Reappropriating Schema: Conceptions of Development From Bartlett and Bakhtin

Bartlett posited the theory of schema as the organization and development of mind. His work pointed to the organismic (not mechanistic), active (not passive) nature of mind. Bartlett also emphasized the importance of social and cultural influences on schema, although he tended to view "social group" as a one-dimensional entity. Bakhtin, with his emphasis on mind as constructed socially through dialogue within multiple words and worlds, has provided a remedy to this problem. His view of appropriation, in which we take the words and utterances of others, reworking them for our own purposes, connects well with Bartlett's schema. Together, the two views provide a powerful portrait of the organization and development of mind as dynamic, organismic, and dialogic.