Schema Approximate Analogies Tammy VanDeGrift and Kate Deibel October 22, 2003 Approximate Analogies

This CAT allows instructors to find out if students understand the relationship between a program and a schema These responses should show how students connect new concepts to ones with which they are already familiar.

Please finish the following analogy to the best of your ability. Then write a few sentences explaining why your analogy is accurate.

A schema is to a program as _______________ is to _________________.

If time permits, please write down several analogies and explanations that you can come up with.

Here are some sample completions:

A schema is to a program as a pattern is to a dress. Why? A pattern gives a seamstress a guide or template to use when creating a dress. A schema gives a programmer a guide or template to complete a program.

A schema is to a program as an outline is to a paper. Why? An outline gives an overall structure to a paper but leaves out the details. A schema gives an overall structure to a piece of a program while the programmer is left to fill in the details.

Read through the analogies and sort or mark them as "Good," "Questionable," or "Wrong." Read through the piles again to make sure that you have not accidently misclassified a response.

Choose three or four of the best examples from the "Good" pile. Emphasize not only the correctness of the analogy, but also the understandability and creativity of the response. Also consider a few marginal responses that highlight confusions you want to address.

 Be sure to explain the concept of an analogy to the students if they are unfamiliar with the term. You might need to give the students examples of completions. Have the students complete the analogy and explain why this completion fits. Have students write completions individually and submit these to the instructor anonymously. The instructor reads the completions and the class discusses why the analogies fit or don't fit. Break students into small groups (2-4 people) and have each group create two or more completions. Have each group explain why their completions fit or don't fit the analogy. Ability to synthesize and integrate information Learn concepts and theories Develop capacity to think for oneself Improve memory skills Develop ability to think creatively Program Schemas Design LOW LOW LOW MEDIUM Next Day Summary Class Discussion Small Group Discussions Straightforward to Enable Testing Debugging Abstraction