Traditional pattern teaching is an important part of the art curriculum, but the pattern are complex and difficult to learn. While schema theory focuses on the integration, understanding and construction process of knowledge, AR technology can provide a three-dimensional and dynamic display of patterns, which has been used in teaching in recent years. Therefore, this study uses schema theory to guide the design of AR serious games and conducts experiments in a university. We selected a total of 120 students for the experiment to test AR serious games and common serious games respectively. The results indicated that both common serious games and AR serious games guided by cognitive schema had good teaching effects, while AR serious games more significantly reduce the cognitive load of students. For comprehension questions, the teaching effect of AR serious games is more significant, but for literacy questions, the difference in learning effect between them is not significant. In addition, AR serious games are more helpful for long-term memory and for understanding of complex traditional art forms such as bone schema and cultural schema. These are inspirational for art education.