{"id":1890,"date":"2016-04-05T08:46:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T14:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/?p=1890"},"modified":"2016-04-05T08:46:36","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T14:46:36","slug":"activating-prior-knowledge-revamped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/activating-prior-knowledge-revamped\/","title":{"rendered":"Activating prior knowledge revamped"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a department, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is reading How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching<\/em>.\u00a0 For our first assignment, we are focusing on the first chapter of the book, called \u201cHow Does Students\u2019 Prior Knowledge Affect Their Learning?\u201d\u00a0 Before I read this chapter, I\u2019d always been a supporter of activing prior knowledge and thought that it was the best thing ever, no matter what prior knowledge I activated or engaged in the students.\u00a0\u00a0 Activities that I\u2019ve used to activate this prior knowledge, include gallery walks and Know-Want to know-Learn (KWL) charts.\u00a0 When I first did these activities, I could tell my students were completely overwhelmed with the information I was providing for them.\u00a0 I could also tell that they were not sure what was most important for them to read or see.\u00a0 As I got this feedback from them, I realized that I need to rein in how I was having my students activate prior knowledge with these activities.<\/p>\n

What I learned from my experiences was further solidified in the first chapter of CTL\u2019s assigned reading. As I read the chapter, I saw that it was extremely important to be aware of the prior knowledge I was providing for my students. I realized that I was not guiding my students enough towards what prior knowledge I wanted them to activate, know, or learn.\u00a0 In chapter 1, the authors tell us that there is much more to activating prior knowledge.\u00a0 They discuss ways that I can activate prior knowledge, engage prior knowledge, and gauge prior knowledge.\u00a0 I really appreciate how the chapter laid out the positives and negatives of activating prior knowledge.\u00a0 In fact, it had not really occurred to me that there would be inaccuracies with activating prior knowledge.\u00a0 This new perspective made me realize how important it is to capitalize on what the students do or do not know.\u00a0 If I properly active prior knowledge, then I will only be building on a strong foundation.\u00a0 To do this, I\u2019m going to share a few of the strategies that I read in chapter 1 to learn students\u2019 prior knowledge.\u00a0 \u00a0These strategies are:<\/p>\n