Script Theory
Biography
Roger Schank is one of the foremost researchers in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas. He is the director of the Institute for the Learning Sciences (ILS) at Northwestern University. His work stresses the value of learning from experts, developing skills rather than perfecting routines, and applying the benefits of "just-in-time" training.
Schank is a strong critic of today's educational system. His approach to learning, and training involves helping people learn by doing, allowing people to make mistakes in a safe learning environment and sharing experiences with leading teachers and experts. He has taken special interest in adult education and training, especially in the corporate environment. This effort has led to his highly successful role as a teacher, consultant, and lecturer, as well as developer of extremely powerful and effective multimedia training tools.
Schank is the author of more than 125 articles and publications. His books include: Dynamic Memory: A Theory of Learning in Computers and People , Tell Me a Story: A New Look at Real and Artificial Memory, The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind, and Engines for Education. His newest book is Virtual Learning: A Revolutionary Approach to Building a Highly Skilled Workforce.
Theory
Schank's theories address the structure of knowledge, with particular interest on language understanding and higher thinking skills. His early work in the 1970's led to the development of contextual dependency theory, which attempted to explain how meaning is derived from sentences. He introduced the concept of scripts, plans, and themes in 1977; this level of theory dealt with understanding at the story level. His work in the 1980's continued to develop the theory to encompass other levels and aspects of cognition. Schank was a proponent of the notion that all memory is episodic, meaning it is organized around personal experience rather than semantic (meaning) categories.
Schemata for generalized episodes are "scripts." Scripts allow the learner to make inferences about situations by filling in missing information. Thus, understanding is developed by a blend of experiential observations and inferences made from previous experiences stored in memory.
According to Roger, the only way we learn is through "doing," and failure. Failure gets our attention, it fosters an emotional response, which is essential for learning. "Doing," and emotional experiences rarely take place in a classroom. Computer-based learning is best suited to an individual work station, not a classroom. Talking or social learning lends itself to small, coffee shop-like spaces, where learners can gather informally. Learning by "doing" can happen in a wide variety of environments, including gardens, science labs, technical shops and dance studios.
Learning Theory Bibliography
Schank, R.C. (1991). Tell Me a Story: A New Look at Real and Artificial Intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster.