Activating Prior Knowledge Display Poster

Guide students into using prior knowledge in the classroom

Encourage your students to make connections between prior knowledge and the text they are currently studying with the help of this Activating Prior Knowledge Display Poster.

This display poster prompts students to consider how the text they are reading and studying shares similarities with other things they have previously come across, whether that be something they have previously read or seen, or something that they have lived through or experienced themselves. 

The poster also provides half a dozen ways in which they can note their realised connections, such as through bullet points, with sketches, or by using a mind map.

By teaching your students to use and make note of their prior knowledge in the classroom, you are helping them to get into the habit of using their prior knowledge in their everyday lives as well, which is a necessary life skill.

How does this poster benefit Australian school children?

In recent years, both the Australian Curriculum and state school systems have been placing more emphasis on using prior knowledge in the classroom, particularly during literacy and reading comprehension lessons.

This is because a student's prior knowledge (whether that be things they have seen, read, experienced, or been taught) can help that student to better understand the text they are currently reading. As an additional benefit, the current text also has the potential to help students better understand what they have seen, read, experienced or been taught in the past.

It is important for children to be encouraged to use their prior knowledge in the classroom, as they will be expected to continue to use their prior knowledge when reading and comprehending texts for the rest of their lives.

If you’re looking for some more ways to help your children use their prior knowledge then these thought prompt discussion cards are a great option. They get children to think about what they might already know by answering a series of questions. 

Using prior knowledge in the classroom

Understanding new learning comes from the prior knowledge children have built up. The more children read, watch and explore, the more information they will stored up. The more we activate prior knowledge in the classroom the easier it is for children to understand a new topic. Helping children think about what they have learnt before and apply it to new topics makes it more likely for children to absorb new knowledge and correctly interpret learning material.

The best way to help children unlock their prior knowledge is to ask them questions that get them thinking about what they might already know. Down below are some useful questions to get your class thinking about a topic:

• How is this text similar to other texts you have read before?
• What information can you think of that you might already know on this topic?
• When have you looked at this type of text before?
• Does this part of the text remind you of something you've seen before?