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So what is Schema Theory? Schemas are categories of information stored
Teachers
in long-term memory. A schema contains groups of linked memories,
What is Retrieval Practice and
concepts or words. This grouping of things acts as a cognitive shortcut,
Manage Settings Accept Why is it so Powerful?
making storing new things in your long-term memory and retrieval of them
much quicker and more efficient.  What Inspired You to Become a
Teacher?

For example: If I smell a cake being baked, it reminds me of things I used What Does Research Tell us
to do with my Nan, as we used to bake cakes together. The smell of baking About Professional
Development in Education?
cakes is part of my “Nan” schema.
What Do Teachers Worry
If you consider schema (Plural: schemata) theory when planning your About?

lessons and making your resources. Your students will construct very strong
schemata and remember much more. Especially if you also consider
cognitive load theory and dual coding theory.

Schema theory is also considered in the seminal work, “Rosenshine’s

principles of instruction“.

Spending time directly teaching them this metacognitive strategy will

hugely improve your students ability to remember more from your lessons.
When students understand this, it makes studying for a test a much less
stressful time too.

Confused? Don’t worry, by the end of this article you will be a schema
master.

Let’s get started.

 Contents [
show
]

What is Schema Theory?

As we saw above, schema theory describes how people group together
associated memories. These groups are known as schemata.

Much like the way you put all your holiday photos into one album or file all
your bank statements into the same folder, schemata contain similar things
(as we saw from my “Nan schema” image above).

Fo instance, if you think of the word “car”, images and words will quickly
come to the forefront of your mind, these will probably contain thins like:
wheels, seats, road, journeys, insurance, steering wheel etc.

You “car schema” allowed you to quickly retrieve all things to do with cars.

It is this retrieval that makes Schema theory hugely important in education.

If students can associate new ideas with schema they already have, the
likelihood of them remembering them is much higher.

Bartlett’s Schema Theory

British psychologist, Sir Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969) was the first

professor of experimental psychology at Cambridge University, UK. He was a
pioneer of cognitive psychology which today forms the foundations of all
cognitive science.

It was whilst in this position that Bartlett published the book “Remembering”
(1932), his most respected work. Within this book, Bartlett discussed in
great detail, Schema Theory.

“War of the Ghosts”

Bartlett’s seminal experiment; the “war of the Ghosts” experiment, which

was featured in Remembering, demonstrated the reconstructive capability
of the human memory. It showed how new information could be linked to,
and sometimes adapted to fit existing schemata.

In this experiment, Bartlett assigned reading material to the participants (all

of which were English). He gave them a native American folklore text called
“War on Ghosts” to read and asked them to recall parts of the text at
different intervals.

He noticed that the longer the interval in between reading and recalling, the
less accurate the memory.

This wasn’t the surprising result.

The most interesting outcome Bartlett noticed was that where parts of the
text didn’t fit with the Edwardian English schemata the participants already
had, they were either omitted from the recalled information completely or
had been adapted to fit the participants existing schema.

For example, some participants recalled the “canoes” from the text as
“boats”. One participant had recalled “something black came out of his
mouth” as “he foamed at the mouth”.

It was clear from this experiment, that something was happening

subconsciously within the memory of the participants. In order to
understand, process and memorise the information within the text, the
participants had, without realising put the new information into schema they
already had.

At the time of Bartlett’s work, most psychology was rooted in behaviorism

and associationism and thus Bartlett’s more cognitive, Schema Theory
wasn’t strongly accepted and thus faded from focus.

Minsky’s Frame Theory

At this point, we must give a nod of gratitude to Marvin Minksy (1927-2016).

In the 1970s Minsky, a cognitive scientist, was working on artificial
intelligence (AI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His work involved trying to develop machines with human-like abilities (he
wanted them to be able to perceive and understand the world around them).

Whilst this has nothing to do with education, without him, Schema Theory
could well have been lost for good.

Whilst trying to solve the complex problems above, he came across

Bartlett’s work.

Minsky realised that in order for machines to perceive and understand the
world, they’d need to have a frame of reference, i.e. have the prior
knowledge to link any stimuli they encountered with. Minsky’s frame was
developed directly from Bartlett’s schema.

Modern Schema Theory

Minsky’s resurrection of Bartlett’s Schema Theory gave rise to a plethora of
work in cognitive psychology and educational research.

