One of the unsung heroes in the field of cognitive psychology is Frederic Bartlett, whose ideas would have a huge impact on how we think about how learning happens. This blog will explore where the term ‘schema’ comes from and what edcators should know about it.
The term "schema" is closely linked with Jean Piaget in the field of psychology and would prove to have huge significance in the theory of cognitive development. However, it was actually the English psychologist Frederic Bartlett who first brought this concept into developmental psychology in 1932, adopting the term from Sir Henry Head's initial usage in 1918. While Bartlett acknowledged Head's contribution, his own interpretation of schemas diverged significantly, emphasizing them as dynamic mental structures or organized clusters of past experiences, rather than static entities.
Bartlett's contributions were profound for several reasons. Firstly, he contested the British empiricist view that memory was merely a collection of mental images, stored individually as if in a warehouse, retrievable at will. Secondly, Bartlett proposed that memory involves the reconstructive process of accessing and integrating structured knowledge, functioning as cohesive wholes rather than sequential individual elements. His innovative ideas, although not entirely accurate, have significantly influenced our understanding of the relationship between memory and learning, challenging conventional beliefs and laying the groundwork for future research in the field.
Simply put, schema theory refers to the concept that schemas are cognitive structures, that help us organize and interpret information. They serve as mental templates or frameworks derived from prior experiences and knowledge, which we use to understand new information. Essentially, schemas are the way we categorize information to help us understand the world. They influence our attention, perception, memory, and learning, guiding our expectations and influencing how we process experiences and new information.
An unusual experiment
In a rather unusual experiment in 1932, Frederic Bartlett invited British subjects to read a Native American story called "The War of the Ghosts" and later recall it intermittently. His method might not pass muster by today's standards of ecological validity — he sometimes prompted participants for recollections impromptu on campus walks — but his findings nonetheless provided pivotal insights into memory's mechanisms.
Bartlett's work contested the earlier view by Hermann Ebbinghaus that memory is a storage facility of isolated facts to be retrieved or lost. He posited that recall was less about exact retrieval and more about piecemeal reconstruction. It's notable that his English subjects were recalling content from an unfamiliar culture, leading to alterations in their recollections. For instance, the word "canoe" became "boat," the activity of seal hunting turned into fishing, and specific indigenous names like "Egulac" being omitted entirely.
While Bartlett's approach might have lacked methodological rigor, it effectively illustrated that memory doesn't function like a file saved on a computer to be retrieved unchanged. He envisioned memory as a dynamic, ever-changing process, continually reformed by its bearer. His findings were published in the book "Remembering", laying the foundation for future theories on the reconstructive nature of memory and its profound influence in the field.
Remembering is not what you think
Bartlett's work, which foreshadows Tulving's concepts of semantic and episodic memory, indicates that our recall seems to be influenced by specific past occurrences, with certain events standing out more vividly in our minds, interconnected with other memories. As time passes, these memories might shift in their significance. Bartlett observed that as we remember, elements from our distant past can surprisingly become central to our current thoughts.
While schema theory holds a significant place in psychological research, Bartlett himself was critical of the term. He believed it to be both overly precise and too vague, and that it failed to convey the continuous activity within our memories, which are always in motion and evolving with us. Despite his reservations, he continued to use "schema" because it encapsulated the dynamic organization of previous experiences and reactions that are crucial to any organic, adaptive response. In essence, Bartlett proposed that behaviour is orderly, because it is part of an organized system of past behaviours, which act collectively rather than sequentially.
A key point is that Bartlett's emphasis was on the "active organization" of knowledge — how we categorize and interconnect our experiences to make sense of the world. For instance, a child learning table manners is developing a schema for dining that includes knowledge about the use of utensils and appropriate behaviour at the table. This schema then guides the child's actions in future dining scenarios, reflecting an understanding of the context and expected behaviour.
Scripts and schemas
A schema acts as a mental framework, that helps organize and decode information. Within this context, a cognitive script is a type of schema that's more narrowly defined. Roger Schank and Robert Abelson in 1975 described scripts as structures that include a sequence of anticipated occurrences. For instance, if someone recounts their experience at a restaurant, you instinctively know the components of the setting — such as tables, chairs, menus, servers, a kitchen, dining utensils, the bill, a gratuity, along with other standard elements — without needing explicit details. This is due to your inherent "restaurant schema." In contrast, a script is akin to a schema in motion; rather than a static collection of typical characteristics, a script delineates a series of usual activities or occurrences. Schank and Abelson's restaurant script, for example, would chronologically detail the actions of a patron who enters the establishment hungry, takes a seat, places an order, dines, settles the bill, and finally leaves the restaurant.
What educators need to know about schema theory
Schema theory highlights the significance of pre-existing knowledge within educational contexts and curriculum development. Consider a topic from history such as the impact of the Industrial Revolution. To fully grasp the societal changes during this period, students should be acquainted with the previous agrarian lifestyle, the advent of mechanization, and the rise of factories. Educators might utilize several methods to assist students in forming the necessary schemas, including direct instruction on the subject matter, reviewing key concepts in subsequent lessons, encouraging students to expand upon what they know, and engaging in activities that test their knowledge to reinforce learning.
In more complex areas of study, there's a risk that students might cultivate inaccurate schemas or possess only a partial comprehension of a subject. Recognizing that novices do not process information in the same way as experts, as discussed in the section "A novice is not a mini-expert", is critical. The differences in schema development largely account for these differing cognitive approaches. This understanding should shape instructional strategies for beginners, who benefit from clear explanations, anticipatory guides, step-by-step support, illustrative examples, and regular feedback to build the intricate schemas essential for deep understanding.
Literature
Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology. Cambridge University Press.
Head, H., & Holmes, G. (1911). Sensory disturbances from cerebral lesions. Brain, 34(2-3), 102-254. doi:10.1093/brain/34.2-3.102
Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. P. (1975, September). Scripts, plans, and knowledge. In Proceedings of the 4th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 75, pp. 151-157).
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For more information about the subject, read the previous blog from the series How Learning Works about the distinction between episodic and semantic memory.
