Please Do Now
With hocked gems financing him, our hero bravely defied
all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme.
“Your eyes deceive”, he had said. “An egg, not a
table, correctly typifies this unexplored planet.”
Now three sturdy sisters sought proof. Forging along,
sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often
over turbulent peaks and valleys, days became weeks
as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the
edge. At last, from nowhere, welcomed winged
creatures appeared signifying momentous success.
(Dooling & Lachman, 1972, p. 217)
Q&A
 Who is this famous hero?
 What does he mean in the quote about
the egg and the table?
 Who are the three sturdy sisters?
 What were the turbulent peaks and
valleys?
 What might the rumors have been?
BIG GIANT HINT
The famous hero in this piece is…
Christopher Columbus
A Vickie Quickie
Activating
Background (or
Prior) Knowledge
Just how important is it?
 “…Background knowledge is the
heart of comprehension.” (Gill 2008)
 There is widespread agreement
among researchers that students
must connect new knowledge to
previous knowledge in order to learn
(Bransford & Johnson, 1972 ; Resnick, 1983 ).
More telling research
 Students connect what they
learn to what they already
know, interpreting incoming
information, and even sensory
perception, through the lens of
their existing knowledge,
beliefs, and assumptions.
(Vygotsky, 1978 ; National Research Council, 2000 ).
A definition to consider
 Comprehension is the
integration of new information
with prior knowledge;
the more we know about a
topic, the easier it will be for us
to understand information.
(Gill, 2008)
THE BRAIN IS LIKE
A MAGNET –
NEW INFORMATION
MUST FIND
A PLACE TO “STICK”
When is the best time to tap
into prior knowledge?
 Right before the NEW learning happens
 Possible techniques:
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Ask questions to gain student interest
Show artifacts/objects to aid in recall
Partner students and hold conversations/discussions about
what they know
Graphic organizers [charts, graphs, or labeled drawings]
K-W-L (and any variants)
Anticipation guides where students agree or disagree with
a series of statements related to the information in the text
Do Nows or Please Do Nows
More ways to access
prior knowledge
 Ask students what they already know
about the topic
 Brainstorm associations
 Create a concept map
 Use examples or analogies that draw on
students ’ everyday lives
 It makes new material more understandable
 It creates stronger connections in students ’ minds
Some Tried-and-True
Teaching Techniques
A Do Now or a Warm up that starts with….
•
•
•
•
•
•
Write 5 lines (or 3) (or 10) about…
Tell your partner 2 (or 5) things you know about…
Do a brain dump about…(Write down everything you know and
remember about…)
5 Ws and 1 H (Who, What, Where, Why, When, How)
Present a scenario – Imagine that…What would it take? What
would you do? Why might this have happened?
KWL charts and variants
What if they don’t have any
prior knowledge?
 Find the gaps in their knowledge
 Before you worry about the students, think about
what your students need to know in order to learn
the new information
 Then find out what they know (through preassessments, surveys, KWL charts, etc)
 Then fill in the gaps for your students
How do you fill in the gaps?
 If there are only a few students:
 Try a vocabulary booster that will
familiarize them with terms they will
encounter
 If there is a majority of students:
 First, you will need to teach them the
foundational knowledge before you can
build on it.
The double edged sword of
prior knowledge
(Pressley and Block, 2002)
If a student’s background information
is filled with flawed ideas, beliefs,
models, or theories, it can distort new
knowledge by predisposing students
to ignore, discount, or resist evidence
that conflicts with what they believe
to be true
How to fix incorrect prior
knowledge
 The easy way…Refute the incorrect knowledge with
explicit explanation of contradictory examples and facts
 Misconceptions and stereotypes are harder to refute
 They have been reinforced as accurate over time
 Parts of them may be accurate
 Guide students away from misconceptions over time
through a reasoning process that helps them build on
the accurate facets of their knowledge as they
gradually revise the inaccurate facets.
Food for thought
 Research shows that…
 Teachers can effectively
teach such strategies
 Teaching even ONE
comprehension strategy
can (and often does)
improve students’ comprehension
(Duke & Pearson, 2002)
Your ticket to the
great outdoors
 Share with someone sitting next to
you (or near you)….
1,2, or 3 things you do or will do in your
classroom to activate background
knowledge with your students.
 Thanks for listening!
Sources

Ambrose, S. A. et al. (2010). How does students’ prior knowledge affect their
learning? In S. A. Ambrose et al, How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based
Principles for Smart Teaching (p. 336). Retrieved 10/2/2010 from:
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/01/04704841/0470484101.pdf

Gill, S. (2008, October). The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing
Comprehension Instruction. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 106–113. doi:
10.1598/RT.62.2.2

Massey, D.D. (2007, April). “The Discovery Channel Said So” and Other Barriers
to Comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 60(7), 656–666. doi:
10.1598/RT.60.7.6

Santa, C.M. (2006, March). A Vision for Adolescent Literacy: Ours or Theirs?.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(6), 466–476. doi:
10.1598/JAAL.49.6.2