LESSON 4

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

We make a lot of responses every day on our life. As aided by our sensory modalities,
our responses to certain stimuli are made possible through prior knowledge. In learning a
new material, we need to activate our prior knowledge. We build knowledge and try to
link information to the internal networks of knowledge, as we acquire new information,
we develop mental structures (called schemata) in order to make sense of the world.

Meaning of Prior Knowledge

Prior knowledge is a mental structure that describes our knowledge and experiences
gained during the course of our life and how old experiences are used to understand new
ones. Without our prior knowledge, it may be impossible for us to recall important
people, places, and events and connect them to the present information.
Schemata are cognitive structures that help us make sense of the world around us.
Schemata are called mental organizers because of the following reasons:

They can represent knowledge of all sorts from procedural knowledge of cooking,
to understanding of what to expect during the teachers lectures to the knowledge
of activating our prior knowledge.
They represent the elements of our experiences. Such elements are abstracted from
events or experiences that happened to us.
Schemata provide the needed information in learning a new lesson.
Schemata theories support the idea that new information is constructed to fit
information currently existing in the mind. Organizing schema is one of the many
approaches to understand how our memory works. Schemas are organizational
hierarchies of information established in our brain that provide blueprints for perceiving,
interpreting, and remembering incoming information. Schema theory maintains the idea
that knowledge is a set of associated concepts. Schema theory supports the notion that the
more sophisticated the schemas we have developed, the greater out capacity for
understanding what we have learned. Moreover, schema contributes to our understanding
of the memory process. It places its emphasis on developing various aspects of
information processing system. Further, It is assumed that if the learners have different
backgrounds and prior schema, then they will also make different associations of
meanings and therefore will generate new interpretations.

Importance of Prior Knowledge

Prior knowledge is needed to facilitate our responses and performance. The following
are some guidelines to consider in activating prior knowledge:
In learning a new material, we should provide a learning environment that is
supportive and conducive.
 Positive learning outcome occur if the students knowledge and interests match the
nature of the learning tasks.
The activation of prior knowledge is important before students learn a new
material. If students are required to participate in the tasks in which they have no
knowledge or interest at all, then they may never find meaning in certain material.
Prior knowledge has something to do with students approach to learning which may
be deep or superficial. Deep learning occurs when students digest and are nourished by
their learning and able to make sense of it. Deep learning is associated with reflective
activity where students can work on meaning. Additionally, deep learning is used to solve
our problems.
Learner autonomy is one of the new paradigms for learning. It is concerned with the
nature rather than the substance of learning and which differs from mere schooling. Deep
learning accounts for a greater concentration on ways of developing learner autonomy
and meeting the requirements of lifelong learning. Additionally, deep learning entails the
use of metacognition that encapsulates our ability to recognize, organize, and develop the
learning process and such leads to what we know as ownership of learning. On the
contrary, knowing facts without their use in acquiring other forms of knowledge is an
illustration of superficial learning for it is only focused on signs and symbols. When
students lack the meta-perception about the lessons being taught, then they also lack the
cognitive framework for assigning significance to what they learn. Deep learning is very
important in providing autonomy and ownership of learning because students acquire
knowledge on how to construct meaning.
The basic concepts, processes as well as generalizations must be acquired before more
complex learning can be achieved. It is therefore imperative that we determine which
prior knowledge is a prerequisite of more complex processes. In the same manner, we
must make sure that we have already taught the prerequisite knowledge before presenting
a new material.

Activating Prior Knowledge

To activate prior knowledge means to use positive transfer in new learning contexts.
To produce effective learning, we must properly activate prior knowledge. How can we
do this? The following strategies may help activate our prior knowledge:
1. Advanced Organizers. An advance organizer is a strategy that describes a new
material to be learned. It is an overall idea of what the material contains which is
presented in a simple and comprehensive way.
2. Conceptual and Pedagogical Models. Conceptual models are any of the mental
systems we invented to make some lessons understandable. Knowledge about how
students develop mental models will help us make instructional materials
meaningful and help them access and refine relevant schemata. The following
strategies can help us ascertain their models:
 a. OVAR Strategy accounts for the condition in which students OBSERVE
their behaviors and methods of thinking, VERIFY the ways they approach a
problem, ANALYZE the ways in which they reason out, and REFLECT on
what they have tried to understand as well as on its meaning to their actual
life situations.
b. OEPT Strategy is useful. It is where students can OBSERVE their own
actions and decisions, EXPLAIN or justify their own thoughts and actions,
PREDICT what will happen next, and TUTOR other students.
3. Chunking. This is another way through which students can activate their prior
knowledge. It is the process of breaking a whole thing into small and workable
components.
4. Outlining. In outlining, students can relate several forms of information to main
ideas. It gives the readers a birds eye view of what will be discussed in the
material.
5. Highlighting. Another way to helps students learn better is through highlighting in
which students can easily locate the most important points in the lesson.
6. Questioning. If we provide students with organizing information, we need to give
them guide questions before we expose them to certain tasks. We can structure
these questions by considering the various types of questions and the information
we want them to learn. At this point, we emphasize the following patterns which
are capsulized in the acronym DSEGE.

a. Describe a particular person, place, object, event, or phenomenon.

Examples: Who was Sigmund Freud? What was his personality like? What
important contributions did he make in the field of psychology? Why did he
do them? What were the results?
b. Specify the time element or time sequence pattern. Examples: What is the
sequence of events in the story? What is the effect of the use of a flashback
in the sequence of the story?
c. Emphasize a causal relationship or a process. Examples: What were the
causes of EDSA Revolution? How does each cause relate to one or more of
the others? What are some of the government reforms implemented after
EDSA Revolution?
d. Generalize ideas, principles, and concepts with examples. Examples: What
are the three examples of the principle of transitivity? What about the idea
of horizontal and vertical decalage?
e. Emphasize a concept with examples or illustrations. Give at least three
examples of situations where we can see the laissez-faire type of leadership.
Explain why they are examples. What are the defining characteristics of
laissez-faire?