Effectiveness of Schema-Based Instruction for Improving Seventh-Grade Students' Proportional Reasoning: A Randomized Experiment

• Published in: Journal of research on educational effectiveness Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 114 - 136
• Main Authors: Jitendra, Asha K., Star, Jon R., Dupuis, Danielle N., Rodriguez, Michael C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis Group 01.04.2013; Routledge; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Control Groups; Experimental Groups; Faculty Development; Grade 7; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Instructional Effectiveness; Intervention; Learning; Mathematical Concepts; Mathematical problems; Mathematics education; Mathematics Instruction; Middle School Students; Minnesota; Pretests Posttests; Problem Solving; ratio, proportion, and percent; schema-based instruction; Schemata (Cognition); Schematic Studies; Students; Teaching methods; Word problem solving; Word Problems (Mathematics); Minnesota
• ISSN: 1934-5747; 1934-5739
• DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2012.725804

This study examined the effect of schema-based instruction (SBI) on 7th-grade students' mathematical problem-solving performance. SBI is an instructional intervention that emphasizes the role of mathematical structure in word problems and also provides students with a heuristic to self-monitor and aid problem solving. Using a pretest-intervention-posttest-retention test design, the study compared the learning outcomes for 1,163 students in 42 classrooms who were randomly assigned to treatment (SBI) or control condition. After 6 weeks of instruction, results of multilevel modeling indicated significant differences favoring the SBI condition in proportion problem solving involving ratios/rates and percents on an immediate posttest (g = 1.24) and on a 6-week retention test (g = 1.27). No significant difference between conditions was found for a test of transfer. These results demonstrate that SBI was more effective than students' regular mathematics instruction.