

In PhD Science Level 4, Module 2: Energy, students observe the anchor phenomenon of windmills, which harness the wind to generate electricity. Students learn that energy is why things happen in the world around them, and they continue to develop their knowledge of energy classification, transfer, and transformation. Throughout the module, students work to answer the Essential Question, "How do windmills change wind to light?" and develop their knowledge of key terms such as energy, speed, and generator.

Outer Space: In Wit & Wisdom Grade 3, Module 2: Outer Space, students discover how our understanding of outer space has changed over time and how beliefs about space have shaped our perceptions of Earth and our ideas about our place in the universe. As students learn about space exploration and gain basic information about the Moon and stars, they also learn to distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text and state an opinion clearly, using reasons, based in text, to support that opinion.

Throughout the module, students read informational and literary texts including Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 and Zathura along with supplementary journals, videos, and a speech about the Moon. Students learn words such as revolved, telescope, observations, satellite, lunar, and ascent as they develop knowledge schemas about outer space.

Students encounter outer space again from a scientific perspective in gravity, motion, force, orbit, moonrise, and celestial.

PhD Science Levels 3 and 5. In Level 3, Module 4: Forces and Motion, students study the anchor phenomenon of motion in space. In this module, students learn that forces can cause changes in the motion of objects and that motion can be observed, measured, described, and predicted. Then, in Level 5, Module 4: Orbit and Rotation, students investigate views from Earth and space and explore the apparent motion of astronomical objects. Across these two modules, students gain knowledge of key scientific terms including

Extreme Weather: In PhD Science Level K, Module 1: Weather, students study the anchor phenomenon, the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, to understand the parts of weather, the effects weather has on people, and the ways people prepare for severe weather. Later in Level 3, Module 1: Weather and Climate, students study the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane and build an answer to the Essential Question, "How can we prevent a storm from becoming a disaster?" This module teaches students to see that weather conditions and severe weather events occur in predictable patterns that remain stable over time as students build a deep understanding of key terms such as forecast, temperature, climate, severe weather, hurricane, precipitation, weather hazard, and season. These concepts and schemas about weather and climate can then anchor new learning about extreme settings in students' ELA instruction.

In Wit & Wisdom Grade 4, Module 2: Extreme Settings, students explore human responses to challenges presented by nature and build knowledge about aspects of the environment including adverse weather, rugged terrain, wild animals, plants, and more. Students read literary and scientific texts, including Hatchet and SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere, and learn vocabulary words such as extreme, erosion, survival, wilderness, erosion, glacier, Fahrenheit, and eruption.

As students build their content knowledge throughout the module, they also learn how the environment can be expanded through details to become a key story element in a literary text and how to infer emotions felt by the protagonists in each poem and story.

Geodes is rich in science-related content, there are countless opportunities, big and small, to connect ELA and science instruction to support student learning. Here are just a few examples that bring these cross-content connections to life.

Providing Educators with the Tools for Success

Attending to schemas and the coherent knowledge build of our programs is just one way that the curriculum writers at Great Minds® have applied research on how students best learn. The architecture of the content itself is also supported by the instructional design of each individual lesson, which is guided by a Launch, Learn, Land structure that is consistent across all content areas. Each phase in this structure plays a critical role in activating students' knowledge schemas, reducing students' cognitive load, and actively engaging students in building knowledge that stays with them. Learn more about the research behind our curriculum design and see this lesson structure in action.

WORKS CITED

Bruck, Jason N. "Long-Term Memory." In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. November 14, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_783-1

Buschkuehl, Martin. "What Are Schemas?" n.d., Mind Research Institute. https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/schema-in-education. Accessed 26 September 2023 .

"Cognitive Load Theory: A Guide to Applying Cognitive Load Theory to Your Teaching." Medical College of Wisconsin. May 2022. https://www.mcw.edu/-/media/MCW/Education/Academic-Affairs/OEI/Faculty-Quick-Guides/Cognitive-Load-Theory.pdf .

Meta, J. & Fine, S. (2019). In search of deeper learningem>. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, quoted in Stern, Julie. "What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It?" EducationWeek. October 20, 2019. https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-what-is-schema-how-do-we-help-students-build-it/2019/10 .

Nickerson, Charlotte. "Schema In Psychology: Definition, Theory, & Examples." Simply Psychology. May 12, 2023. https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-a-schema.html .

