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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Cognitive Development

Schema

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

/ˈskiːmə/nounCommon term

In child development & early education, schema means: A repeated pattern of play that children use to explore an idea, such as carrying, wrapping or throwing things; in Piaget's theory, a mental structure that organises knowledge.

In Turkish: şema, oyun şeması

How it is used

In UK early years practice, schemas are named patterns such as transporting, enveloping, trajectory, rotation and enclosing, based on the work of Chris Athey. The plural is schemas or schemata; staff say a child 'is exploring a transporting schema'.

Example sentences

  1. He keeps throwing balls and dropping toys from the high chair, so we think he's exploring a trajectory schema.

  2. Piaget described how children adapt their schemas through assimilation and accommodation.

Common collocations

  • transporting schema
  • trajectory schema
  • schema play
  • assimilation and accommodation
  • cognitive developmentThe development of thinking skills such as attention, memory, problem-solving, reasoning and understanding how the world works.
  • sensorimotor stageThe first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, from birth to about two years, when babies learn about the world through their senses and movements.
  • playActivity that children choose freely and enjoy for its own sake, such as building, pretending, running or exploring; it is seen as a key way young children learn.
  • heuristic playPlay in which babies and toddlers freely explore everyday objects and natural materials, such as wooden spoons, chains, tins and pine cones, without adult direction.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cognitive Development

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