David Rumelhart

In his 1977 paper “The Representation of Knowledge in Memory“, Rumelhart

postulated 4 characteristics of schemata, which I shall give some context to
below.

(How very meta of me; using YOUR existing schemata to help you understand schema
theory!)

1. Schemata have variables.

1. Your schema for the word “teach” has several variables: your
career, imparting knowledge or a student learning. (maybe even
the pirate, Edward Teach!).
2. These variables would all be located in your “teach” schema, which
one you use is determined by the situation or context you find
yourself in.
2. Schemata can embed, one within another.
1. Using the earlier example; within your “teach” schema, you may
have a subschema “lesson plan” or “school” (or “pirate”).
2. Each of these subschemata may also have embedded schema
within them.
3. Schemata represent generic concepts, which taken all
together, vary in their level of abstraction.
1. Any schemata may be accessed from any number of higher
schemata. “school” could be accessed from “teach” or “type of
building” or “fish” (as in a school of fish).
2. This is especially important when students try to make inferences
from texts or understand metaphors or analogies.
4. Schemata represent knowledge rather than definitions.
1. Schemata represent a more flexible encyclopedic knowledge,
rather than a fixed dictionary definition. For example; A dictionary
definition of “pirate” could give the eyepatch, rum, parrot, pieces of
 eight version, whereas our “pirate” schema would also lead you
down a more semantic path of pirate movies or music.
2. This plays into the ability of our students to link what they learn in
the classroom to the outside world. Schemata allow apparent
mental jumps from one meaning to another.

In his later, 1980 paper, “Schemata: the building blocks of cognition“,

Rumelhart said of schemata:

“schemata can represent knowledge at all levels – from

ideologSchemaies and cultural truths to knowledge about the
meaning of a particular word, to knowledge about what patterns of
excitations are associated with what letters of the alphabet. We
have schemata to represent all levels of our experience, at all levels
of abstraction. Finally, our schemata are our knowledge. All of our
generic knowledge is embedded in schemata.”

It is clear from this quote that schema theory plays a large role in learning, it
is our job as teachers, not only to give information to our students but give it
to them in with the context required that will allow them to process and
remember it.

Before we look at schema theory in education, let’s just take a flexible

pitstop.

Flexible Schemas
It is worth mentioning here the flexibility of schemas before we delve into
the relevancy of schema theory in an educational setting.

In order for students (well, anyone actually) to fit new knowledge into
existing schema, schema must have plasticity, otherwise misconceptions
will occur.

For example:

Consider your “bed” schema. In your own bedroom, you know that you can
get into your bed and sleep right? You also know that in a bed showroom,
getting your pjs on and hoping into one of those beds is not the done thing.

They are both beds but your schema has, at some point adapted to fit both
scenarios.

We can store multiple versions of the same schema to fit different situations.

(I could have used the example of a bathroom showroom, but…you get my

drift!)

Schema Theory in Education

So, now you hopefully have a clearer understanding of Schema Theory and
you’ve probably used some of your own existing schemata to make sense of
it (again, so meta!).

But how do we transpose general schema theory into our own educational
arena?

For this we turn to educational psychologist, Richard Anderson.

Richard Anderson
 Richard Anderson is an American Educational
Psychologist who in the 1970s used schema
theory in an educational setting, predominantly
from a reading perspective.

Given that reading (or more specifically, being

able to comprehend text) is the basis for most
learning, I’m sure you will agree, that his work
was a temporal landmark in understanding how
students learn.

Richard Anderson, professor,

educational psychology
In his 1976 paper “Frameworks For
Comprehending Discourse“, Anderson discusses
the relevance of “bottom-up” vs. “top-down” processing, to schema theory.

The Importance of Schemata in Teaching and Learning

Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Processing

What is botton-up processing?

In the context of reading, the “bottom” represents the words on the page
you are reading from. Bottom-up processing refers to the influence exerted
on your mind by the words on the page.

For example:

Imagine I gave you are page of text based on a subject you had absolutely
no experience with. As able readers you could read the words, right? This is
bottom-up processing.

When you present a new topic to a child in your class, this is where they are
starting from, 100% bottom-up processing.

Without context, it means nothing to them.