Pande, Ishani. "Cognitive Load Theory: Definition, Types, And Applications For Learning." Cognition Today. August 8, 2022. https://cognitiontoday.com/cognitive-load-theory-definition-types-and-applications-for-learning-guest-post/ .

Perera, Ayesh. "Sensory Memory In Psychology: Definition & Examples." Simply Psychologyem>. July 30, 2023. https://www.simplypsychology.org/sensory-memory.html .

Stern, Julie. "What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It?" EducationWeekem>. October 20, 2019. https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-what-is-schema-how-do-we-help-students-build-it/2019/10 .

Willingham, Daniel T. "Why Don't Kids Like School?" American Educator. Spring 2009. American Federation of Teachers. Accessed 31 August 2022. https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2009/why-dont-students-school .

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What Are Schemas, and How Can They Help Your Students Learn?

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Everything you know is tied to a schema. What does that mean? Consider this example: when you read the word car, you know that it refers to a mode of transportation that has tires, doors, seats, and a steering wheel.

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Guide to Schema Theory and its Role in Education

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Guide to Schema Theory and its Role in Education

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You've probably come across schemas and schema theory if you've researched any evidence based learning theories or maybe you've just nodded and smiled as you sat bleary-eyed through a professional development session, not wanting others know you don't have a clue what's going on.

If you're anything like me, you know what I mean. However, in this article, we will go through exactly what schema theory is, how it can benefit students (and yourself) and how you can apply it to your teaching.

So what is Schema Theory? Schemas are categories of information stored in long-term memory. A schema contains groups of linked memories, concepts or words. This grouping of things acts as a cognitive shortcut, making storing new things in your long-term memory and retrieval of them much quicker and more efficient.

For example: If I smell a cake being baked, it reminds me of things I used to do with my Nan, as we used to bake cakes together. The smell of baking cakes is part of my "Nan" schema.

If you consider schema ( Plural: schemata) theory when planning your lessons and making your resources. Your students will construct very strong schemata and remember much more. Especially if you also consider cognitive load theory and dual coding theory.

Schema theory is also considered in the seminal work, " Rosenshine's principles of instruction ".

Spending time directly teaching them this metacognitive strategy will hugely improve your students ability to remember more from your lessons. When students understand this, it makes studying for a test a much less stressful time too.

Confused? Don't worry, by the end of this article you will be a schema master.

Let's get started.

What is Schema Theory?

As we saw above, schema theory describes how people group together associated memories. These groups are known as schemata.

Much like the way you put all your holiday photos into one album or file all your bank statements into the same folder, schemata contain similar things (as we saw from my "Nan schema" image above).

For instance, if you think of the word "car", images and words will quickly come to the forefront of your mind, these will probably contain thins like: wheels, seats, road, journeys, insurance, steering wheel etc.

You "car schema" allowed you to quickly retrieve all things to do with cars.

It is this retrieval that makes Schema theory hugely important in education. If students can associate new ideas with schema they already have, the likelihood of them remembering them is much higher.

Bartlett's Schema Theory

British psychologist, Sir Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969) was the first professor of experimental psychology at Cambridge University, UK. He was a pioneer of cognitive psychology which today forms the foundations of all cognitive science.

It was whilst in this position that Bartlett published the book " Remembering " (1932), his most respected work. Within this book, Bartlett discussed in great detail, Schema Theory.

"War of the Ghosts"

Bartlett's seminal experiment; the "war of the Ghosts" experiment, which was featured in Remembering, demonstrated the reconstructive capability of the human memory. It showed how new information could be linked to, and sometimes adapted to fit existing schemata.

In this experiment, Bartlett assigned reading material to the participants (all of which were English). He gave them a native American folklore text called "War on Ghosts" to read and asked them to recall parts of the text at different intervals.

He noticed that the longer the interval in between reading and recalling, the less accurate the memory.

This wasn't the surprising result.

The most interesting outcome Bartlett noticed was that where parts of the text didn't fit with the Edwardian English schemata the participants already had, they were either omitted from the recalled information completely or had been adapted to fit the participants existing schema.

For example, some participants recalled the "canoes" from the text as "boats". One participant had recalled "something black came out of his mouth" as "he foamed at the mouth".

It was clear from this experiment, that something was happening subconsciously within the memory of the participants. In order to understand, process and memorize the information within the text, the participants had, without realizing put the new information into schema they already had.

