The Idea:
Activating Prior Knowledge
Once completed, please send your Progression Points document to
[email protected] for your certificate of completion.
What is activating prior knowledge?
Activating pupils’ prior knowledge is the practice of guiding pupils to revisit what they already know on a topic
before they are taught new knowledge. By activating prior knowledge, pupils are better able to cement the new
knowledge to existing foundations. Activating prior knowledge sits within the constructivist theory of learning, in
particular schemata/schema theory.
Constructivism
Constructivism is the educational theory that, as we learn, we construct new ideas and
knowledge by building on and integrating these with what we already know. This theory
covers the concept of schemas being used for organising knowledge and how new
knowledge is built upon them.
Activating prior knowledge
Schema By asking pupils to recall prior knowledge
that links to the new knowledge to be taught,
These are the files we all they will be accessing the relevant schema.
use to store and organise
previous knowledge into
different categories.
Acquisition of new knowledge
Once the prior knowledge is activated, newly
acquired knowledge can be constructed
upon existing schema. This gives pupils
strong foundations to pin this new
knowledge to.
When should prior Why activate prior
knowledge be activated? knowledge when teaching?
Whenever new knowledge is being taught, If children are able to see where new knowledge fits
activating prior knowledge first will help pupils to into existing schemata, they are better able to learn
anchor the new knowledge and organise it within new knowledge and concepts, understand their
their long-term memory. relevance and know how to apply them.
Page 1 of 4
The Idea: Activating Prior Knowledge
How can prior knowledge be activated?
There are a wide range of strategies that can be used to activate pupils’ prior knowledge before teaching
new learning.
Prior knowledge can be activated through the following strategies:
Concept mapping Picture prompt
Give children vocabulary from a previous Select a photograph, picture or a collection of
lesson or topic and ask them to create a quick images that will link to the new concept you are
concept map to show what they already know teaching. For example, you might use a piece of
about this previously taught area. Ask children art to introduce figurative language in English,
to share their ideas with the class and create a or a photograph to share a science concept with
class map of the knowledge. When introducing the class. Ask the children to think about what
the new knowledge, indicate on the class the picture represents, share with a partner and
concept map where it fits in with what they discuss as a class. Draw out any knowledge from
already know. previous lessons.
KWL grid Sticky note survey
Often used by teachers at the beginning of Pupils can use sticky notes to record ideas,
a topic, the trusty Know, Want to know and facts, diagrams or drawings about a topic they
Learned grid prompts pupils to contemplate have previously learnt. Collect these as a class
the knowledge they already have on a topic and sort them into similar concepts. Discuss
and what their own gaps in knowledge what has been recorded, encouraging all pupils
might be. to respond. Introduce the new knowledge and
demonstrate where it fits within the existing
knowledge on the sticky notes.
This Will Help If...
• you want to improve the quality of recalled knowledge
• you want to teach new concepts effectively
• you want a way to identify and address any embedded misconceptions
• you want to avoid repeating information
Page 2 of 4
The Idea: Activating Prior Knowledge
Start Your Research Here
This short video explanation of Prior Knowledge from Teach for Life gives a good explanation of the concept.
This more in-depth video from Columbia University on Connecting Prior Knowledge provides a great explanation of
how prior knowledge is needed in order to acquire new knowledge.
A good start: The pedagogical challenge of engaging prior knowledge for all pupils from The Chartered College of
Teaching looks at how to engage all pupils in activating prior knowledge.
The Activating Prior Knowledge blog from Strategies for Specialist Intervention gives some practical strategies for
activating prior knowledge in the classroom, as does Activating Prior Knowledge by TeacherVision.
Action Points
Discover what your pupils already know
Look at the curriculum from previous years for your class. Map out what prior learning you will be
building on from these previous lessons and make sure you refer to it in your future lessons.
What should your pupils already know?
Anticipate misconceptions
Activating prior knowledge may well uncover some misconceptions that your pupils have about a given
theme. Once you are confident about what they have been taught previously, think about what may
have been misunderstood or misremembered and consider how to address these misconceptions in
the lesson before teaching the new knowledge.
What misconceptions might there be?
Choose your strategy
Consider what has been shared in this project and what you have found out from your research. Select
the most effective strategies to use in your upcoming lessons. Try to match the strategy to the lesson
content and pupil ability effectively; it is also good practice to use a variety of strategies rather than
just repeating the same one or two across all lessons.
What are you going to be teaching and which strategy fits best?
This CPD project links well to our CPD courses on:
• CPD: Using Retrieval Practice in the Classroom
• CPD: Teaching Metacognitive Strategies
Glossary
Constructivism Schema/Schemata
An educational theory that all learning is constructed upon The way that knowledge is organised in our long term
previously learnt knowledge. memory. A schema is a group of related ideas and schemata
is the plural.
Page 3 of 4
The Idea: Activating Prior Knowledge
Source Material
• A Twinkl What Are Schemas? Information Poster designed to be used in EYFS.
• An Activating Prior Knowledge blog from the website Strategies for Special Interventions.
• An interesting blog on building new knowledge on old, Are You Tapping into Prior Knowledge Often Enough in Your
Classroom? It also contains ideas on practical application.
• The Whys & Hows of Activating Students’ Background Knowledge (Opinion) examines ways to use the technique to
improve pupils’ learning.
• Activating Prior Knowledge is a page in an article which gives a good overview about teaching comprehension skills.
• Another Activating Prior Knowledge blog post, this time from Teacher Vision.
• The Chartered College of Teaching article A good start: The pedagogical challenge of engaging prior knowledge for all
pupils is comprehensive and informative.
• Prior Knowledge and Connecting Prior Knowledge are two videos on the subject.
Page 4 of 4
