Building Background Knowledge/Activating Prior Knowledge

Classroom Examples of Building Background Knowledge/Activating Prior Knowledge

Prior knowledge is a combination of a learner's preexisting attitudes, experiences, and knowledge. A student’s schema, or knowledge of the world, affects his or her understanding of subject matter and provides a framework to help make sense of new information. Prior knowledge also assists students with recall, enabling them to elaborate upon a topic. Prior knowledge allows students to make inferences about their reading and directs their attention to important information. Organizational activities such as semantic mapping, KWL, timelines, and other strategies help to determine where the students stand in relation to the content of the upcoming lesson.

Strategies for Building Background Knowledge and Activating Prior Knowledge

Preteach vocabulary
Introduce key vocabulary to assist students’ comprehension of content. Preteach these words before the lesson. A cognitive content dictionary may be used. Students are asked what they think the meaning of a word is. The word is examined within the context of the lesson and the actual meaning of the word is derived from the lesson.
http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/sort.htm

[Vacca, R.D., Vacca J. (1995). Content area reading. (5th. Ed.). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman]

Provide experiences
Classroom experiences should include hands-on activities that are relevant to the student’s life in the real world. Meaningful activities presented in lessons should be related to life outside of school. Provide experiences that will enable the student to better understand the information to be presented. Effective applications of hands-on activities include experimentation, measurement, construction, graphing, charts and mapmaking.

Use graphic organizers
These types of learning maps enhance understanding and comprehension for ESL students by illustrating learning material in an easy to read conceptual framework. Graphic organizers such as outlines, Venn diagrams, or Frayer models can be developed for all content areas. Teachers can connect the current lesson to previous lessons, to another subject taught, or to previous student experiences. A story map used in the elementary grades breaks down the components of a story (i.e., characters, setting, conflict) into a series of events which helps students comprehend the story.
http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/frayer.htm

[Frayer, D., Frederick, W. C., and Klausmeier, H. J. (1969). A Schema for Testing the Level of Cognitive Mastery. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Center for Education Research]

Check prior knowledge
Teachers may check on students’ prior knowledge of a topic by doing the following:
1. Brainstorm the topic. Write down information that students give you relating to the topic (KWL chart).
2. Ask general or specific questions to see what responses you get.
3. Pose a problem or scenario. The generated solutions will provide you with students’ prior knowledge.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/4301.html