At the time of Bartlett's work, most psychology was rooted in behaviorism and associationism and thus Bartlett's more cognitive, Schema Theory wasn't strongly accepted and thus faded from focus.

Minsky's Frame Theory

At this point, we must give a nod of gratitude to Marvin Minksy (1927-2016). In the 1970s Minsky, a cognitive scientist, was working on artificial intelligence (AI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His work involved trying to develop machines with human-like abilities (he wanted them to be able to perceive and understand the world around them).

Whilst this has nothing to do with education, without him, Schema Theory could well have been lost for good.

Whilst trying to solve the complex problems above, he came across Bartlett's work.

Minsky realized that in order for machines to perceive and understand the world, they'd need to have a frame of reference, i.e. have the prior knowledge to link any stimuli they encountered with. Minsky's frame was developed directly from Bartlett's schema.

Modern Schema Theory

Minsky's resurrection of Bartlett's Schema Theory gave rise to a plethora of work in cognitive psychology and educational research.

David Rumelhart

In his 1977 paper " The Representation of Knowledge in Memory ", Rumelhart postulated 4 characteristics of schemata, which I shall give some context to below.
(How very meta of me; using YOUR existing schemata to help you understand schema theory!)

Schemata have variables.

Your schema for the word "teach" has several variables: your career, imparting knowledge or a student learning. (maybe even the pirate, Edward Teach!).

These variables would all be located in your "teach" schema, which one you use is determined by the situation or context you find yourself in.

Schemata can embed, one within another.

Using the earlier example; within your "teach" schema, you may have a subschema "lesson plan" or "school" (or "pirate").

Each of these subschemata may also have embedded schema within them.

Schemata represent generic concepts, which taken all together, vary in their level of abstraction.

Any schemata may be accessed from any number of higher schemata. "school" could be accessed from "teach" or "type of building" or "fish" (as in a school of fish).

This is especially important when students try to make inferences from texts or understand metaphors or analogies.

Schemata represent knowledge rather than definitions.

Schemata represent a more flexible encyclopedic knowledge, rather than a fixed dictionary definition. For example; A dictionary definition of "pirate" could give the eyepatch, rum, parrot, pieces of eight version, whereas our "pirate" schema would also lead you down a more semantic path of pirate movies or music.

This plays into the ability of our students to link what they learn in the classroom to the outside world. Schemata allow apparent mental jumps from one meaning to another.

In his later, 1980 paper, " Schemata: the building blocks of cognition ", Rumelhart said of schemata:

"schemata can represent knowledge at all levels - from ideologSchemaies and cultural truths to knowledge about the meaning of a particular word, to knowledge about what patterns of excitations are associated with what letters of the alphabet. We have schemata to represent all levels of our experience, at all levels of abstraction. Finally, our schemata are our knowledge. All of our generic knowledge is embedded in schemata."

It is clear from this quote that schema theory plays a large role in learning, it is our job as teachers, not only to give information to our students but give it to them in with the context required that will allow them to process and remember it.

Before we look at schema theory in education, let's just take a flexible pitstop.

Flexible Schemas

It is worth mentioning here the flexibility of schemas before we delve into the relevancy of schema theory in an educational setting.

In order for students (well, anyone actually) to fit new knowledge into existing schema, schema must have plasticity, otherwise misconceptions will occur.
For example:
Consider your "bed" schema. In your own bedroom, you know that you can get into your bed and sleep right? You also know that in a bed showroom, getting your pjs on and hoping into one of those beds is not the done thing.

They are both beds but your schema has, at some point adapted to fit both scenarios.

We can store multiple versions of the same schema to fit different situations.
(I could have used the example of a bathroom showroom, but...you get my drift!)
Schema Theory in Education

So, now you hopefully have a clearer understanding of Schema Theory and you've probably used some of your own existing schemata to make sense of it (again, so meta!).

But how do we transpose general schema theory into our own educational arena?

For this we turn to educational psychologist, Richard Anderson.

Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson is an American Educational Psychologist who in the 1970s used schema theory in an educational setting, predominantly from a reading perspective.

Given that reading (or more specifically, being able to comprehend text) is the basis for most learning, I'm sure you will agree, that his work was a temporal landmark in understanding how students learn.

In his 1976 paper "Frameworks For Comprehending Discourse", Anderson discusses the relevance of "bottom-up" vs. "top-down" processing, to schema theory.

