Chapter 6, page 78
Table 6.4
Examples of generally useful schemas
Age Level Description Example of Schema
Elementary A story grammar is a schema that
tells the parts of a story. A story
grammar helps students write stories
as well as understand and remember
stories by specifying the parts of the
story.
Characters: _____________
Place: _____________
Time: _____________
Problem: _____________
Solution: _____________Middle school Students learning social studies
benefit from learning a schema to
organize their understanding of
historical events.
People have a goal:
People formulate a plan:
People take action:
People achieve goal:
(If people don’t achieve
goal, go back to
formulate a new plan)
High school and
older
Students understand and remember
research reports better when they
learn a general schema telling the
parts of a research article.Purpose of study: _____________
Hypothesis: _____________
Method: _____________
Results: _____________
Interpretation: _____________Students using schemas such as the nation schema can write the information onto a chart as they are
studying, or they can simply use the schema to help them organize their thoughts without actually writing
anything down. Studies with sixth-graders (Ohlhausen & Roller, 1987) have shown that students who use
this type of schema when they study learn more than students who do not. Table 6.4 presents examples of
other generally useful schemas that have been used effectively to help students learn (Armbruster et al.,
1991; Boulineau, Fore, Hagan-Burke, & Burke, 2004; Dansereau, 1985; Santangelo, Harris, & Graham,
2008).