Abstract Schemas
- 1 January 1993
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Educational Psychologist
- Vol. 28 (1), 51-66
- https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2801_5
Abstract
Thinking that goes beyond immediate experience is regulated by knowledge structures called abstract schemas. Analysis of three such schemas reveals that they are not theory-like: They do not consist of general propositions, they are neither true nor false, and failure of fit between schema and reality does not cause rejection of the schema. Abstract schemas encode the structure of discourse rather than its content. This allows cross-domain transfer to be attempted but does not guarantee that it will succeed. The repertoire of abstract schemas is small enough to be a reasonable target for instruction.Keywords
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