What is top-down processing?

In contrast to bottom-up processing, top-down processing refers to your

preexisting knowledge (your schemata) being used to make sense of the
words on the page.

For example:

I have just magically given you all of the knowledge to fly a helicopter
(you’re welcome by the way!), you can understand any technical
information presented to you as long as it’s written in a language you
understand.

However, you stumble upon a helicopter manual written in a language you

have no experience with; the letters, words and sentence structure all
appear alien to you.

Despite being an expert pilot, you can’t do anything with the manual!

Top-down processing, like bottom up processing only work when

accompanied by the other.

If a child in your class can’t relate the new topic you are teaching them with
any of their preexistent schemata, they will simply not be able to learn it.
Also, the cognitive load of being presented with so much new information is
far too great for them to make any attempt to comprehend it.

Educational literacy is essential, without it, students stand no chance.

In the next section we will look at how we can apply schema theory in the
classroom.

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Schema Theory and Rosenshine’s Principles of

Instruction

Essentially then our schema is the cognitive framework we have in

which we organise our knowledge.

We use this framework as a mental structure of not only what we have

learnt but what we have available to us to learn and where we can place it;
our existing schema influences our perception of new material.

Rosenshine places great store on review – daily, weekly and monthly – as

part of effective teaching; ‘[daily] reviews ensured that the students had a
firm grasp of the skills and concepts that would be needed’.

Add to this Rosenshine’s second principle that new material must be

presented using small steps and we see the development of schema –
extending the cognitive framework using the existing foundations.

We must not fall into the trap of assuming that one theory correlates directly
with another – all research and evidence in education have various Venn
Diagrams in which different components nestle with others, but there is a
clear line of evidence to show that what works, works!

Understanding the concept of schema as a depiction of cognitive

architecture helps a teacher understand how misconceptions may arise
and also how to combat them.

Students arrive at learning experiences full of previous learning experiences,

perceptions, memories and misunderstandings, as well as thousands of
idiomatic associations that they didn’t realise they possessed until they
were either explained or challenged.
Rosenshine gives us clear principles from which we can start our
instructional journey and then go and explore further as teachers ourselves.

Direct Instruction works!

Schema Theory and Cognitive Load Theory

We know from Rosenshine (above) that more successful teachers present
‘small amounts of new material at one time’ and in such a way that each
point is mastered and understood before moving on; ‘too much information
swamps our working memory’ (Rosenshine, 2012).

Sweller et al (2003) explore the Expertise Reversal Effect – what works for
Novices doesn’t work for Experts and therefore vice-versa.

Experts need less support in solving a new problem and therefore your
approaches as a teacher must vary according to the ability and
independence of the students in front of you; this will also affect your
resource design.

Sweller (1988) looks at why domain-specific knowledge is necessary for

problem-solving; you need to know facts to solve problems.

His piece explores how conventional problem-solving doesn’t help (or is

inefficient) in acquiring schemata for problem-solving – doing does not
always equal improving!

As teachers we are experts and therefore must avoid means-to-an-end

problem solving and working backwards – we will put too much strain, too
much cognitive load on the problem and therefore hinder the learning.

Interleaving can help here as a model of instructional design, reducing the

pressure on the working memory by factoring in numerous opportunities for
successful recall of information necessary for learning to be efficient.

If the methods employed by you as a teacher are in line with the human
cognitive architecture then you will enable a more efficient transfer.

Sweller concludes that you don’t learn to solve problems by solving

problems!

Schema Theory and Dual Coding Theory

As we have explored, the term schema is applied by psychologists to
describe the way long-term memory is organized and sculpted.

Therefore, anything that helps organise and interpret new experiences, new
information, will be a benefit and enable the efficient construction of that
high-level knowledge structure – see the work of Roediger et al.

Schemas are complex layers of connections and visuals can help with the
facilitation of this as the connections between the information/facts/ideas
are clearly represented by the appropriate depiction.

Building connections is a multi-sensory process; well-selected visual

accompaniments to complex theories can help turn the abstract to concrete
and thereby render them firmly in the schema of the student.
 Teachers already possess appropriate schema; they have to impart
aspects of these to their ‘Novice’ students.

If they speak, that schema can be transient – the words disappear. If they
write it, there is often inference required – computational disadvantage; the
meaning is hidden to the Novice reader.

