Students’ prior knowledge has a strong effect on new learning. In summarizing decades of research one group of researchers concluded
Students come to every learning situation with prior knowledge, skills, beliefs, and concepts that significantly influence what they notice about the situation, how they organize and interpret it. This affects their ability to remember, reason, solve problems, and acquire new knowledge. Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000, p.10
Possessing accurate and sufficient prior knowledge typically facilitates new learning (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman 2010). However, three common prior knowledge conditions can impede student learning. These are:
- Insufficient prior knowledge in which students have major gaps in relevant background knowledge.
- Inaccurate prior knowledge in which students misunderstand the subject.
- Inert prior knowledge in which students possess relevant prior knowledge but may not access it or be able to use it when needed to interpret new material.
To support student learning, instructors need to assess students’ prior knowledge to identify gaps, misconceptions, and transfer of learning difficulties.
Students’ prior knowledge gaps. Sometimes students lack prior knowledge because they have not had a prerequisite course. More often, knowledge gaps are related to specific topics and skills in the course. In addition, a common cause of knowledge gaps is students’ lack of preparation for class. Assessment of essential prior knowledge may include diagnostic pre-tests, asking students to self-assess their level of prior knowledge, asking students to write about and/or discuss key concepts before the ideas are taught in class, tasks that measure students’ understanding of key concepts, and analyzing patterns of errors in student work.
Students’ misconceptions. Whenever we learn something new, we use our prior knowledge to help make sense of the new information (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999). However, when our prior knowledge is inaccurate, we are more likely to misinterpret, misunderstand or even disregard new information. Inaccurate prior knowledge—or misconceptions—can be remarkably resistant to correction and a significant barrier to new learning (Chi, 2013; Vosniadou, 2013; Taylor & Kowalski, 2014; Bensley & Lilienfeld, 2017).).
Misconceptions are not isolated incidents, but rather normal outcomes of learning. Students may form misconceptions as a result of exposure to inaccurate information, through faulty reasoning, or by misinterpreting material they read, hear or observe (Lilienfeld, 2010; Murphy & Alexander, 2013).
Some misconceptions are minor errors in understanding that can be corrected easily or that students may resolve on their own. A more difficult problem is that some misconceptions are resistant to change and significant barriers to new learning (Schwartz, Tsang, & Blair, 2016).
Students may give up misconceptions temporarily and then revert back to them after completing a course. For example, Clement (1982) found that 88% of engineering and science students had pre-course misconceptions about the motion of objects at the start of their introduction to mechanics course. Students performed well in the course and made fewer errors on these types of problems. However, on post-course tests 75% of students who had passed the course made the same types of errors as pre-course students. They had reverted back to their earlier misconceptions.
Lack of transfer of learning. Transfer is the process of applying one’s knowledge and skills to new situations. Even though all learning involves some degree of transfer, research shows that applying knowledge effectively and flexibly is difficult. Students may be able to demonstrate knowledge in class and on exams but not be able to apply their knowledge in other contexts where it is appropriate. Transfer tends to fail when students have poor understanding of acquired knowledge, and are not aware of how, where and when their acquired knowledge is appropriate (Barnett & Ceci, 2002; Day & Goldstone, 2012).
Assessing prior knowledge. The strategies below can assess for knowledge gaps, misconceptions, and lack of transfer.
- Concept inventory
A concept inventory is a test designed specifically to assess students’ understanding of key concepts in a course or major field of study. They also reveal students’ misunderstanding and misconceptions. Some disciplines have developed standardized CIs for use in specific classes or for the entire major. CIs can be good measures of students’ prior knowledge, and may also be used as assessment tests to determine students’ progress in a program. A limitation of CIs is that they are not comprehensive tests of all the concepts in specific classes or may not align well with what you emphasize in your course. In lieu of standardized concept inventories or to supplement course CIs, instructors may need to develop concept inventories for their own classes. Instructor-developed tests have the advantage of targeting the major concepts and skills specific to the local course. - Students’ estimates of their prior knowledge
Make a list of the important concepts and ideas for your course, course units or topics. Ask students to judge their familiarity or level of understanding of each concept, using a scale such as
“Have never heard of the concept,” “Have heard of the concept,” “Could define the concept,” “Could explain how the concept relates to other concepts,” “Could teach the concept to someone else.” This technique is convenient, quick and it is easy to assess a large number of concepts and ideas. A limitation of this approach is that students may not be able to judge their level of expertise accurately. - Online pre-class quiz.
