Chapter 6, page 71
graders who were reading a history text about the American Revolution had great difficulty understanding
this text, partly because of references to the French and Indian War. They lacked a schema for
understanding what had happened in the French and Indian War, even though they previously studied this
war (Beck, McKeown, Sinatra, & Loxterman, 1991). Although the teacher had assumed they the students
had built up relevant schemas to understand the references to the French and Indian War, the students had
not in fact done so. When teachers realize that students lack needed schemas, they can help them build the
needed schemas in order to better comprehend new information. When teachers assume incorrectly that
their students already have the needed schemas, the consequence is that their students do not learn as
much.
Failing to activate consistent schemas. Learning is also impeded when students have consistent
schemas but do not activate them. To see what it is like to read a passage for which you have a relevant
schema but do not activate it, read the following passage:
The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange items into different groups. Of course
one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere
else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important
not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short
run, this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive
as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just
another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate
future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials
into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they
will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of
life. (John D. Bransford & Johnson, 1972, p. 722)
Did you have trouble understanding this passage? Most students report having difficulty understanding it,
and they also recall little of it when they are asked to write down what was said. Now read the passage
again, but this time, before you read it, activate your doing laundry schema. Once you have activated
your doing laundry schema, you will probably find the passage much more understandable.
Learning scientists John Bransford and Marcia Johnson (1972) used this passage to investigate the
effects of having students activate schemas before reading passages. Some students read the passage
without any cues to activate a schema. These students typically failed to activate a relevant schema, and
they could recall little that they had read. Other students were told that the passage was about doing
laundry. These students activated their schema for doing laundry, and they recalled much more of what
they had read.
The laundry paragraph was specially designed to be difficult to understand if readers do not activate
the relevant laundry schema. But students also have difficulty learning from ordinary passages if they do
activate their prior schemas. Consider students who are reading a textbook chapter about ordinary life in
the American West. Many students will learn more from reading such passages if teachers take time to
help students recall what they already know about life in the American West before they read the passage.
If the teacher finds that the students know little about this topic, she can take additional time to teach them
some additional information that will be useful to understand the passage (Dole, Valencia, Greer, &
Wardrop, 1991).
Activating inappropriate schemas. Sometimes learners run into trouble because they activate the
wrong schema. Here is an example from a sixth-grade girl (Colleen) reading a piece of literature (Norris
& Phillips, 1987). As you read the transcript, you will see that Colleen has activated the wrong schema
for understanding this passage.