Education Week

Teachers Are Told to ‘Activate Prior Knowledge.’ Here’s How That Works in Reading

When students are reading something new, teachers often try to get them to draw on their prior knowledge to help them understand the text in front of them. Doing this can help kids make sense of ideas ...
Nature

Toward an understanding of when prior knowledge helps or hinders learning

In this short commentary, I will argue that there are several determinants for whether and how prior knowledge affects learning. Put differently, the identical prior knowledge can steer learning ...