The Importance of Schemata in Teaching and Learning

Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Processing
What is botton-up processing?
In the context of reading, the "bottom" represents the words on the page you are reading from. Bottom-up processing refers to the influence exerted on your mind by the words on the page.
For example:
Imagine I gave you are page of text based on a subject you had absolutely no experience with. As able readers you could read the words, right? This is bottom-up processing.

When you present a new topic to a child in your class, this is where they are starting from, 100% bottom-up processing.

Without context, it means nothing to them.

What is top-down processing?

In contrast to bottom-up processing, top-down processing refers to your preexisting knowledge (your schemata) being used to make sense of the words on the page.
For example:
I have just magically given you all of the knowledge to fly a helicopter (you're welcome by the way!), you can understand any technical information presented to you as long as it's written in a language you understand.

However, you stumble upon a helicopter manual written in a language you have no experience with; the letters, words and sentence structure all appear alien to you.

Despite being an expert pilot, you can't do anything with the manual!

Top-down processing, like bottom up processing only work when accompanied by the other.

If a child in your class can't relate the new topic you are teaching them with any of their pre-existent schemata, they will simply not be able to learn it.

Also, the cognitive load of being presented with so much new information is far too great for them to make any attempt to comprehend it.

Educational literacy is essential, without it, students stand no chance.

In the next section we will look at how we can apply schema theory in the classroom.

Schema Theory and Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction

Essentially then our schema is the cognitive framework we have in which we organize our knowledge.

We use this framework as a mental structure of not only what we have learnt but what we have available to us to learn and where we can place it; our existing schema influences our perception of new material.

Rosenshine places great store on review - daily, weekly and monthly - as part of effective teaching; '[daily] reviews ensured that the students had a firm grasp of the skills and concepts that would be needed'.

Add to this Rosenshine's second principle that new material must be presented using small steps and we see the development of schema - extending the cognitive framework using the existing foundations.

We must not fall into the trap of assuming that one theory correlates directly with another - all research and evidence in education have various Venn Diagrams in which different components nestle with others, but there is a clear line of evidence to show that what works, works!

Understanding the concept of schema as a depiction of cognitive architecture helps a teacher understand how misconceptions may arise and also how to combat them.

Students arrive at learning experiences full of previous learning experiences, perceptions, memories and misunderstandings, as well as thousands of idiomatic associations that they didn't realize they possessed until they were either explained or challenged.

Rosenshine gives us clear principles from which we can start our instructional journey and then go and explore further as teachers ourselves.

Direct Instruction works!

Schema Theory and Cognitive Load Theory

We know from Rosenshine (above) that more successful teachers present ' small amounts of new material at one time' and in such a way that each point is mastered and understood before moving on; ' too much information swamps our working memory' (Rosenshine, 2012).

Sweller et al (2003) explore the Expertise Reversal Effect - what works for Novices doesn't work for Experts and therefore vice-versa.

Experts need less support in solving a new problem and therefore your approaches as a teacher must vary according to the ability and independence of the students in front of you; this will also affect your resource design.

Sweller (1988) looks at why domain-specific knowledge is necessary for problem-solving; you need to know facts to solve problems.

His piece explores how conventional problem-solving doesn't help (or is inefficient) in acquiring schemata for problem-solving - doing does not always equal improving!

As teachers we are experts and therefore must avoid means-to-an-end problem solving and working backwards - we will put too much strain, too much cognitive load on the problem and therefore hinder the learning.

Interleaving can help here as a model of instructional design, reducing the pressure on the working memory by factoring in numerous opportunities for successful recall of information necessary for learning to be efficient.

If the methods employed by you as a teacher are in line with the human cognitive architecture then you will enable a more efficient transfer.

Sweller concludes that you don't learn to solve problems by solving problems!

Schema Theory and Dual Coding Theory

As we have explored, the term schema is applied by psychologists to describe the way long-term memory is organized and sculpted.

Therefore, anything that helps organize and interpret new experiences, new information, will be a benefit and enable the efficient construction of that high-level knowledge structure - see the work of Roediger et al.

Schemas are complex layers of connections and visuals can help with the facilitation of this as the connections between the information/facts/ideas are clearly represented by the appropriate depiction.

Building connections is a multi-sensory process; well-selected visual accompaniments to complex theories can help turn the abstract to concrete and thereby render them firmly in the schema of the student.

Teachers already possess appropriate schema; they have to impart aspects of these to their 'Novice' students.