Three types of online quizzes are convenient ways to assess prior knowledge before class:
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- Open response – Ask students to define or explain specific concepts. An advantage is that you can zero in on the specific prior knowledge you think is most relevant. A potential disadvantage is the amount of time to read and analyze the answers.
- Forced choice – Use multiple-choice questions, e.g., list known misconceptions and ask students to indicate true or false. Multiple-choice allows for automated scoring, but may not reveal depth of student understanding.
- Review quiz – For homework assign a reading that covers relevant background knowledge for an upcoming class. Then quiz students on the article before class. An advantage is that students are exposed to the relevant background information and then quizzed to determine their understanding.
- In class retrieval practice or quiz.
At the start of class ask students to write down what they remember of the relevant concepts. This may work best if the prior knowledge you want students to know is material from the previous class or homework assignment. Retrieval practice (aka practice testing) is a potent way to learn as well. You may want to conduct this as a short review session to discuss any knowledge gaps before moving on to the day’s lesson. - In class review questions.
Students bring questions about the material to class. Compile these quickly, e.g., write on board or use doc camera. Look for patterns, e.g., most common questions. Ask students to review these quickly in small groups (2-3 students). As students work through the material you can observe the depth and variation in their understanding. However, a key to the effectiveness of the review is that students try to recall the relevant concepts from memory. Instructors can then discuss any gaps before starting with the new material in class. - Placement tests. In some subject areas, placement tests may provide general information about students’ prerequisite knowledge and skills.
- Prior knowledge checklists for assignments and projects. Create checklists that list the knowledge and skills students need in order to do major assignments and projects. Before starting assignments, students indicate their familiarity and/or experience with prerequisite knowledge and skills.
- Transfer tasks. Transfer tasks assess whether and how students can apply knowledge and skills they learned previously to new tasks. In a sequenced curriculum, students are expected to develop knowledge and skills cumulatively, and to apply in a new course what they learned in a prerequisite class. Research has shown that transfer is difficult and not an automatic consequence of having acquired knowledge and skills previously. Transfer tasks can be quizzes with questions similar to those from prerequisite classes. By using transfer tasks regularly, instructors can respond to the patterns in student performance, e.g., reviewing or even reteaching some concepts that a large percentage of students do not know or remember. Final exam questions can also serve as valuable transfer tasks for subsequent classes. That is, instructors in follow up courses could use test items from previous semesters to identify gaps in student knowledge and skills as they enter the course.
Pre-testing is a well-established teaching technique. It can be a valuable tool for instructors to diagnose insufficient, inaccurate and inert knowledge and skills. Teachers can then target instruction to address specific prior knowledge problems among their students.
For recommendations about how to enhance students’ prior knowledge see Prior Knowledge
For recommendations about how to help students revise their misconceptions see Misconceptions
For recommendations about how to support students’ transfer of knowledge and skills to new contexts see Transfer of Learning
References
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 128(6), 612–637.
Bensley, D. A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2017). Psychological Misconceptions: Recent Scientific Advances and Unresolved Issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(4), 377–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417699026
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind & experience. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Chi, M. (2013). Two kinds and four sub-types of misconceived knowledge, ways to change it, and the learning outcomes. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.). International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change (pp. 49-70). NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203154472
Clement, J. (1982). Student preconceptions in introductory mechanics, American Journal of Physics, 50(66); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.12989
Day, S. B., & Goldstone, R. L. (2012). The import of knowledge export: Connecting findings and theories of transfer of learning. Educational Psychologist, 47(3), 153–176.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2010). Confronting psychological misconceptions in the classroom: Challenges and rewards. APS Observer, 23(7). 36-39.
Murphy, P. K. & Alexander, P.A. (2013). Situating text, talk, and transfer in conceptual change. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.). International handbook of research on conceptual change. NY: Routledge.
Schwartz, D. L., Tsang, J. M., & Blair, K. P. (2016). Overcoming misconceptions and misplaced reasoning. In D. L. Schwartz, J. M. Tsang, & K. P. Blair (Eds.) The ABCs of how we learn: 26 scientifically proven approaches, how they work, and when to use them (pp. 260-276) New York, NY: Norton.
Taylor, A. & Kowalski, P. (2014). Student misconceptions: Where do they come from and what can we do. In V. Benassi & C. Overshon, & C. Hakala (Eds.), Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
Vosniadou, S. (Ed.), (2013). International handbook of research on conceptual change (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.