A good, clean graphic, a concept map or a diagram can all help enable the
connections.

Schema Theory and Metacognition

Prior knowledge supports new learning.

If you can, as a teacher, explicitly link new learning to experiences and

knowledge that students already possess then you help students integrate
this new learning into their existing schema, however, limited they may be.

By doing so you are also promoting students’ to think about their own
learning.

The very essence of metacognition.

If students can make conscious decisions about their own learning processes
and by doing so eliminate the inefficiencies then they become better
learners.

If they see you model your process, explain your thoughts and use the
language of schema in your descriptions and scaffolds then they will apply
them to their own independent study.

Metacognition requires self-reflection; self-reflection requires a knowledge of

how to reflect, which in turn requires a knowledge of how the mind works,
and in particular the ability for students to articulate (either internally or
externally – the latter is better!) how each piece of knowledge is connected
to the next.

Teach students about their mind and their schema; help them to help
you.

Application of Schema Theory in the classroom

By now you will have realised that, as teachers, schema theory, is probably
the most important thing to consider when planning and teaching your
lessons.

Put simply, if students have no context of what you are teaching, the battle
has already been lost.

As Richard Anderson eloquently puts it:

“The schemata a person already possesses are a principal

determiner of what will be learned from a new text.”

Schemata as Scaffolding for the Representation of Information in Connected Discourse

The implication of this is, the more we know the easier it is to learn more.
This results from the fact that we rely on our preexisting schema to make
sense of new information.

It is, therefore, our job to ensure that we both ensure that students have the
prior knowledge that will enable them to assimilate new information into
their preexisting schemata.

But how on Earth do we do that. Surely, if we haven’t taught them it yet,

how will they have prior knowledge?

Don’t worry, it’s simpler than it sounds.

As we discussed earlier, schema theory is especially important when it

comes to educational literacy.

For subjects or topics that rely on specific words that aren’t part of a
student’s regular vocabulary (such as science for instance), understanding
new concepts is impossible if you don’t know what the keywords mean.

It’s like being surrounded by locks, having never been taught what a key
is!

Understand Definitions Before Concepts

A simple, yet hugely effective strategy I use, makes huge headway to

bringing down this barrier.

Before starting a new scientific topic, I will give my students a list of the
keywords and their definitions from the new topic and allow them to learn
what the words mean (this is not a spelling test!).

I will give them time to quiz each other, make flashcards or do an online quiz
(I always set up a Quizlet for each set of keywords). When they are confident
they know what the words mean, I give them a little quiz.

I will read out the definitions and they have to write the associated keyword
down. Again, this is not a test of their spelling prowess. My goal is to give
them a level of prior knowledge they will need to build schema for the new
set of lessons.

This strategy is easily transferrable to many other subjects and takes

relatively little time to do (you could even set the learning of the definitions
for home learning).

Schema Theory in Maths Lessons

In 1989 Richard Clark published a paper called ‘When Teaching Kills

Learning’; in this, he defined two types of activities: –

‘mathemagenic’ – Activities that promote and give birth to learning.

‘mathemathantic’ – Activities that kill learning by mismatching
strategy with learner competency.

“Whenever an instructional treatment encourages students to

replace an existing, effective learning strategy with a dissimilar
alternative, learning is depressed”.

Clark looks at examples from Math lessons, “In a math task involving the
specification, intersection and separation of sets, Gagne & Bessler (1963)
found it difficult to explain why an untreated control group significantly
outperformed an experimental group on a nine-week delayed retention test.
The treated group had received training in applying intersection rules to a
number of example problems.”

In the article, Clark gives an example: “mathematics teachers discourage

the concrete “finger counting” that slower math learners use while
performing arithmetic operations. Mathematics teachers tend to encourage
their own more “abstract” learning strategies that seem not to help the
lower aptitude or younger subjects.””

The caveat here is that what works for one learner may not work for
another.

Using abstract representations of pizza slices and Swiss Roll to explore

fractions may benefit in terms of students enjoying the lesson but
enjoyment is not engagement and memories aren’t the same as memory.

They may simply remember the pizza and nothing about the fractions!

Novices need guidance and structure; Experts will benefit from greater
independence. Consider your approach carefully based on your knowledge
of your students.