If they speak, that schema can be transient - the words disappear. If they write it, there is often inference required - computational disadvantage; the meaning is hidden to the Novice reader.

A good, clean graphic, a concept map or a diagram can all help enable the connections.

Schema Theory and Metacognition
Prior knowledge supports new learning.
If you can, as a teacher, explicitly link new learning to experiences and knowledge that students already possess then you help students integrate this new learning into their existing schema, however, limited they may be.

By doing so you are also promoting students' to think about their own learning.

The very essence of metacognition.

If students can make conscious decisions about their own learning processes and by doing so eliminate the inefficiencies then they become better learners.

If they see you model your process, explain your thoughts and use the language of schema in your descriptions and scaffolds then they will apply them to their own independent study.

Metacognition requires self-reflection; self-reflection requires a knowledge of how to reflect, which in turn requires a knowledge of how the mind works, and in particular the ability for students to articulate (either internally or externally - the latter is better!) how each piece of knowledge is connected to the next.

Teach students about their mind and their schema; help them to help you.

Application of Schema Theory in the classroom

By now you will have realized that, as teachers, schema theory, is probably the most important thing to consider when planning and teaching your lessons.

Put simply, if students have no context of what you are teaching, the battle has already been lost.

As Richard Anderson eloquently puts it:

"The schemata a person already possesses are a principal determiner of what will be learned from a new text."

Schemata as Scaffolding for the Representation of Information in Connected Discourse
The implication of this is, the more we know the easier it is to learn more. This results from the fact that we rely on our preexisting schema to make sense of new information.

It is, therefore, our job to ensure that we both ensure that students have the prior knowledge that will enable them to assimilate new information into their preexisting schemata.

But how on Earth do we do that. Surely, if we haven't taught them it yet, how will they have prior knowledge?
Don't worry, it's simpler than it sounds.
As we discussed earlier, schema theory is especially important when it comes to educational literacy.

For subjects or topics that rely on specific words that aren't part of a student's regular vocabulary (such as science for instance), understanding new concepts is impossible if you don't know what the keywords mean.

It's like being surrounded by locks, having never been taught what a key is!

Understand Definitions Before Concepts

A simple, yet hugely effective strategy I use, makes huge headway to bringing down this barrier.

Before starting a new scientific topic, I will give my students a list of the keywords and their definitions from the new topic and allow them to learn what the words mean (this is not a spelling test!).

I will give them time to quiz each other, make flashcards or do an online quiz (I always set up a Quizlet for each set of keywords). When they are confident they know what the words mean, I give them a little quiz.

I will read out the definitions and they have to write the associated keyword down. Again, this is not a test of their spelling prowess. My goal is to give them a level of prior knowledge they will need to build schema for the new set of lessons.

This strategy is easily transferrable to many other subjects and takes relatively little time to do (you could even set the learning of the definitions for home learning).

Schema Theory in Math Lessons

In 1989 Richard Clark published a paper called ' When Teaching Kills Learning'; in this, he defined two types of activities: -

'mathemagenic' - Activities that promote and give birth to learning.

'mathemathantic' - Activities that kill learning by mismatching strategy with learner competency.

"Whenever an instructional treatment encourages students to replace an existing, effective learning strategy with a dissimilar alternative, learning is depressed".

Clark looks at examples from Math lessons, " In a math task involving the specification, intersection and separation of sets, Gagne & Bessler (1963) found it difficult to explain why an untreated control group significantly outperformed an experimental group on a nine-week delayed retention test. The treated group had received training in applying intersection rules to a number of example problems. "

In the article, Clark gives an example: " mathematics teachers discourage the concrete "finger counting" that slower math learners use while performing arithmetic operations. Mathematics teachers tend to encourage their own more "abstract" learning strategies that seem not to help the lower aptitude or younger subjects.""

The caveat here is that what works for one learner may not work for another.

Using abstract representations of pizza slices and Swiss Roll to explore fractions may benefit in terms of students enjoying the lesson but enjoyment is not engagement and memories aren't the same as memory.

They may simply remember the pizza and nothing about the fractions!

Novices need guidance and structure; Experts will benefit from greater independence. Consider your approach carefully based on your knowledge of your students.

Jitendra's Schema Based Instruction

In 2011 Jitendra et al conducted research showing that a model of Schema-Based Instruction enabled students to solve mathematical problems presented in word form by emphasizing the 'underlying mathematical structure of problems via schematic diagrams'.

