Exploring Digital Tools to Activate Prior Knowledge

The Importance of Activating Prior Knowledge

Research in cognitive psychology has shown that students learn by linking new information to their prior knowledge of a topic. (See for example 8 Strategies Robert Marzano & John Hattie Agree On.)

In this case, you want to get the students to think about their research topic, ask themselves questions and share their ideas with others. You could ask them to brainstorm in pairs, with each student writing down what they already know about the topic.

There are a variety of collaborative tools that can be used to activate prior knowledge. We propose a hands-on digital activity to introduce you to three of these tools so you can select one to use in your classroom.

Instructions

Step 1: We invite you to explore three digital tools that you can use to activate your students’ prior knowledge. These tools can be used to brainstorm collaboratively or create collaborative word lists, word clouds and/or mind maps.