Some Suggestions for Addressing Students’ Prior Knowledge
from
How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching
by Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman. (2010). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Methods to Gauge and Activate Accurate Prior Knowledge
 Administer diagnostic assessments
 Look for patterns of error in students’ work
 Use brainstorming to reveal prior knowledge (can be represented with tools such as
graphic organizers or reflection essays)
 Explicitly link new material to prior knowledge from previous courses or from your
current course
 Use analogies or examples that connect concepts to students’ everyday knowledge
 Ask students to reason on the basis of relevant prior knowledge
Methods to Address Accurate but Insufficient Prior Knowledge
 Identify the prior knowledge you expect students to have
 Differentiate between different types of knowledge (e.g. declarative “what” or
procedural knowledge “how to”)
 Recognize that factual knowledge does not imply procedural knowledge
 Fill in the gaps: based on the needs in a class, take steps to remediate. Remediation
can run from offering students handouts with the prior knowledge they need (e.g.
vocabulary, theorems, concepts) to redesigning parts of the class to teach that
necessary knowledge.
Methods to Help Students Recognize Inappropriate Prior Knowledge
 Provide students with “rules of thumb” for determining whether or not prior
knowledge is relevant (e.g. public policy options when laws change)
 Clearly identify and explain the conventions and expectations of the particular
discipline (e.g. for writing lab reports, analytical papers, or personal narratives)
 Show how analogies break down (e.g. that the digestive system is similar to
plumbing, but far more sensitive)
Methods to Correct Inaccurate Prior Knowledge
 Have students make and test predictions
 Make students justify their reasoning
 Provide multiple opportunities for students to use accurate knowledge
 Allow students sufficient time to question and revise misconceptions and to
implement new knowledge
Planning Worksheet
1. Describe an assignment or topic that usually works well in one of your classes. Reflect on
this success in terms of students’ prior knowledge. What accurate prior knowledge about this
topic do students usually bring to class? Identify what you do in particular in your teaching
that helps students to access this prior knowledge or that builds upon this prior knowledge.
2. Describe an assignment or topic that often doesn’t work that well in one of your classes.
Reflect on this struggle in terms of students’ prior knowledge. What kind of prior knowledge
do students usually seem to bring to class about this topic?
How does your teaching of this topic usually address students’ prior knowledge?
3. Map out a plan for identifying, adjusting, redirecting, or expanding upon students’ prior
knowledge about this topic. Perhaps write out this plan in terms of steps (i.e. Step 1, Step 2,
Step 3, etc…).