What is how schemas form?

How schemas form is a concept in personal epistemology: How do you typically form new mental models? Understanding your process lets you improve it.

Example: A software architect realizes she builds new mental models by first collecting concrete examples, then noticing what they share, then naming the pattern. Her colleague does it differently — he starts with a theoretical framework from a book, then tests it against cases. Neither process is wrong, but neither has been examined. Once they see their own schema creation processes, they can borrow from each other's strengths and compensate for their own blind spots.

This concept is part of Phase 17 (Meta-Schemas) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for meta-schemas.