Example

by Pat Davis

I heard an English conversation a few weeks ago. Although I am a native speaker of English, I understood none of the conversation except that it was about computers. My prior knowledge did not include the technical terms and concepts being discussed by the computer programmers.

At the same time, I am able to converse in technical terms about learning theory--an area where my schemata have been built. Others with less prior knowledge have difficulty understanding my discussion unless I add explanations and define terms, thereby expanding their schemata.