Teach ANybody Anything: Activate Prior Knowledge

One of the foundational elements of teaching someone something new is activating prior knowledge that will be relevant to the new learning.  Activating prior knowledge serves several purposes:

1. It reminds learners of relevant past learning that they may have forgotten.
2. It “turns on” the parts of the learners’ brains and memories that are most likely to receive the new learning
3. It provides a starting connection point for the new learning.

​All three of these elements are extremely important for learning something new.  Humans are only capable of learning things that they can connect to something they already know.  I like to think of new learning as having to “hang on” existing knowledge.  For example, the concept of convection currents comes up over and over (and over and over) again in 6th grade Earth Science.  If I teach that idea really well once, I can “hang” a ton of new concepts on that hanger very easily later, by simply re-activating that prior learning

If there is no hanger, there is no learning.  For example, if I wanted to teach you how to defend against the Danish Gambit in chess, I would likely fail.  If you don’t have knowledge of what the Danish Gambit is, I can’t “hang” the strategy for defending it on any hanger in your “closet,” so to speak.  You need to first learn foundational chess strategy, then how to perform the Danish Gambit, then how to defend it.  I can’t start at the end.  I need something to hang it on.

When done correctly however, the learner hardly even feels like they’re learning something new.  They feel like they’re extending something they already know.
​

"I don't really understand why we've stopped talking about Earth Science to do all this density and convection current business, either."

Classroom Example

Let’s say I’m teaching my 4th grade class how to multiply ¾ x 6.  I would start the lesson by saying things like:

• Last week, when we learned to add fractions like ¾ + ¾ , …
• Also, in 3rd grade, when you first learned to multiply something like 3 x 6, you first learned to do 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3, which is called repeated addition.

When I do the second bullet - activating very old prior knowledge -  I usually hear a chorus of that certain “oh yeah” sound you hear when you’re reminded of something long ago.  The kids don’t exactly remember it because they haven’t done it in a long time, but they haven’t exactly forgotten it either.  It’s just dormant, so to speak.

Then I can proceed to introduce the concept by teaching them that ¾ x 6 is ¾ + ¾ + ¾ + ¾ + ¾ + ¾, which is pretty easy as long as I’ve activated their prior knowledge first.  It doesn’t feel like they’re learning something new, it feels like they’re extending something they’ve already learned.
​

Activating prior knowledge of the frequently-maligned partial quotient method for dividing large numbers makes long division much easier to understand.

Parenting Example

A few weeks ago, I was helping my niece write an essay for admittance into a summer program she’s hoping to be selected for.

• First, I reminded her that her teachers in school had probably taught her to start essays by “hooking” the reader in certain ways (which they had).  
  
• Next, I reminded her that when we worked on her last application essay, which was successful, that we focused on hooking a very specific audience - namely the staff she was hoping to work with in the program.
  

From there, all she had to do was use the skills she’d already developed to tailor a new essay that included new experiences to a similar type of reader - and she did great!  I was really impressed with the essay, and apparently so were the judges, because she made it to the next round.

Coaching ExAmple

I had hip surgery earlier this year, and my physical therapist did an excellent job of activating prior knowledge when he taught me how to perform a late-stage strength move called a “single leg deadlift.”  

• For the last several weeks, you’ve been performing deadlifts.  The key to learning this lift was to understand that the move is about hinging the hips rather than lifting the weight.
  
• Also, we’ve been working on other lifts that you perform on one leg at a time because those improve your stability, strengthen your feet, and strengthen the gluteus medius, which is hard to engage.
  

Then, when he taught me the new move, I had an easy time understanding it because all I had to do was practice making the same motions I already had been, but on one leg.  It didn’t feel like I was learning something new, it felt like I was extending something I’d already learned.

​

Deadlift (prior knowledge)

Single-Leg Deadlift (new learning)

Teach AnyBody Anything

If you can imagine yourself in any of the three situations I provided above, you’ll probably notice that, in all three cases, the learner probably didn’t feel like they were learning anything new.  The activation of prior knowledge made all three learning experiences seem like extending knowledge the participant already had rather than learning something unfamiliar.  That’s exactly how the brain works - it seeks to “hang” new knowledge onto old knowledge in a cumulative way.

Want to teach anybody anything?  Hand the learner that hanger before you hang something on it.  Remind them of what they already know.  Provide a starting point to build from.  Activate prior knowledge first.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Want to make sure you never miss a new post?  Subscribe below for email notifications of new content.

Want to read more right now?  You're in luck - this is my 52nd post! You can browse past posts by category:

• ​Building A Thinking Classroom
• Leaning Into The Science and Engineering Practices
• Classroom Practices
• Classroom Stories
• Ideas and Opinions
• Pandemic-Related Issues​