Prior Knowledge
Part of tonight’s #edchat centered on the role of content versus skills. While I agree that skills are vital, I am sometimes baffled by the strong anti-content bias I see emerging. Prior knowledge is vital for new learning to emerge. Our brains utilize schemas to structure our understanding of material. We look to see if previous patterns exist and match up the new information against what we already know to see if there is a “fit.” I think the field would benefit by a “both/and” attitude rather than insisting on “either/or.”
This widget takes us to How People Learn, which is a great resource:
Posted on February 3rd, 2010 at 12:25 am under the category Thoughts. Go ahead, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
