Chapter 6, page 68
The fifth type of prior conceptions consists of core conceptions about knowledge and about how
people learn. Core conceptions about knowledge includes ideas such as “the knowledge I am learning is
very simple,” and core conceptions about learning include ideas such as “I learn best when I repeat ideas
to myself over and over.” Jeanine knows that her students’ core conceptions about knowledge and about
learning can either facilitate or impede their learning, depending on what those ideas are. For example,
Jeanine knows that those students who think that they learn best by repeating ideas to themselves over and
over will have more trouble learning, because simply repeating ideas over and over (“octopuses are in the
mollusk phylum; octopuses are in the mollusk phylum, octopuses are in the mollusk phylum”) is a poor
learning strategy. In contrast, those students who think that they learn best by elaborating ideas
(“octopuses are in the mollusk phylum, which is surprising, since they don’t have shells, but they have a
lot of internal characteristics in common with those animals, even though they look different”) will be
more successful, because by elaborating, they will gain a deeper understanding of the ideas they are
learning.
CONSISTENT PRIOR CONCEPTIONSWhen students have prior conceptions that are consistent with what they are learning, they learn
more than when they do not have or do not use such conceptions. In other words, for students’ consistent
prior conceptions to help them, they must not only have the consistent conceptions, but they must also
utilize them (R. C. Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985; R. C. Anderson & Pearson, 1984).
Following up on the example from Jeanine’s classes on animal taxonomy, if students have a great deal of
accurate knowledge about many kinds of animals—from mammals to mollusks--they will learn a great
deal from reading a textbook chapter on animal taxonomy. If they do not, or if they only know about
mammals but not other kinds of animals, they will learn less. Students will also learn less if they have
consistent knowledge but do not bring it to mind when reading this chapter.
Schemas
Much of the research on the effects of prior conceptions on learning has employed the idea of
schemas (Bartlett, 1932; Rumelhart, 1980). Schemas are an important type of consistent knowledge.
Students learn more if they have and use schemas that are consistent with what they are learning.
A schema is an organized knowledge structure stored in long-term memory (Rumelhart, 1980).
Schemas summarize what we know about the world. Schemas typically capture what is common to many
examples of a thing or a process. For example, most people have schemas that tell them in general what
dogs are—what is true of most or all dogs that they have seen. Similarly, people have schemas that tell
them in general what birds are, how food gets to the market, what governments are, and what usually
happens when they go to the doctor.
Let’s look in more detail at what schemas are and how schemas affect learning. Consider people’s
schema for birds. Most people have a great deal of organized information about birds. They know that
birds have two legs, beaks, and feathers. Feathers enable adults of most species of birds to fly from one
place to another. Birds are warm blooded. They lay eggs, and they typically build nests for these eggs.
Different beaks are adapted for eating different kinds of food. Different kinds of feet are adapted for
different settings (e.g., webbed feet for aquatic birds, feet adapted for perching, and so on).
The example of bird illustrates several important properties of schemas:
Ɣ Schemas specify common features or elements. The bird schema specifies what is common to most or
all birds (two legs, a beak, feathers).
Ɣ Schemas indicate what is typical. For many people, robins are very typical birds, where as eagles are
less typical, and penguins are seen as atypical. Knowing what is typically and atypically helps people
make predictions about what most birds will be like.