Although limited, the study showed the effectiveness of SBI in improving students' problem-solving.
The paper offers two key implications for teachers:
Firstly. ' teachers need to provide instruction on using schematic diagrams that are appropriate for the problems, support the use of multiple ways to solve problems, and model how to monitor and reflect on the problem-solving process ' - see Metacognition below.

Secondly. ' teachers need to optimize learning opportunities to help students transfer' information from one aspect to another, developing and strengthening the connections accurately and building the schema.

The research showed this process to be effective in math lessons but the ideas themselves are transferable, where appropriate, to all domains.

Schema Theory in Physical Subjects

According to Early Years specialist Chris Athey, schemas are those " patterns of behavior and thinking in children that exist and evolve, and which may be represented by actions, language and symbolic play "

The repeated nature of behaviors can show patterns which may reflect a child's interest in a concept or the properties of materials/objects they are using in their play.

Athey built from Piaget - schemas are manifested through a range of perceptual and active experiences in children's relationships with others and their representations of that experience - patterns of physical behavior.

This led to types of schema such as rotation, trajectories, transporting, enveloping, connecting and transforming, among many others.

The development of physical embodiments of concepts helps, like Dual Coding, to create a pattern of recognition and strengthen the schema through associations.
This should not be seen as the dreaded Kinaesthetic learning, however!
By having an understanding of how knowledge is acquired, rehearsed and retrieved from schema, teachers can plan for activities that promote effective learning and retention of material - drills, practice, repetition, challenge.

Schema Theory in Foreign Language Lessons.

In the excellent ' Learning; What is it? ' paper Peps McRae explores insights into effective and efficient learning.

One such insight is that understanding arises through connection:

'Focus on helping pupils see and make meaningful connections between what they know and what they are experiencing.

Provide non-examples as well as examples. Don't leave out any parts or steps, even though they may seem obvious.

Provide opportunities for pupils to ask questions and attempt to make sense of what they are encountering. Ensure pupils have adequate thinking time to explore and establish connections.'.

This can be prevalent in any classroom environment but perhaps most so in languages, where failure to activate adequate schema can result in poor comprehension or translation, and therefore inaccurate communication.

The use of examples and non-examples help address misconceptions that may arise, anticipating them from your own experience as a teacher and addressing them before they occur.

One method can be to give students texts to read on the topic at hand in their first language before then introducing the topic in the language being taught, as well as regular checks for understanding, practice and rehearsal.

A good source of evidence for misconceptions in foreign languages, as in other subjects - are Examiner reports published after each Exam series; these detail where successes were found but also, more usefully, where errors were made by students in decoding or responding to questions.

Schema Theory in Science Lessons

In 1946 A. D. de Groot published his PhD thesis around how chess masters interpret and solve chess problems.

He found that the more expertise a person has in a particular area, the easier they find it to categorize and then solve problems because they have greater, deeper conceptual knowledge and understanding of principles and ideas.

In 1981 Chi et al conducted research using Physics students in their first year and PhD candidates (Novices and Experts) to compare how they classified Physics tasks into different categories and found (naturally) that the Experts classified them differently from the Novices.

The experts, because of their conceptual grasp, had strategies for solutions that matched the problems already to hand.

When teaching Sciences, as with other subjects, we must be careful to ensure that the process is clear, the steps are small and the essential knowledge needed to solve the problems is accurate.

Diagrammatical representations of processes can be very helpful to help students visualize the schema, as can the modelling and explanations of the teacher.

For example, if you are looking at the change of matter from one form to another, you may start by asking students to represent that from their own knowledge - what happens to an ice cube left on the side on a hot day?

Students will use previous experience to determine that it will melt; some may understand also that water evaporates - drawing on this schema you as a teacher can prepare them for concepts such as solid - liquid - gas.

As ever, it is about assessing the existing knowledge, checking for the misconceptions and preventing the development of inaccurate connections and links.

Impact of Schema Theory on Education

Schema theory can help us understand the differences between Novices and Experts and therefore also our approach to classroom teaching, curriculum planning and resource design.

In 1979 Chi et al explored this through Physics problems (above) but ultimately they tell us that ' not only do experts have more knowledge and can work faster than beginners, they also look at or tackle problems differently '.

Essentially, what you already know determines what you see, find or look for, as well as the way you approach the problem itself - the more complex and developed your schema, the more you have at your disposal to deal with it.

