Schema

The functional aspects of schemas may be compared with theories. As David Rumelhart says, "It is useful to think of a schema as a kind of informal, private, unarticulated theory about the nature of events, objects, or situations that we face. ......

Many accounts have been given of the experience of discovery that comes with the achievement of schematizing, but perhaps none so dramatic as that recorded by Helen Keller

"Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over my hand she spelled into the other the word 'water,' first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motion of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten -- a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that W-A-T-E-R meant that wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand."

I take this to be a subjective account of schema formation. Keller's discovery of the significance of language resulted from the schematic integration of sense data, those from one hand being associated with those from the other. Once the initial pattern of meaning had been formed, Keller had the resource for further elaborations: "That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! ...... I felt the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought ~ Page 94/95