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Schema-Based Learning (S-BL):
Educators use the term “schema” to describe the way in which people organize and “store in memory” what they know about the world. Studies of clinical decision-making have indicated that highly experienced clinicians think differently about problems than do their residents, or even their less experienced colleagues. It is not just that they know more (though they do), it is that their knowledge is organized in a way that makes it readily accessible for solving problems. In medicine, clinical schemas have been likened to integrated networks composed of clinical and scientific knowledge that is interwoven with knowledge of human behavior, economics and/or any other discipline that may be meaningful for solving problems.
Even the terminology and categories that experienced clinicians use to describe problems are more generalized and efficient. In the “experts’ schemas, knowledge appears to be organized at an abstract level, with descriptions of particular instances “translated” into broad categorical terms. These broad inclusive terms provide a sort of “short hand” for recognizing and describing patterns. In fact, these terms are often combined to create “rules of practice” that make problem solving efficient. (Click to view example or see Attachment 1)
Because expertise is gained over years of practice, most experts are not fully aware of their own “mental networks” and as a result rarely refer to these organizational structures when teaching. Schema-based Learning is grounded in capturing and using expert-generated schemas as frameworks for teaching and learning. Schema-based diagrams (SB-D) are the product of guiding an expert in thinking about their own “mental models”. The following key characteristics of schema-based learning are consistent with the characteristics associated with “Teaching from a Competency Perspective”.
- The schemas of experienced clinicians can be captured and represented on paper as schema-based diagrams (S-BD) and can be used as an organizational foundation for lectures, problem-based clinical conferences and/or clinic and bedside teaching. (Real-life)
- By using S-BDs in teaching, faculty promote resident self-assessment and accountability, through the modeling of the reflective/critical review process. In addition, framing new learning through the discussion of S-BDs grounds the instruction in real-life clinical problems.
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