Prior Knowledge

Last updated on 2024-12-04 | Edit this page

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Overview

Questions

  • How does what learners know (or think they know) impact their learning?
  • How can we help learners organize their knowledge in useful ways?

Objectives

  • Examine a past experience with learner motivation in terms of environment, efficacy, and value.
  • Classify learner goals as learning or performance-based.
  • Assess the usefulness of different motivational strategies for Carpentries workshops and trainings.

Reading

From How Learning Works:

  • Chapter 2: How Does Student’s Prior Knowledge Affect Their Learning? (p. 39 - 63)
  • Chapter 3: How Does the Way Students Organize Knowledge Affect Their Learning? (p. 64 - 83)
  • Appendix D: What Are Concept Maps and How Can We Use Them? (p. 229 - 231)

From The Carpentries Instructor Training curriculum:

Other:

Discussion Questions

  1. What stood out to you from this week’s reading? Think of things that made sense in light of your own experience, things you’re not convinced of, or questions that you have.

  2. Give an example of a time from your experience when a learner’s prior knowledge negatively affected their learning. Why do you think prior knowledge had such an impact in this case? Do you think any of the strategies suggested in this chapter might have helped?

  3. What information do we have about learners prior knowledge in Carpentries workshops? What information do we have for trainees in Instructor Training? Describe some specific actions Instructors and/or Instructor Trainers can take based on this information.

  4. Examine Figure 3.2 (p.71). How do these diagrams relate to knowledge or learner mental models that you are familiar with? Which do you think best represents a learner who has just taken a Carpentries workshop?

  5. Read the strategies for how Instructors can assess and enhance their own knowledge organization at the end of Chapter 3 (p. 78-83). Choose one strategy and think about how an Instructor could apply it when preparing to teach a Carpentries workshop. On a scale from 1-10, how challenging do you think it would be for a new Instructor to use?

  6. Create a concept map (3-5 items with labeled connections) that partially explains one of the following topics:

    • Prior knowledge
    • Knowledge organization
    • Workshop organization
      Then, share your experience with the process. Did you learn anything from making this map? How could you organize it differently if you tried it again?

Key Points

  • Prior knowledge about teaching strategies varies among trainees in Instructor Training courses. Being attentive to this will improve your impact.
  • Pre-assessment surveys are a critical component of all Carpentries workshops and trainings.