To quote from Kirschner and Hendrick (2020):

'for optimal learning, new knowledge must be related to the knowledge that students have already acquired'.

Piaget referred to the integration of the new knowledge into the existing schema as assimilation (insert new knowledge into existing schema) and accommodation (adapt existing schema to fit the new knowledge).

Ultimately, beginners have incomplete schema, possibly full of misconceptions, which teachers need to be aware of and make allowance for.

Differentiation, therefore, needs to take place at an early stage to help combat any misconceptions before they develop and corrupt the schema.

Novices have no access to schema relevant to the task before them; Experts have the schema and therefore can use it to encode the various elements into single entities, working forwards.

Novices work backwards from a means-end perspective.

Schemata are the mental models we have - they get increasingly more complex, more elaborate, more sophisticated with every piece of knowledge applied, but that knowledge has to be accurate and appropriate to the schema being built.
One dodgy brick and a house can fall down...
This can have significant implications for curriculum planning as perception is so individual but if the focus of the curriculum is explicit and success is clearly defined then this job becomes easier.

The key is to ensure that no student leaves a lesson with an incorrect piece of knowledge or a poorly applied example.

Good curriculum planning involves thinking about the links you want your students to develop. Exposing students to well-selected examples of ideas and concepts that enable, as opposed to overloading them to make links with other related aspects.

Over time the schema develops appropriately and their level of thinking becomes more sophisticated.

The development of schema is also not a job for a single teacher, but more for an integrated and thorough set of educational principles.

The journey starts with the first ideas about anything and then develops with each set of instruction.

It is the duty of every educator to ensure that the information given is presented in the most appropriate way to enable not only understanding but also retention and retrieval.

Knowledge is intellectual Velcro; it sticks to its own
(love the quotation but citation unknown!)
We must, as educators, beware that curse of knowledge, where we have forgotten what it is like to learn something!

Criticisms of Schemas

Ostensibly, schema is a word for a mental representation, a knowledge structure.

Piaget (1952) tells us that a schema is a ' cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning '.

The problem may arise with pinpointing what a schema actually consists of - can we build a house on poorly defined foundations?

As with many educational theories, the awareness of schema can form a starting point for the development of other ideas - a springboard as opposed to a target.

Work by many significant researchers - Ausubel, Sweller among others - have used Schema as a concept on which they expand.

Ultimately we must be aware that there are effective learning strategies and ineffective learning strategies, but these are not always the same for everyone - one size fits very few in education.

To enable and promote learning you must have a knowledge of what your students know and don't know; you can then ascertain the schema they hold and how to add to it in the most efficient way.

Are they novices with rudimentary schema who need facts, guidance and structure, or are they experts with more sophisticated schema who can tackle problems, work more independently and categorize their approaches without as much need for your explicit instruction?

You know your students; use that knowledge for good.

Schema Theory FAQ
Who Developed Schema Theory?
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A Complete Guide to Schema Theory and its Role in Education

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Learn exactly what schema theory is, how it can benefit students and teachers and how you can apply it to your teaching.

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Developing Schema: an Art Museum Activity

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Developing Schema: an Art Museum Activity

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Before Christmas, we wrapped up our comprehension unit on Schema. I cannot claim many of the ideas on this post because they mostly came from the i talk about too much fabulous book Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor. In her book, Tanny stresses the importance of making connections with our prior knowledge and experiences {Schema} while reading so that students are able to remember, make meaning (understand), and enjoy what they are reading.

Whoa. Major run-on sentence going on there.

Anyways! Here is a little about our SCHEMA ....

I talked a lot about making connections with our schema ... we discussed the different thinking stems we could use to help develop our thinking ... to see more about what I do with my paper chain connections go { here} The only difference is that I chose a different book this year - a great, new book titled "One Cool Friend"! It worked really well with our explorer unit we are studying since the characters are named after Captain Cook and Ferdinand Magellan :)

We did an "ART Museum" activity with Norman Rockwell paintings to help us practice our schema ... I posted large paintings around the room, then gave the students a sheet of paper with a thumbprint size picture. We pretended we were in a real ART MUSEUM. Complete, as they insisted, with serious stares and contemplative frowns as we "studied" each picture (teacher grin!) As they did this, they were to be making a schema connection in the section next to the painting. They really did well with this activity and enjoyed it. It was truly amazing to have 24 kids wandering around the room, clip boards in hand, seriously looking at "art", making connections ... and doing all of this COMPLETELY SILENT. Eerie! But totally fine by me!