Jitendra’s Schema Based Instruction

In 2011 Jitendra et al conducted research showing that a model of Schema-

Based Instruction enabled students to solve mathematical problems
presented in word form by emphasizing the ‘underlying mathematical
structure of problems via schematic diagrams’.

Although limited, the study showed the effectiveness of SBI in improving

students’ problem-solving.

The paper offers two key implications for teachers:

Firstly. ‘teachers need to provide instruction on using schematic diagrams

that are appropriate for the problems, support the use of multiple ways to
solve problems, and model how to monitor and reflect on the problem-
solving process’ – see Metacognition below.

Secondly. ‘teachers need to optimize learning opportunities to help

students transfer’ information from one aspect to another, developing and
strengthening the connections accurately and building the schema.

The research showed this process to be effective in maths lessons but the
ideas themselves are transferable, where appropriate, to all domains.

Schema Theory in Physical Subjects

According to Early Years specialist Chris Athey, schemas are those “patterns
of behavior and thinking in children that exist and evolve, and which may be
represented by actions, language and symbolic play“

The repeated nature of behaviors can show patterns which may reflect a
child’s interest in a concept or the properties of materials/objects they are
using in their play.

Athey built from Piaget – schemas are manifested through a range of

perceptual and active experiences in children’s relationships with others and
their representations of that experience – patterns of physical behavior.
 This led to types of schema such as rotation, trajectories, transporting,
enveloping, connecting and transforming, among many others.

The development of physical embodiments of concepts helps, like Dual

Coding, to create a pattern of recognition and strengthen the schema
through associations.

This should not be seen as the dreaded Kinaesthetic learning,

however!

By having an understanding of how knowledge is acquired, rehearsed and

retrieved from schema, teachers can plan for activities that promote
effective learning and retention of material – drills, practice, repetition,
challenge.

Schema Theory in Foreign Language Lessons.

In the excellent ‘Learning; What is it?’ paper Peps McRae explores insights
into effective and efficient learning.

One such insight is that understanding arises through connection:

‘Focus on helping pupils see and make meaningful connections

between what they know and what they are experiencing.

Provide non-examples as well as examples. Don’t leave out any

parts or steps, even though they may seem obvious.

Provide opportunities for pupils to ask questions and attempt to

make sense of what they are encountering. Ensure pupils have
adequate thinking time to explore and establish connections.’.

This can be prevalent in any classroom environment but perhaps most so in

languages, where failure to activate adequate schema can result in poor
comprehension or translation, and therefore inaccurate communication.

The use of examples and non-examples help address misconceptions that

may arise, anticipating them from your own experience as a teacher and
addressing them before they occur.

One method can be to give students texts to read on the topic at hand in
their first language before then introducing the topic in the language being
taught, as well as regular checks for understanding, practice and rehearsal.

A good source of evidence for misconceptions in foreign languages, as in

other subjects – are Examiner reports published after each Exam series;
these detail where successes were found but also, more usefully, where
errors were made by students in decoding or responding to questions.

Schema Theory in Science Lessons

In 1946 A. D. de Groot published his PhD thesis around how chess masters
interpret and solve chess problems.

He found that the more expertise a person has in a particular area, the
easier they find it to categorise and then solve problems because they have
greater, deeper conceptual knowledge and understanding of principles and
ideas.
In 1981 Chi et al conducted research using Physics students in their first
year and PhD candidates (Novices and Experts) to compare how they
classified Physics tasks into different categories and found (naturally) that
the Experts classified them differently from the Novices.

The experts, because of their conceptual grasp, had strategies for

solutions that matched the problems already to hand.

When teaching Sciences, as with other subjects, we must be careful to

ensure that the process is clear, the steps are small and the essential
knowledge needed to solve the problems is accurate.

Diagrammatical representations of processes can be very helpful to help

students visualize the schema, as can the modelling and explanations of the
teacher.

For example, if you are looking at the change of matter from one form to
another, you may start by asking students to represent that from their own
knowledge – what happens to an ice cube left on the side on a hot day?

Students will use previous experience to determine that it will melt; some
may understand also that water evaporates – drawing on this schema you
as a teacher can prepare them for concepts such as solid – liquid – gas.

