Part of the plan

Once practitioners are confident that they have a proper understanding of a child's schemas, they need to plan how to promote that child's learning. Part of the planning process will be to set the child's individual learning needs within the context of the Foundation Stage curriculum.

Below are two case studies showing how practitioners identified children's schemas, then planned suitable resources and activities to produce what is sometimes called a scheme of work, that spans the six areas of learning, reflects the child's current interests and is appropriate to their stage of development.

James by Jacki Yetzes

James (not his real name) used to bite but is now learning to express his needs by more acceptable methods. When observed, his play reflected his time in hospital after breaking his arm.

Morning 1: He watches other children in the role play area but doesn't join in. He sweeps the area with a broom, then gets the plastic dining trolley and tells an adult he wants 'a polishing thing'. The adult gets a duster and helps him Sellotape it to the trolley wheels, then attach 'wires'

(straws) to its handle - two horizontally, another two at right angles to the floor.

Most of the morning is spent with James polishing, and making accompanying noises. At one point he uses the anti-bacterial spray and a cloth to wipe the cupboard and tables. At the end of the morning he wheels his polisher into the storage area.

Next morning James is already walking around with his 'polisher' and again seems content to play alone. He goes over to the ride-on horse and asks for adult help to join the horse to the 'polisher' with wool.

Satisfied, he sits astride the horse and pushes along his new 'roadsweeper'. When the horse falls over, he calls for an adult to help to take it to hospital by joining the pram to the digger (in which to put the horse).

He asks another boy to help him lift the horse, but the boy drives away on the digger. James watches, then stands up the horse and rides away on it.

He engages in other activities - laying five pencil crayons side by side; completely covering a piece of paper with vertical lines; making vertical marks on the chalkboard. But most of the time is spent playing with his 'roadsweeper'.

Schemas: Connection Joining straws, joining the trolley to the horse, the digger to the pram.

Level of schema Symbolic level: trolley is polisher/roadsweeper. Cause and effect: needing 'wires' to make the polisher work. By attaching the pram to the digger James understands he needs a bucket big enough for the horse to fit in.

Trajectories Moving broom and polisher back and forth; laying crayons side by side; making vertical and horizontal strokes.

Level of schema Symbolic: cleaning up, polishing. Sensorimotor: no indication through language to suggest that mark-making was symbolic. Cause and effect: if the board is wiped it will be clean for someone else.

Envelopment Covering the trolley wheels, the whole paper and the chalkboard; wiping the tables.

Level of schema Symbolic: actions when making and using the polisher. Cause and effect: shows understanding that the table is cleaned.

Partnership with parents

James's parents said these dominant schemas were being carried out at home: Trajectory He is fascinated by vacuum cleaners and asks to see the Hoover when visiting friends (his mother finds this worrying). He loves cranes and climbing (his father used to drive a crane).

Envelopment When painting with water on the patio he covers one slab at a time and is distraught when his brother paints the same slab. He regularly fills up and pushes around his toy shopping trolley.

Connection Given his fascination with vacuum cleaners and tools, he now has his own child safety plug attached to the telephone cable, which he connects to his trolley or anything he wants plugged in.

Learning about James's schemas helped his parents, particularly his mother, to feel more relaxed about his fascination with vacuum cleaners. Both parents felt that they could now support him more effectively.

Planning and resourcing In the light of James's schemas, I mapped out a plan for developing his learning based on using the stepping stones (see box).

LINES OF DEVELOPMENT FOR JAMES'S LEARNING

Communication, language and literacy

Connection

Stories such as The Great Big Enormous Turnip by Alexei Tolstoy (Heinemann, 6.95), Mrs Mopple's Washing Line by Anita Hewett and Robert Broomfield (Red Fox Mini Treasures, 1.25)

Envelopment

* Flap books

* Letter writing

* Language linked with measurement and distance Mathematical development

Trajectory

* Measuring height, length

* May develop into interest in distance and maps Envelopment

* Compare capacity of containers (trajectory)

* Floating and sinking (trajectory) Physical development

Trajectory/connection

* Crates for stacking, connecting with planks and other construction

* Opportunities for climbing - set challenges and support/scaffold development

* Ball games Knowledge and understanding of the world Trajectory

* Track a journey (home to school or longer journey)

* Develop interests in grids (ladders, scaffolding, nets)

* Ride on escalators and in lifts

* Do pouring activities (sand, water, interest in waterfalls and fountains)