On a completely un-schema-related topic, I GOT A NEW KIDNEY TABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot even express to all of you HOW EXCITED I was about this! Over Christmas break my principal emailed a few of us teachers who are really trying to incorporate guided reading in our classrooms sharing that he had ordered kidney tables for all of us.
Best. Christmas. Present. EVER!
So here she is ... isn't she a beauty??
and yes, since you asked. I named her Gladys. Because she makes me, and my kiddos very very glad!

She makes such a wonderful addition to our room :)

And in honor of our newest classroom member ... some guided reading shots of our schema practice ...

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Before Christmas, we wrapped up our comprehension unit on Schema. I cannot claim many of the ideas on this post because they mostly came from the i talk about too much fabulous book Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.

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Making Personal and Cultural Connections Using A Girl Named Disaster
Struggling to survive is one of the many themes explored in A Girl Named Disaster. As students read, they look for connections between themselves and the main character, Nhamo.

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Making Personal and Cultural Connections Using A Girl Named Disaster Struggling to survive is one of the many themes explored in A Girl Named Disaster. As students read, they look for connections between themselves and the main character, Nhamo.

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Making Connections - Assessing Students' Schemas

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Making Connections - Assessing Students' Schemas

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Our lesson plans are written and reviewed by educators using current research and the best instructional practices and are aligned to state and national standards. Choose from hundreds of topics and strategies.

Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.

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Home › Professional Development › Strategy Guides

Strategy Guide
Research Basis Strategy in Practice Related Resources
In this strategy guide, you'll learn how to model how students can make three different kinds of connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world). Students then use this knowledge to find their own personal connections to a text.

A majority of students in the upper elementary and middle grades are beyond decoding instruction and need more assistance with comprehension to help them become successful, independent readers. Strategic reading allows students to monitor their own thinking and make connections between texts and their own experiences. Students who make connections while reading are better able to understand the text they are reading. It is important for students to draw on their prior knowledge and experiences to connect with the text. Students are thinking when they are connecting, which makes them more engaged in the reading experience.

Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. However, teachers need to know how to show students how a text connects to their lives, another text they have read, or the world around them. In this strategy guide, you will learn how to model text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections for your students so that they may begin to make personal connections to a text on their own.

Before practicing this strategy in the classroom, create a list of personal connections to the particular text for which you will be modeling this strategy.

Explain to students that you are going to practice the comprehension strategy of making connections to find ways that students can personally relate to a text. Ask students to think about the following questions. You may choose to write these on the board or chart paper for students to see.

Focusing on text-to-self connections:

What does this story remind you of?

Can you relate to the characters in the story?

Does anything in this story remind you of anything in your own life?

Focusing on text-to-text connections:

What does this remind you of in another book you have read?

How is this text similar to other things you have read?

How is this text different from other things you have read?

Focusing on text-to-world connections:

What does this remind you of in the real world?

How are events in this story similar to things that happen in the real world?

How are events in this story different from things that happen in the real world?

Using the Making Connections Posters (Text-to-Self Connection, Text-to-Text Connection, and Text-to-World Connection) as visual aids, introduce the three types of connections: Text-to-Self Connection, Text-to-Text Connection, and Text-to-World Connection. Explain how readers often make connections to a story to help them better understand the text.

Use the think-aloud strategy to model how to make each type of connection, using your list of personal connections to the particular text. Make sure to emphasize connections that actually help enhance your understanding of the novel and others that are merely "there." Examples to share with the students follow. Ask students to share a few quick examples of both kinds of connections, and explain why some might help their understanding of the text more than others.

Good connections that enhance understanding:
When I was in second grade, I moved to a new school like Shirley did. I remember feeling like everyone ignored me and missing my home, so I can relate to what she's going through.

Surface-level connections that are merely "there":
Shirley likes the Dodgers. So do I.

After you are certain that students have a firm understanding of making connections, allow them to begin listing their own connections to the text using the Double-Entry Journal and then expanding their connections with the Planning Web.

Finally, students can organize and write an essay about a connection to the text using the Essay Map interactive or choose a different student interactive to use to create a project based on a connection to the text.

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Our lesson plans are written and reviewed by educators using current research and the best instructional practices and are aligned to state and national standards. Choose from hundreds of topics and strategies. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.