Schema
What is Schema?
The schema theory was developed by educational psychologist R.C. Anderson; however, the term schema was first used by Piaget in 1926 (Little & Box, 2011). This theory views knowledge as an organized network or storage system of abstract mental structures that represent an individual's understanding of concepts related to experiences and knowledge (Little & Box, p 24, 2011). Other terms are background knowledge, making connections or prior knowledge (McGregor, 2007 & Acosta & Ferri, 2010).
Why is Schema Important?
R.C. Anderson says that it is important to teach general knowledge and general concepts. Each child comes to the classroom with different experiences and diverse background knowledge. There is a significant number of students that come to the classroom with limited background knowledge. Because of this, reading becomes a daunting task because they lack the background knowledge to fully understand what they are reading (Little & Box, 2011). A large part of reading difficulties, especially text materials, can be traced back to poor prior knowledge. "A reader's prior knowledge and experiences about events, concepts, vocabulary and objects described in a text passage can have a significant influence on the meaning the student obtains from the text passage," (Little & Box, p 26, 2011). Students need to make connections between what they know and what is being taught to make it meaningful (Acosta & Ferri, 2010). Therefore, it is up to teachers to help build schemata and make connections.
What are some strategies to build schema?
There are many different types of graphic organizers that can be used to build schema. Graphic organizers are forms of written or graphic presentations that assist students in becoming familiar with new vocabulary or concepts (Little & Box, 2011 & Acosta & Ferri, 2010). These work especially well during pre-reading to build vocabulary and concepts that will be presented in the reading.
Semantic mapping - The purpose of a semantic map is to visually display connections between a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts (Zorfass & Gray, n.d.). To make a semantic map, have students brainstorm all that they know about a particular subject. For example, students brainstorm all that they know about Australia (Little & Box, 2011). After a few minutes of collecting and writing down ideas, draw a circle with Australia in the middle. Then, with students, organize everything they know into subcategories. For example: animals, places and geography. This process will provide vocabulary and concepts to students prior to reading. This can also be used post-reading. After reading, students can add to or add more subcategories or more items to their subcategories to their semantic map to show what they have learned (Little & Box, 2011).
Concentric Circles of Connections - Connections to text can happen in three ways. They are text to self connections, text to text connections and text to world connections. Making concentric circles can organize those connections. The goal is for students to think of what kinds of connections they can make and how they can make those connections come alive in the text, (McGregor, 2007; Diller, 2010).
Semantic mapping - The purpose of a semantic map is to visually display connections between a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts (Zorfass & Gray, n.d.). To make a semantic map, have students brainstorm all that they know about a particular subject. For example, students brainstorm all that they know about Australia (Little & Box, 2011). After a few minutes of collecting and writing down ideas, draw a circle with Australia in the middle. Then, with students, organize everything they know into subcategories. For example: animals, places and geography. This process will provide vocabulary and concepts to students prior to reading. This can also be used post-reading. After reading, students can add to or add more subcategories or more items to their subcategories to their semantic map to show what they have learned (Little & Box, 2011).
Concentric Circles of Connections - Connections to text can happen in three ways. They are text to self connections, text to text connections and text to world connections. Making concentric circles can organize those connections. The goal is for students to think of what kinds of connections they can make and how they can make those connections come alive in the text, (McGregor, 2007; Diller, 2010).