Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition by John D. Bransford Presented by Michele Farah and Marsha Malone RDG 707

Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition by John D. Bransford Reemphasize Anderson’s major arguments Elaborate on the implications Potential Shortcomings

Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition by John D. Bransford Knowledge possessed by the learner has pervasive effects on performance Some students may appear to have poor comprehension and memory skills not because of memory or comprehension deficits but because they fail to activate background knowledge presupposed by a message or text. Differing interpretations If phrasing of a question is not congruent with children’s initial interpretation of an event they may falsely conclude that the child did not learn May affect teacher assessment and the way children see themselves

Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition by John D. Bransford Activating appropriate knowledge is fundamental act of comprehending and remembering What does it mean to be “familiar” with words in a story May be sufficient to understand some statements not all It is important for children to understand how texts differ and how different text structures influence their ability to comprehend new information and remember at a later time Ways to alleviate these problems is to simplify text, be more precise in the analysis of what it means to be “familiar “ with the text Children’s books do not need to be elaborated explicitly

Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition by John D. Bransford Schema construction and schema activation Most experiments that support schema theory used situations with students which are prompted to activate preexisting schema not construct new schema Understanding significance helps develop knowledge structures and facilitate memory By giving information that will clarify significance and relevance Need to examine the processes involved in acquiring knowledge about a more complex domain Developing a more sophisticated schema rather than simply activating a schema which already exists