Introduction What exactly are schemas, and how useful are they in providing the right learning environment for our very young children? This article brings together various definitions of schemas, followed by a brief description of named schemas. These include observations of children showing characteristics of the different schemas in their play, most notably recorded by Chris Athey (teacher and lecturer), and also by Cathy Nutbrown (teacher and writer). There will also be a brief look at the role of practitioners and parents in supporting children's schemas. A brief history of schemas The term 'schema' was used by Piaget in the 1960s to mean "general cognitive structures in children under the age of five" (Athey, p.35). A further examination of schemas was included in the Froebel Early Education Project (1973 - 1978), directed by Athey, which intended to "provide information about the ways in which young children acquire knowledge" (Devereux and Miller p.118). It is the work of Athey, laid out in her book Extending Thought in Young Children (1990, and 2003) that defines how we think of schemas today. What are Schemas? The meaning of the term 'schema' has evolved since Piaget's use of it in the 1960s. Athey explains schemas as "patterns of repeatable actions that lead to early categories and then to logical classifications. As a result of applying a range of action schemas to objects, infants arrive at generalisations that objects are 'throwable', 'suckable' and 'bangable' " (Athey p.36). Schemas are the mental organising and categorising of experiences that help children to an increasing understanding of their environment. What makes something a schema rather than random activity is its repeating pattern. Ann Langston, an early years' consultant, describes a schema as "a repeated pattern of behaviour through which the child explores a particular interest" (Nursery World pullout 7th August 2003). Different schemas combine as a child develops: "The early schemas of babies form the basis of the patterns of behaviour which children show between the ages of two and five years and these in turn become established foundations for learning" (Nutbrown p.10). Learning in this way relies on the child's environment. Athey puts it concisely: "Increase experiences and schemas will be enriched" (Athey p.37). Exploring and practising their schemas in different situations allows the child to 'coordinate' their schemas and to become more knowledgeable about the world around them. "What is 'known' leads to what becomes 'better known'" (Athey p.37). Different types of schema There are a number of different kinds of schema identified by Athey. They can be summarised as: Dynamic vertical - interest in up and down Dynamic back and forth - interest in the motion of backwards and forwards, or side to side Dynamic Circular - interest in things that rotate Going over or under Going round a boundary Going through a boundary Enveloping and Containing - covering, wrapping, and putting objects inside things Thought - telling a story, or acting out an event Athey concluded that there are three developmental stages in schemas. Moving from infants to older children, they can be described as: "Motor level - where behaviour shown by the child does not appear to have any representational significance Symbolic representation - the child is able to represent events symbolically through their actions, play or other forms such as drawing, modelling and painting Thought level - the child is able to give a description about an event or action after it has occurred" (Devereux and Miller, p.119) The developing child will explore a schema with whatever materials and experiences fit that interest. Nutbrown explains the link between schema and resources: "If a child is focussing on a particular schema related to roundness, we could say that the child is working on a circular schema. The form is 'roundness' and the content can be anything which extends this form; wheels, rotating machinery, rolling a ball, the spinning of the planets!" (Nutbrown, p.11). Dynamic vertical and dynamic back and forth Children exploring this schema show an interest in things, or themselves, going up and down, and from side to side. Babies display this schema when they repeatedly drop toys from a pram and watch them being returned to them. Nutbrown's observations included a boy, aged four, who enjoyed jumping, bouncing and climbing on tree logs. She explains that children use themselves as well as other things to explore a schema: "the experience of climbing higher and dropping down is important for the development of ideas related to increasing and decreasing height" (Nutbrown, p.37). This child displayed other behaviour that indicated he was working within these schemas, such as drawing ladders, playing rescue games with cranes and building towers. Researchers of schemas believe that if an activity fits with a child's current schema then they are more likely to learn from it than from another experience. Nutbrown uses language as an example, when the boy she observed repeated his mother's description of the men working on their roof being 'up high', using the words to describe other high things. She stresses that "children are more likely to assimilate language used by adults when what they say matches children's interests" (Nutbrown, p.38). Practitioners extended this child's experiences by encouraging him to play with the dolls house which had an upstairs and a downstairs; to use a small step ladder to 'paint' the nursery fence with water as he had seen workmen paint his house; and by taking him on a trip to a Fire Station where he watched the fire engine's ladders go up and down. Dynamic Circular Athey believes it is important for children to have "many experiences of the 'movingness' of objects" (Athey, p.139), meaning all the different ways that things can be moved. Rotational movement is one of these ways. In her observations she notes one boy of twenty two months who focussed on a record going round, and then doing a circular scribble drawing. Later he walked round and round, swivelled round on his bottom, and pulled a car and a train in a circular direction. In isolation, these events would not seem significant, but viewed together they begin to indicate a circular