A class room seminar on SCHEMA THEORY(BARTLETT) submitted by , pankaj kr sarkar roll no – 32 semester – I session -2016-2018

The schema theory The theory of schema was one of the leading cognitivist learning theories and was introduced by Bartlett in 1932 and further developed in the ‘70s by Richard Anderson . Bartlett advanced this concept to provide a basis for a temporal alternative to traditional spatial storage theories of memory , since schema theory describes the way knowledge is acquired ,processed and cerebrally organized. According to R .I. Trask , schema is “a set of knowledge that is idealized from experience”.

One can acquire knowledge in this very life by facing many incidents or experiences. some incidents remain in the memory ,again some are not stored in the memory .one can recall some matters accurately , in some cases not . schema is that knowledge that is acquired by experiences. Hossein Tarakoli says, “A schema is a complex knowledge structure which groups all that an individual knows about or associates with a particular concept” Schema is a complex process of acquiring knowledge , by which one can connect his acquired knowledge with another acquired knowledge.

The schema theory structure While exploring the recall of Native American Folktales ,Bartlett noticed that many recalls were not accurate and involved the replacements of unfamiliar information with facts already known. In order to categorize this class of memory errors , Bartlett suggests that human beings apparently posses generic knowledge in the form of unconscious mental structures produce schematized errors in recall when they interact with incoming information. Thus , it is through schemata that old knowledge influences new information . So, basically , schemata (plural of schema) are psychological concepts that were proposed as a form of mental representation for selected chunks of complex knowledge ,which are then stored in the long-term memory.

Bartlett gives an example of schema from our daily life Bartlett gives an example of schema from our daily life.if one visits a hotel many times , he gradually acquires the knowledge of schema .he acquaints himself with food, drink, waiter, bill, spoon, fork ,plate ,veg ,non-veg, glass ete .these things influence his mind and he is familiar with those.if he visits another hotel ,he longs to be arranged same things as those things remained in his mind as schema. there is a particular structure to acquire knowledge that the schema of visiting hotel is not the same as library – schema. At the library we can acquire knowledge of books and learning. Hotel schema – meal , glass , veg, non-veg, cheese, spoon, toast etc. Library schema – books , magazine, almirah ,catalogue, latefine ete. The process of acquire knowledge is not identical ,various incidents or experiences make various schemas.

The 4 key elements of schemata An individual can memorize and use a schema without even realizing of doing so. Once a schema is developed , it tends to be stable over a long period of time. Human mind uses schemata to organize ,retrieve ,and encode chunks of important information. Schemata are accumulated over time and through different experiences.

Schema in the classroom and duty of teacher : As schema is acquired knowledge ,so it is the indispensable duty to acquaint with this knowledge in the class room. A number of writers have derived instructional proposals from schema theory. they suggested that relevant knowledge should be activated before reading ,that teachers should try to provide prerequisite knowledge ; and that more attention should be given to teaching higher order comprehension processes. Let them inform that acquiring knowledge through schema is very helpful to increase assumption power. Schema helps to make curiosity in the mind of learners even much as need. Schema can play a vital role to know the profound or inner meaning of a text .

CONCLUSION In the end , we can say that schema theory has provided education with a way to think about the representation of some forms of complex knowledge .it has focused attention on the role of old knowledge plays in acquiring new knowledge , and has emphasized the role of top –down ,reader based influences in the reading process.