Well, I loved the reading this week. Schema theory is a basic tenet of reading instruction. In fact, reading instruction was even mentioned in the article! That is the first time in a year that any acknowledgement of my subject area has been given, so it was quite a thrill for me.
Learning in terms of schema theory takes place when the appropriate background knowledge is activated and the learner is able to situate new information in the midst of what was known before. If this does not happen, then the learner is unlikely to remember or even truly comprehend the new information. They may be able to spit back discrete facts for a test, but they won't have truly internalized and "gotten" the material enough to use it in any other situation. In terms of reading, especially reading expository text, it is extremely important for learners to have the strategies in place to activate their schemata related to what they are reading. This is a huge part of reading strategy instruction. So, the best way for a teacher to facilitate learning is to help their students learn how to activate these schemata. A science or math or history teacher who will take the time to instruct students in how to read their textbooks will end up miles ahead in the long run. Yes, this is TOTALLY my soapbox!
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It is good to hear about this topic from someone in the area it really seemed to be catered towards: Reading instruction. While I understood the concepts in schema learning, it was more difficult for me to really visualize myself putting them into practice than in weeks past. This is probably due to my own "schema" built from a technical background and teaching high school technology-related topics.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while, but I get it now. I agree that students need to learn how to read within the context area of the course. There are probably many ways an instructor can help a student know how to activate and/or construct meaningful schema that will improve their comprehension of the subject matter.
As I read your post, for some reason it popped into my head the training I got as an LDS missionary before I entered the mission field. Whomever it was who designed those trainings for us must have had a working knowledge of the Schema theory. Now I don't remember much from what they taught me, but they hammered it in again and again that as you teach the message to investigators you MUST build on common beliefs.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I enjoyed your post.
-Tom