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Assessing students’ prior knowledge allows an instructor to focus and adapt their teaching plan. For students, it helps them to construct connections between old and new knowledge. Determining what students already know allows you to: When using background knowledge assessments: Plan your background knowledge assessment by asking the following questions:
Some Strategies
Students come to the classroom with a broad range of pre-existing knowledge, skills, beliefs, and attitudes, which influence how they attend, interpret and organize in-coming information. How they process and integrate new information will, in turn, affect how they remember, think, apply, and create new knowledge. Since new knowledge and skill is dependent on pre-existing knowledge and skill, knowing what students know and can do when they come into the classroom or before they begin a new topic of study, can help us craft instructional activities that build off of student strengths and acknowledge and address their weaknesses. Once prior knowledge and skill is assessed, there is a range of potential responses, depending upon the type of course, the uniformity of results, and the availability and type of supplemental materials and alternatives. For example, if a majority of the class possesses misconceptions or weak understanding of a concept that you viewed as a critical prerequisite, you may decide to include covering it in class, provide a supplementary session on it, or provide links to materials for students to engage with on their own. Similarly, if most students demonstrate proficiency in a skill you were planning to cover, you may decide to drop it and replace it with another skill that they have not yet developed, or adjust the level of complexity or time you spend on it. Individual students lacking many of the prerequisite skills and knowledge could be encouraged to take prerequisite courses or be forewarned that they need to develop proficiency in areas on their own if they are to succeed in the course. Thus assessing prior knowledge can enable both the instructor and the student to allocate their time and energies in ways that will be most productive. Examples of Methods for Assessing Prior Knowledge and SkillsThere are several different methods to assess pre-existing knowledge and skills in students. Some are direct measures, such as tests, concept maps, portfolios, auditions, etc, and others are more indirect, such as self-reports, inventory of prior courses and experiences, etc. Below are links to some methods that instructors at Carnegie Mellon and elsewhere have employed. Concept InventoriesConcept inventories are multiple choice or short answer tests that target fundamental concepts within a domain. These tests are designed to uncover systematic misconceptions.
Concept mapsConcept map activities can reveal the underlying structure or organization of students knowledge of a concept or constellation of concepts. These are very helpful when the kinds of causal theories and relations among ideas are critical to them understanding the course materials.
Self-Assessment ProbesSelf-assessment probes are indirect methods of assessment that ask students to reflect and comment on their level of knowledge and skill across a range of items. These items can include knowledge and skills that are prerequisites for the course as well as items that will be addressed in the course.
"Activating prior knowledge is something that we do naturally as adult readers, as mature readers. We always relate what we're reading to something we know. As a matter of fact when we read we really have to think about those connections. Sometimes students don’t access their background knowledge because they never think that it's important or if they don’t have the background knowledge the teacher doesn’t have an opportunity to really build that background knowledge" (Clewell, 2012).
Content Area Examples:
Lesson Example: The lesson below demonstrate how students can use more than just information, but they can also use their prior experience, such as sense, to help understand a book. This would help ELLs because even though our language is different our sense are the same, unless there is a disability. This lesson example demonstrates how this strategy is one way that ELLs can use what they have already experiences, including there senses, and apply it to something completely new.
Additional Links for: Information, Lessons, and Material
References: Gunning, T. G. (2012). Creating literacy instruction for all children in grades pre-K to 4. 2nd Edition. Boston: A and B. Into the book: Reading Resources (2015). Activating your five senses lesson. [imagine] Retrieved on September 18, From http://reading.ecb.org/ Stec, M., (2014).Prior knowledge (Schema) Anchor Char). [imagine]. Retrieved September 18, From 2015.https://www.pinterest.com/pin/182184747401665335/Wayne Township HOSTS (n.d). [Chart with definition and use before and during reading]. Retrieved September 18, From http://www.wayne.k12.in.us/hosts/reading_strag.asp |