Schema Theory & It’s Learning Implications

Vidya and Saransh enroll for a training program to improve their team-management skills. Though their current profiles are similar, these two participants have very different backgrounds.

• Vidya has recently migrated to this metro, while Saransh was born and brought up here.
• Vidya would much rather read a book than attend a party, while Saransh would prefer the opposite.
• Vidya plays the Sitar; Saransh plays Squash!
• Vidya prefers a quiet, non-interactive learning environment; Saransh loves animated discussions..

Let’s try to answer Vidyotama’s question.

We could go on and on about the differences in these two individuals, but I’ll stop here. I think the point has reached home. The point being – individuals are different in their prior knowledge, skills, and attitudes; and these differences, somehow make a difference to how and how much they’d learn through a learning experience.

To take our discussion further, we need to first equip ourselves with an overview of the Schema Theory. The concept of Schema was first introduced by Jean Piaget in the early twentieth century. It was later explained in great detail through R. C. Anderson’s Schema Theory.

Proceeding in our ever cautious, step-by-step manner, let us first determine what a Schema is.

What is Schema?
Schema for our purpose can be best defined as: A dynamic structure made of inter-connected knowledge nodes, which helps us remember and process old information, and obtain / interpret new information.

I’ve structured this definition to explain schema in the context of learning. Note the keywords. “Dynamic structure”, “interconnected knowledge nodes”, “remember, process, obtain, and interpret information”! I think this will do beautifully:-)

Let us see how schema “influences” the way we perceive and learn.

How Schema Works?
When we come across anything new, we try to fit it into our existing schema by finding out the nearest knowledge nodes. Here’s an example:

You drive a Ford Icon, but recently you’ve decided to opt for a very pre-mature retirement. You intend to now work for the Jim Corbett Park. (Yes, the example is very real, and I hope that the gentleman who inspired this example still subscribes to Wavelength’s ID Newsletter.) For your new close-to-nature existence you need a tougher vehicle, and so you are reviewing the feasibility of buying one of those semi-trucks with a four-wheel drive. So you arrive at the best showroom in the city, and “browse” through your short-listed dream machines. Now you want to take one of them for a test drive. What will you do?

Here’s what you, rather your mind, will do at a lightening speed.

1. Check out all the information nodes about this hulk.
2. Activate all the information nodes about automobiles.
3. Recall the general positions of all the driving controls.
4. Build expectations about a stronger engine roar and a heavier feel of the gear/steering wheel.
5. Review the gaps in your understanding so that you may ask the relevant questions (the four-wheel drive, additional gears if any, fuel consumption, gradients that the vehicle could handle, and so on.)

Do you see how the Schema comes into action?

Schema Theory – Two Important Characteristics of the Schemata:

Now here are two (not all) tenets of the schema theory:

• Schemata (or schemas) are dynamic. They are continuously changing in terms of number of information nodes, their sizes (importance), and the relationships between the nodes.
• Schemas may either strengthen with time (when they receive supporting information) or weaken (when they aren’t active at all.)

Let’s revert to our automobile shopping experience.

Reflect upon the month that must’ve passed before you decided to grace the showroom with your presence. What did you do? Did you talk to friends, did you go through automobile magazines, or did you browse the web? The information that you acquired through the different sources would’ve helped you create your schema about the truck that you wished to buy. If you had worked really hard on market research, you’d probably have a very strong schema about it. You didn’t have that strong a schema about trucks six months prior to the actual purchase, nor will you have it, six months later.

This illustrates both the above points. The second point needs to be taken a little further – remember that a schema that’s very deeply embedded changes into a belief – and beliefs are...well...strong suppositions that are very difficult to change.

Now let’s take our understanding into the classroom:

Applying Schema Theory in Designing & Implementing Learning Experiences:
How should we make use of this knowledge to make learning easier for our learners?

1. If the learner knows nothing (or next to nothing) about the concept you are going to teach, your learner is going to have an ineffective learning experience. Build connections – even if the connections are remote from the content viewpoint, still the learner needs to find anchor nodes, if at all you want the learning to stay in his or her mind.
2. Go by the premise that every learner knows something that can be connected with the new knowledge/skills. Dig in, find out! If your learner has spent 20 or more years on this earth, there’s a good chance that these years were spent interacting with others. If this learner is in your training program, there’s a schematic connection. Discover it.
3. Beware of deep-seated beliefs (schemas that have been concretized through repeated reinforcements.) We all live in our own glasshouses (and yes, we deny this fact vehemently.) Within these spheres, we are the best, our beliefs are exactly right, and we are never wrong (See Self-Concept and Attribution Theory) There’s no point trying to break your learner’s glasshouse, unless they serve the purpose of making learning more effective. You’d have a learner with a bruised ego and a mangled learning experience, because the audience would prefer not to accept information that conflicts with their existing suppositions. However, if such deep-rooted schemata interfere with the learning process, I’d vote for taking a chance. Your purpose is to make the learning happen, not to make the learner fall in love with you. But then if smile-sheets are a reality of your life – you need to walk your tightrope.
4. Don’t do away with generalizations. Generalizations yield excellent schemas, and so they enable your learners to see the overall picture and understand the general principles. If we revert to your happy fantasy of buying the truck, you understood a lot of general principles about automobile driving, and these general principles helped you test-drive and later drive your sparkling new truck out of the showroom, into the jungles of the Corbett National Park or the rough rocky terrain of the high mountains (that’s what the advertisement says – right?)
5. Remember that the audience’s schema grows continuously. Thus, on the second day of your training program, you’d have a more learned audience facing you. They’d have connected their learning from the training imparted on the first day, and now they’d be looking to fill the gaps in their expanding schema. Prepare yourself. Anticipate questions and ensure that learner’s schema continues to grow smoothly.

This is where I stop. The concept of schema amazes me. I see and experience it in all my training programs sans none. You can see its examples strewn all around you – now it’s up to you to pick it up and put it to work.

Read more about Schema Theory at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(psychology)

Author: Shafali R. Anand

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