No link, No learning

Contemporary cognitive scientists often disagree about the educational impact of some teaching practices. However, they all agree on the importance of activating prior knowledge before learning something new. John Hattie provides a nice synopsis of the research. As you can see in the visual below, Hattie rates “strategy to integrate prior knowledge” as having a .93 effect, or a 50% boost in learning.


                                                                              https://www.mguhlin.org/2019/09/uncovering-truth-hattie-and-pbl.html

The increase in learning occurs because students make connections between old and new understandings when recalling prior knowledge. The brain is a pattern-seeker. Therefore, when learning something new, the brain will do one of the following:
  • Link new information to existing schema, or mental models of previously learned information OR
  • Create new schema or mental models
As a result, teachers should activate students’ prior knowledge before introducing new information. This intentional act typically occurs at the start of a lesson or during Prime-time 1 when teachers are providing direct instruction.


While every teacher is pressed for time, taking a few minutes to access and activate students’ previous understandings will save time by enabling teachers to:
  • Target knowledge gaps and misconceptions
  • Create a bridge between students’ previous knowledge and new material, making learning easier
Activating prior knowledge is relatively easy. You can initiate the process, or you can ask students to self-assess their prior knowledge. Let’s start with what you can do:

First, consider the following questions while planning:
  1. What do you assume students already know?
  2. What kinds of questions will help you confirm your assumptions?
  3. What are some common misconceptions related to your subject?
  4. How are you going to analyze and respond to the data your activator provides? 
  5. How will you explicitly connect students' prior knowledge to the new information?
Secondly, select an activator that encourages students to not only recall previous knowledge but also collaborate and if possible, move around the classroom. The following strategies require both movement and collaboration:
Another great strategy to activate students’ prior knowledge is through retrieval practice. In a nutshell, retrieval practice asks students to recall from memory what they know about a topic. Recalling the memory strengthens it, making it easier to retrieve later. Recall activators can be done in a variety of ways, all of which require little preparation and a short amount of class time:
I particularly like the idea of asking students to self-assess their prior knowledge. The following video offers several strategies for increasing student autonomy. Many of the questions that students should ask themselves are great questions for you to consider when planning.

MOOC USSV101x | Metacognition and Mindset | Activating Prior Knowledge

The big takeaway is that you have lots of choice in how you activate students’ prior knowledge but no choice in whether or not you do it at the start of every lesson. If there is no link to prior knowledge, there is no learning.


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