schema. Nutbrown observed an older boy of three years making round marks in his drawings to represent wheels, faces and snakes. He watched the wheels go round as he pushed toy cars down a ramp and he was interested in wind up toys. The same child observed a workman drilling a hole in the nursery door. Later he made his own drill out of construction materials and pretended to drill the door himself. Nutbrown comments that experiences that come from real things are key to schematic learning: "Working with household equipment and tools that perform a real function can provide multiple opportunities to extend thinking and understanding" (Nutbrown, p.53). Athey recommends other activities to extend a circular schema, such as screwing nuts and bolts, a trip to a windmill, playing with helicopters, and nursery rhymes such as 'Here we go round the mulberry bush' or 'Ring-a-ring-roses'. Going over or under schema This schema includes an interest in things that are 'on top' or 'underneath'. Athey's examples include children putting hats on, going under something themselves, pushing cars over or under a bridge, and stacking things. She describes one boy (aged 3 and a half) who "hammered three nails into a wooden brick. He then hammered three nails on the other side. He called his model 'Three roots and three shoots'" (Athey, p.144). This was significant because it showed the boy had realised that being underneath and on-top-of come together: "that shoots and roots are connected'" (Athey, p.146). Children's drawings and models provide an important insight into what they are noticing about the world: " Markmaking can also provide a clear indication of children's interests" (Nutbrown, p.44). Athey shows children's drawings of a boat under a bridge, people wearing hats on their heads, and hair on top of heads. Coupled with the children's talk about their pictures and with the interests displayed in the rest of their play, they were further evidence of an over and under schema. Going round a boundary Athey makes a link between this schema, and some of the others she observed: "the schemas going through, enveloping, containing and going round were closely related and it was sometimes difficult to differentiate between them" (Athey, p.153). She relates the going round a boundary schema to an interest in surrounding objects or themselves and in learning to tie knots. In her observations, two boys were playing 'horse and driver' by looping a rope around the 'horse' and using appropriate language such as 'wrapping' and 'round me' to commentate on their play (Athey, p.147). Other children put a ring of toys around something else, showed an interest in putting dogs in collars and leads, making necklaces, and, after a visit from a doctor and nurse, putting bandages on toys. Athey describes how children use all sorts of things to extend this schema: "Early attempts at surrounding were facilitated by pipe-cleaners, milk straws and cardigan sleeves. These allowed the children to perform a kind of slow-motion knot" (Athey, p.148). She recommends extending this schema by playing circle games, or measuring the perimeters of objects. Containing and Enveloping This is one of the more well known schemas, and it can be identified in the youngest children: "One of the earliest indications of the schema is where children put objects into containers and then take them out again" (Athey, p.195). Nutbrown's observations of Jeanette, aged 3 years and nine months, show a more advanced stage of this schema. Jeanette often enclosed herself by making houses and blocking off the entrances: "Jeanette seemed to have a need to be entirely enclosed, so sealing the entrance was an important part of her play" (Nutbrown, p.42). Jeanette's drawings also indicated her interest in enveloping. She often coloured over a picture she had drawn using language like 'covered up or 'it's hidden' to describe what she had done. Athey stresses the importance for practitioners to recognise this colouring over as part of a containing and enveloping schema: "Teachers tend to disapprove of children scribbling over their drawings, particularly after their drawings have become recognisable equivalents of reality...If covering over is interpreted as destructive then adult disapproval will follow" (Athey, p.152). There were other ways in which Jeanette displayed elements of a containing schema such as wrapping things in paper to make presents, or burying things in the sand tray. Langston gives another example of an enveloping schema from a child who was bathing a doll. She covered the doll in bubbles, then talcum powder, then wrapped the doll tightly in a towel (Nursery World pullout, 7th August 2003). Athey's possible extensions for this schema show how it can be supported by a wide range of activities. These include looking at seeds inside fruit; cooking things such as pies, Chinese dumplings or samosas; and the coverings we wear to keep us warm (Athey, p.195). Going through a boundary An interest in doors and windows can indicate that a child is exploring this schema. Children begin to understand that these are ways of getting through and of looking out. Athey gives various examples of this schema in action such as making holes and looking through them, and a child aged four who was observed going through a box, looking through a kaleidoscope, blowing through a recorder, threading beads, and watching other children climb through the window of the play house. This child's language reinforced her actions, such as her description of herself "going through" the hole in the box, and her commentary on the children "going through that window" (Athey, p.157). Thought (Internalised action) This is the bringing together of schemas. Athey includes this because she believes that as children become more experienced "schemas become coordinated with each other and develop into systems of thought" (Athey, p.160). Children demonstrate this through imagined events that bring together experiences they have actually had. Athey gives the example of playing a game of soldiers who are being chased by an imaginary enemy: "The pursued move from point to point, sometimes from one covered position to another. Trees are climbed in imagination in order to escape from the dogs of the enemy. Imaginary