SCHEMAS: The key to intentional generalization

Chapter 3 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance, is all about schemas. Karen Hess explains the significance of building schemas by citing the lack of intent that educators have had with schemas when developing lesson plans by what she had experienced. Schemas are necessary for helping our students grow from rookie learners into expert learners. According to Hess, “Learning activities that build schemas in each content domain is crucial to students long-term memory retrieval and their ability to transfer learning to novel situation’s (far transfer)” (p. 56). Throughout the chapter, she consistently refers back to schemas as being mental models and frameworks. As Hess says, “schemas allow chess experts to quickly master new chess patterns or high-level athletes to effectively integrate more complex skills to up the quality of their game” (p. 55).  This is a great analogy that applies to recreational activities of daily life- but where do we see schemas in education?

When I think of schemas that I often use when completing my own work, or work I used to do when I was taking content specific coursework throughout my education, I initially thought to myself, I don’t really know of any schemas that I know. Did I learn any? I reread the section header on page 59 that reads, Building a Procedural Schema. Suddenly, the word procedural strikes up a core memory. I have acquired numerous schemas, or neurological frameworks in my mind throughout my educational career. One of my favorites, more concrete schemas is pertinent to mathematics: The famous acronym, PEMDAS (Order of operations- Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract). I remember learning this in the 5^th grade. At the time, I thought it was just another thing that I had to learn in order to pass the next test. However, it would end up being one of the most important schemas that I had conceptualized in my head as I ended up using it for years, through high school graduation and beyond. This simple framework, once unfamiliar, eventually became prior knowledge in my head, being a foundational skill for complex algebra and calculus. Who knew this 5^thgrade skill would become so valuable in my toolbox at 22 years old! 

PEMDAS is an example of a more concrete schema. It is easily defined and applied to its content area. When you begin to spark the conversation of schemas in ELA class, schemas may begin to become more abstract, but hold the same value. Schemas are foundational frameworks that we need in order to access further levels of the Depth of Knowledge continuum. In the text, Karen Hess discusses a popular schema often introduced in kindergarten or 1^st grade as a guiding template for identifying story structures: SWBS charts (Someone-Wanted-But-So). These charts are a method of introducing and/or scaffolding summarization, which students will be assessed on throughout higher education. As students progress throughout their schooling, the concept of SWBS charts will not be explicitly taught beyond, first, maybe 2^nd grade, in a gen-ed class. However, students will still follow this schema either subconsciously or intentionally based on having the neurological conceptualization embedded in their brains. What is even cooler about these SWBS charts is that they are 2-sided. As Hess explains, “eventually, the class reads stories together and discusses what to write in each cell. When students begin to write their own stories, they now have a simple schema, or framework, to guide them in knowing what to include.” Not only can students use this chart to organize thoughts for comprehension, but also prewrite their own, personal narrative. Pictured below, Figure 1 shows a simple SWBS chart that a 1^st grader may encounter. Figure 2 demonstrates how an SWBS chart may be used for more graduated and complex levels of summarization and conceptualization, in this case, prominent historical figures.

Figure 1 (above)

Figure 2 (above)

I personally never used an SWBS chart, but I am familiar with the fact that this is a method of story mapping. Looking at an outside article, I was able to gather more information on story mapping and how it has proven itself to be a prominent schema in ELA class. The article, Story Mapping: An Effective Technique for Improving Students’ Writing, explains that story mapping is a schema construction technique that involves teaching the relationships of parts of a story with each to draw the attention of the reader. Contributors note that, “it can be seemed the technique of story mapping can improve [student] writing and increase their abilities to write a story with [a] diagram picture” (Nuraini, et al). This is part of what makes story mapping so successful: it can be customized to meet the needs of the students. Are the target students visual learners? Would they benefit from drawing their story map? Below are a few different examples of story map diagrams and templates that can be beneficial in the classroom. The article addresses plot charts, and these are 2 examples of plot-based story maps for lower elementary and then higher education.

This story map (above) provides flexibility to the students. They can draw their story features If that provides a more viable representation, or they can use their own words if that is all that is necessary for them to understand what they are trying to conceptualize.

This story map (above) is built upon the same schema as the previously featured story map.  However, it demands much further conceptualization of information, incorporating new content for upper-grade-level learning (after the introduction of plot features). However, for students who require extra support, or perhaps aren’t ready to access grade level contact at the same level as others, the simplified version may be a better option for them as gaps are closed.

As you can see, schemas are prominent in all content areas of education, from mathematics and science to social studies and literacy. Students are never too young or too old to be accessing schemas, and it should never be assumed that a student will grow out of a schema that they learn in lower elementary school- rather, this schema will be developed in order to embody the higher demands of upper-grade level content. 

Essentially, one word that comes to my mind when I try to tie all of this information together is the term generalize. When you are introducing new concepts, in how many areas can students use them? When teaching the standards, what skills and predeveloped schemas do your students already have? When you are planning for a whole unit, what schema can you introduce that will benefit your students across the curriculum? What skills will they be able to generalize and utilize beyond grade level? Schemas should be taught meaningfully and intentionally. This is one of the keys to creating expert learners- how many skills can student generalize across the curriculum, and how can these skills be advanced to handle higher grade level content? Study more schemas- and you will be amazed!

References

Hess, Karin. (2023).  Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment. ASCD ASSN SUPERV CURR DEV, 2023. 

Nuraini, Hani, et al. “Story Mapping: An Effective Technique for Improving Students’ Writing ...” Internation Journal of Language, Humanities, and Education, www.researchgate.net/profile/Imam-Subari/publication/368756212_Story_Mapping_An_Effective_Technique_for_Improving_Students’_Writing_Ability_at_Middle_School_Students/links/63f8718c0d98a97717b36067/Story-Mapping-An-Effective-Technique-for-Improving-Students-Writing-Ability-at-Middle-School-Students.pdf. Accessed 30 Oct. 2023.