As ever, it is about assessing the existing knowledge, checking for the

misconceptions and preventing the development of inaccurate
connections and links.

Impact of Schema Theory on Education

Schema theory can help us understand the differences between Novices and
Experts and therefore also our approach to classroom teaching, curriculum
planning and resource design.

In 1979 Chi et al explored this through Physics problems (above) but

ultimately they tell us that ‘not only do experts have more knowledge and
can work faster than beginners, they also look at or tackle problems
differently’.

Essentially, what you already know determines what you see, find or look
for, as well as the way you approach the problem itself – the more complex
and developed your schema, the more you have at your disposal to deal
with it.

To quote from Kirschner and Hendrick (2020):

‘for optimal learning, new knowledge must be related to the

knowledge that students have already acquired’.

Piaget referred to the integration of the new knowledge into the existing
schema as assimilation (insert new knowledge into existing schema) and
accommodation (adapt existing schema to fit the new knowledge).

Ultimately, beginners have incomplete schema, possibly full of

misconceptions, which teachers need to be aware of and make allowance
for.
 Differentiation, therefore, needs to take place at an early stage to help
combat any misconceptions before they develop and corrupt the
schema.

Novices have no access to schema relevant to the task before them; Experts
have the schema and therefore can use it to encode the various elements
into single entities, working forwards.

Novices work backwards from a means-end perspective.

Schemata are the mental models we have – they get increasingly more
complex, more elaborate, more sophisticated with every piece of knowledge
applied, but that knowledge has to be accurate and appropriate to the
schema being built.

One dodgy brick and a house can fall down…

This can have significant implications for curriculum planning as perception

is so individual but if the focus of the curriculum is explicit and success is
clearly defined then this job becomes easier.

The key is to ensure that no student leaves a lesson with an incorrect

piece of knowledge or a poorly applied example.

Good curriculum planning involves thinking about the links you want your
students to develop. Exposing students to well-selected examples of ideas
and concepts that enable, as opposed to overloading them to make links
with other related aspects.

Over time the schema develops appropriately and their level of thinking
becomes more sophisticated.

The development of schema is also not a job for a single teacher, but more
for an integrated and thorough set of educational principles.

The journey starts with the first ideas about anything and then develops
with each set of instruction.

It is the duty of every educator to ensure that the information given is

presented in the most appropriate way to enable not only understanding but
also retention and retrieval.

Knowledge is intellectual Velcro; it sticks to its own

(love the quotation but citation unknown!)

We must, as educators, beware that curse of knowledge, where we have

forgotten what it is like to learn something!

Criticisms of Schemas
Ostensibly, schema is a word for a mental representation, a knowledge
structure.

Piaget (1952) tells us that a schema is a ‘cohesive, repeatable action

sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and
governed by a core meaning’.

The problem may arise with pinpointing what a schema actually consists
of – can we build a house on poorly defined foundations?

As with many educational theories, the awareness of schema can form a

starting point for the development of other ideas – a springboard as opposed
to a target.

Work by many significant researchers – Ausubel, Sweller among others –

have used Schema as a concept on which they expand.

Ultimately we must be aware that there are effective learning strategies and
ineffective learning strategies, but these are not always the same for
everyone – one size fits very few in education.

To enable and promote learning you must have a knowledge of what your
students know and don’t know; you can then ascertain the schema they
hold and how to add to it in the most efficient way.

Are they novices with rudimentary schema who need facts, guidance and
structure, or are they experts with more sophisticated schema who can
tackle problems, work more independently and categorize their approaches
without as much need for your explicit instruction?

You know your students; use that knowledge for good.

Schema Theory FAQ

What Is Schema Theory?
Schema theory describes how people group together associated memories.
These groups are known as schemata. Linking new information to existing
knowledge makes it easier to move it from working memory to long term
memory and makes retrieval much more efficient.

Who Developed Schema Theory?

British psychologist, Sir Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969) first proposed the
idea of schema theory. He was a pioneer of cognitive psychology which
today forms the foundations of all cognitive science.

Similar Posts:

15 Learning Theories in Education (A Complete Summary)

Cognitive Load Theory – The Definitive Guide
The Complete Guide to Jean Piaget’s Learning Theories
The Complete Guide to Educational Literacy
Cognitive Tools Theory in Education (Kieran Egan)

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