submarines are boarded and then submerged. Imaginary aeroplanes are boarded and flown. The children pretend to parachute down, swim away from sinking ships, hide in caves while the enemy marches over the top, and so on" (Athey, p.160). In this pretend play the children are bringing together almost all the schemas. The 'thought' schema can also be demonstrated in a child's story telling, where in their imagination they bring together various schema and experiences. Athey's observations included a child whose story demonstrated he was "able to describe actions - to evoke the past in the absence of objects originally acted upon" (Athey, p.163). The role of the practitioner - observation and learning experiences Nutbrown recognises that practitioners may need to make some adaptations in their approach to early year's development when they begin to use schemas. She says that "when early childhood educators first learn about schemas they often need time to reflect on what this new information means to them" (Nutbrown, p.9). It requires changing the way a practitioner looks at things. Devereux and Miller suggest that "adults working with young children and using schema as a framework for their practice, seek to look beyond what children are playing with, to observe what they are doing with materials and objects" (Devereux and Miller, p.120). Observation is the key to working with children in this way. Through careful watching, listening, and record keeping, practitioners can collect evidence to show what an individual child's interests are, and which schema they are exploring. Nutbrown stresses the need to bring together a child's actions, speech and mark making through observation: "Children who are apparently repeating actions which seem aimless should be observed carefully by staff who can note precisely what children are doing" (Nutbrown, p.11). She goes on to describe how these observations can assist the practitioner in extending a child's schema: "New experiences and interventions need to be based on detailed observations underpinned by the educator's knowledge of each child as an individual learner" (Nutbrown, p.11). A rigid, across the board approach to planning is not appropriate because "children ultimately decide on the real nature of their work" (Nutbrown, p.116). All advocates of schemas believe that children need relevant experiences to support their learning. Skilful observation provides the basis for what to offer a child next. But, as Athey says, experience is not something that can be shown to a child, rather it is something that is used, understood and then reused in other contexts: "'Experience' itself can be defined as 'that which is being assimilated by the child' and not 'that which is presented to the child'" (Athey, p.204). As well as appropriate resources in an early years setting, the 'real world' provides a never ending resource for children's schemas. Educational visits, or trips out with a parent or carer, therefore play a vital role in extending children's understanding. Nutbrown says that practitioners need to think differently about the visits that they organise: "This may be familiar to many early-childhood educators, but for so many the familiarity lies in the content of visits rather than the forms of thought that they might inform, nourish and extend" (Nutbrown, p.41). She also points out that a single visit can support more than one schema, and therefore stimulate children in different ways, as they take from it what interests them in particular. Including Parents Those who work within the framework of schemas agree that the involvement of parents and carers is key to the success of children's learning. If parents share an understanding of how children learn through schemas, then they can use everyday events to support their child, through the language they use and the things they give their child time to focus on. Stopping to look at a building site and talking about the cranes (dynamic vertical schema), or the huge wheels on the lorries (dynamic circular schema), or where the doors and windows will be on the new buildings (going through a boundary), becomes a shared experience that the parent can link to other experiences the child has had. Nutbrown feels strongly that "all parents should have the opportunity to know about ways to support their children's ideas and extend their experiences" (Nutbrown, p.137). Athey notes that parents involved in the Froebel Project began to look at their children's behaviour in a different light: "these situations excited parents because they found schematic explanations more interesting and reassuring than thinking of such behaviours as random" (Athey, p.142). Working with schemas encourages, and relies upon, good communication with parents, allowing a flow of information about the child both ways. A last word To answer the question posed at the beginning of this article, perhaps the most fundamental way in which schemas provide the right learning environment for our very young children is in changing the way practitioners think about early development. In following a schema framework, staff and other adults will make connections between a child's speech, play, and representation of the world through drawings and models. In doing so they will then enrich a child's interests through careful use of basic resources and play, as well as offering the child valuable experiences outside the early years setting. Ultimately, says Nutbrown, schemas are a valuable way of looking at what children do already: "Children's schemas can be viewed as a part of their motivation for learning, their insatiable drive to move, represent, discuss, question and find out" (Nutbrown, p.114). References Athey, C., (1990, reprinted 2003), Extending Thought in Young Children: A Parent-Teacher Partnership, Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd, London. Nutbrown, C., (1999), Threads of Thinking, 2nd edition, Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd, London Devereux, J. and Miller, L., (2003), Working with children in the early years, David Fulton Publishers, London, in association with the Open University Langston, A., (7th August, 2003), All about working with under-threes, Nursery World
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