Most content that students learn has or fits into a “structure”—an organizational
pattern or framework that acts as a set of orderly slots for specific pieces of information.
When students have a solid understanding of structure
when they know how fairy tales are designed around a beginning, middle, and end, when they understand how the three branches of government interrelate or how protons, neutrons, and electrons make up atoms—they are not only showing “big picture” comprehension; they are ready to learn more.
Pattern Maker (a.k.a. Extrapolation) is a strategy designed to help students “see” the patterns and structures behind texts and ideas.
Students arrive at this big picture understanding through the process of extrapolation; that is, students
• Closely examine known or easily understood sources.
• Extract the key structural elements from these sources.
• Put their new found structural comprehension to work by using it to better understand a new source, create a product of their own, or make improvements to an everyday object.