Schemata, Cognitive Structure, and Advance Organizers: A Reply to Anderson, Spiro, and Anderson

Abstract

Anderson, Spiro, and Anderson assert that my assimilation theory of meaningful learning and retention (and, more especially, the nature and functions of anchoring or subsuming ideas in cognitive structure and their effects on learning from text) is “hopelessly vague.” They also represent my concept of advance organizers as consisting of “a few abstractly worded sentences:” intended to facilitate textual learning directly rather than through appropriate modification of the learner’s existing cognitive structure. Lastly, they assert that since the research findings on the effects of advance organizers are allegedly “inconclusive,” “there is cause for doubts about the entire theory.” Documented examination of these assertions indicates that they are completely unspecified, unsubstantiated, and undocumented, as well as based on indisputable misrepresentation of published material and on logical non sequiturs.

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