Overview
This lecture reviews Chris Athey's schema theory in child development, emphasizing how recognizing schemas can inform and improve early years educational practice.
Understanding Schemas
- Schemas are underlying patterns of behavior and thinking that guide how children explore, learn, and make predictions through repetitive play.
- Emotional and cognitive brain functions drive children's motivation to repeat and investigate patterns in play, such as stacking, transporting, or hiding objects.
- Repetitive behaviors help children make connections, develop skills, and solve problems.
Athey’s Background & Constructivism
- Chris Athey advocated starting with the learner’s current abilities to build knowledge, echoing constructivist principles.
- She believed intelligence is not fixed but developed through active exploration and engagement with the environment.
- Her work was influenced by Froebelian and Piagetian educational theories.
Froebel Early Education Project
- Involved observing children from varied backgrounds to analyze their thinking and behavioral sequences.
- Found children focus on developing ideas as they interact with their environment, challenging the notion that they lack concentration.
- Identified schema development sequence: repeated actions, symbolism, making connections, and internalizing concepts.
Key Influences & Practices
- Child-centered and varied environments help children construct learning.
- Observing children’s schemas enables tailored planning to extend their interests and thinking skills.
- Multiple schemas can develop simultaneously, and connections between them strengthen cognitive growth.
- Recognizing and supporting children’s schemas encourages meaningful learning activities.
Good Practice Recommendations
- Practitioners should understand emotional impacts on thinking to create rich learning scenarios.
- High-quality observations focus on how, not just what, children play with, revealing underlying schemas.
- Resources should reflect children's current schemas (e.g., ramps for trajectory, blankets for enveloping).
- Parent and caregiver involvement is essential for effective support of children's schema-driven learning.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Schema — A repeated pattern of behavior or thinking that helps children make sense of their world.
- Constructivist — An approach where learners build knowledge actively through experience and interaction.
- Trajectory Schema — Interest in movement and pathways (e.g., rolling, throwing).
- Enveloping Schema — Fascination with covering or hiding objects or themselves.
- Connecting Schema — Engagement with joining or linking things together.
- Transporting Schema — Involvement in moving objects from one place to another.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Read Athey’s Extending Thought in Young Children (2007) for more detail.
- Observe and document children’s schemas in your setting.
- Share observations and schema knowledge with parents and caregivers.