* Develop interest in other countries and cultures (transport abroad) Envelopment

* Making sandwiches

* Animals that live in dens (moles, rabbits, foxes), butterfly in cocoon Connection

* Visit building site (making houses, etc)

* Visit station (connecting trains and carriages) Personal, social and emotional development

Envelopment

* Make sandwiches (hygiene and good food)

* Develop an understanding of feelings of others - learn to share and help (sweeping floor, wiping tables) Trajectory (envelopment)

* Stack toys and put into cupboard

* Develop social and negotiating skills through working with pulleys, measures and large construction Creative development

Connecting/envelopment

* Make available materials and equipment for connecting, such as string, masking tape, bulldog clips, glue, stapler, paper, envelopes, stamps

* Encourage representation in 2D and 3D

* Offer opportunities to express himself through movement and dance

Jay by Jenny Spratt

Observation 1 - Cornflour activity

Jay (not his real name) touches the cornflour, scoops it up, lets it dribble through his fingers and says, 'Oh' and 'It is a snake'. He puts the cornflour on the adult's hand and ring and they talk about its sensation ('cold') and colour ('blue'), and whether it will 'wash off'.

The adult puts her hands flat down in the cornflour, then lifts them up, saying 'Magic - it's gone!' Jay does the same and looks at his hands. He returns to covering the adult's hands, then lifts them again, saying, 'Magic'. He reluctantly washes his hands when asked to do so.

Observation 2 - home corner

Jay fills the basket with shopping and carries it to the carpet area, where he gives an adult a bread roll. She pretends to eat it. He returns to the home corner to refill the basket, then returns to the carpet to give the adult a jar of coffee, which she pretends to drink.

Observation 3 - Cornflour activity

When told he can play with the cornflour, he jumps up and down and puts on his apron. As with the first adult, he covers the adult's hand and ring, talks about the colour ('blue'), and puts his hands flat into the cornflour and shows the adult how his hands are clean.

Parents His mother says that at home he sometimes pretends to be a dog but mostly a cat, meowing once for 'yes' and twice for 'no' and covering himself with a blanket. He is always covering things - he puts cars under the carpet, puts things in the bin and plays under the table.

Schemas

Vertical trajectory schema Jumping up and down, dribbling the cornflour.

Transporting Carrying the shopping from home corner to carpet area.

Enveloping Covering the adult's hand and ring with the cornflour, covering himself when he is a cat.

The first observation shows Jay at a sensorimotor and symbolic representation level. When he returns to the cornflour he shows a higher level - cause and effect.

Planning From the observations, I was able to identify and plan using relevant stepping stones to help promote Jay's learning (see table). Understanding that his envelopment schema is now at a cause and effect level will help the practitioner to plan how to extend his learning - that is, teach him more).

The practitioner will focus on encouraging him to persist for extended periods at an activity of his choosing, to talk though his ideas, to explain what is happening and predict what might happen and how things may change.

JAY'S SCHEME OF WORK

Activity/observation, Curriculum area, Stepping stone, Schema, Level of schema

Cornflour 1, PS& ED, Display high levels of involvement in activities, Envelopment, sensorimotor

Cornflour 2, PS& ED, Persist for extended periods of time at an activity of their choosing, Envelopment, sensorimotor

Cornflour 3, CL&L, Use talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next, Envelopment, symbolic representation

Cornflour 3, CL&L, Use talk, objects and actions to recall and relive past experiences, Envelopment, cause and effect

Cornflour 1, K&UW, Show curiosity, observe and manipulate materials, Envelopment, sensorimotor

Cornflour 3, K&UW, Show an awareness of change, Envelopment, cause and effect

Cornflour 1, PD, Persevere in repeating some actions when developing a new skill, Envelopment, symbolic representation

Cornflour 3, PD, Manipulate materials to achieve a planned effect, Envelopment, cause and effect

Cornflour 1, CD, Begin to describe the texture of things, Envelopment, symbolic representation

Cornflour 3, CD, Notice what adults do, imitating what is observed and then doing it spontaneously when the adult is not there, Envelopment, cause and effect

Shop 2, PD, Move freely with pleasure and confidence. Show respect for other children's space when playing among them, Transporting, symbolic representation

Shop 2, CL&L, Use talk to gain attention and initiate exchanges. Use action rather than talk to demonstrate or explain to others, Transporting, symbolic representation