Week 5 - Schema Theory

The learning theory of the week, schema theory made for some interesting reading.  At first glance the theory seems quite close to last week's theory, meaning.  It took me a while to understand how the two compare because they both deal with previous knowledge as being an important factor in new learning.  While the way I see learning hasn't really change from last week, the schema theory shows that the previous knowledge that a student brings to the learning can be more difficult to remedy than I thought before. 

Previous knowledge, or schemata, can take the form of prejudices and those are hard to see past.  It is easy to see how a person's past can show new concepts in a certain "light" that can change how they are perceived.

A lot of the schema theory seemed to relate to learning how to read and, in fact, additional resources I found on the internet were mostly related to teaching students how to read.

I suppose that in light of how the schema theory describes previous knowledge, the instructor should keep in mind what schemata students might have and how they could affect the learning of the new material.