👋 Hey {{first name | reader!}}
In this edition of ⚗️DistillED, we’re looking at why learning depends on connecting what students know to what they’re about to learn.
In this edition
📊 Do Now: Quick Poll!
Be honest… what does “activating prior knowledge” usually look like in your classroom?
What is Activating Prior Knowledge?
Activating prior knowledge (APK) means deliberately bringing relevant existing knowledge to mind so that students can connect it to new learning.
As David Ausubel (1968) famously argued, “the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows.” But as later work suggests, it’s not just what they know—it’s how ready-to-mind that knowledge is. As Peps Mccrea explains, readily available information is more likely to stick to new ideas:
“Prior knowledge is like ‘glue for new ideas’. But it’s more like a hot-melt glue for a glue gun than superglue... it’s stickiest when warmed up.”
In classrooms, this often looks like something very practical. For example, this can be done using a quick retrieval task or turn and talk to prompt thinking. Check out the following instructional sequence:
Retrieve: “Think back—what did the witches predict for Macbeth? Write one thing on your board. Go!”
Connect: “Good—so we know Macbeth hears a prophecy that he will be king. Now, today we’re building on that—we’ll look at how this prediction begins to change his actions in Act 1, Scene 3.”
Consolidate: “Turn and talk—before we read the next scene, what is the first decision Macbeth makes after hearing the prophecy?”
This diagram explains meaningful learning - connecting new learning to what students already know.
Essentially, activating prior knowledge is about:
Retrieving relevant schema from long-term memory
Ensuring students have the prerequisite knowledge to succeed
Making explicit connections between old and new
Preparing students to make meaning, not just receive information
Here’s a bullet proof list of what activating prior knowledge IS and IS NOT:
👎 Activating Prior Knowledge IS NOT:
A Generic Starter Activity → Beginning lessons with tasks that are familiar but not directly linked to the new learning. (“Copy and complete these random questions from last week…”)
A Vague Reminder → Saying “Remember last lesson?” without getting students to retrieve and use the knowledge.
A Check of Confidence, Not Competence → Relying on nods or quick answers instead of verifying that students can actually do the prerequisite.
👍 Activating Prior Knowledge IS:
Retrieval with Purpose → Getting students to actively recall and use relevant knowledge before connecting it to new learning. (“On your board: write a definition of metaphor.”)
A Bridge Between Old and New → Explicitly linking prior knowledge to new content. (“You already know X—this builds on that by…”)
A Way to Prime Thinking → Bringing key knowledge into working memory so students can focus, connect, and understand. (“Hold that idea in your mind—now let’s use it to understand this.”)
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Planning Tools and Resources: Use to turn research into day-to-day lesson design, routines, and team instructional
Why Does Activating Prior Knowledge Matter?
Research on memory and learning consistently shows that new knowledge does not exist in isolation—it attaches to what students already know. From a cognitive perspective, prior knowledge is stored in long-term memory as schema—organised networks of connected ideas.
When these are activated, they are brought into working memory, where new information can be processed and connected. As educator and author Sarah Cottinghatt explains, meaningful learning occurs when new information connects to relevant existing knowledge and “a new meaning is born.”
This matters because prior knowledge influences three critical things:
What Students Pay Attention To → Students don’t notice everything—they notice what they understand. Those with strong prior knowledge attend to the key ideas in explanations. Those without it often focus on surface features or irrelevant details.
How Easily Students Think → Schema acts as a chunking mechanism, reducing the load on working memory. The more students know, the easier it is for them to follow explanations, make connections and solve problems.
Whether Learning Sticks → Activating prior knowledge supports encoding—the process of transferring new information into long-term memory. Without this connection: learning remains fragile, ideas become isolated and forgetting happens quickly.
Instead of building bodies of connected knowledge, this leads to what Sarah Cottinghatt describes as “islands of knowledge”—disconnected fragments that students struggle to use or transfer. Cottingham argues that only bodies of knowledge—well-organised, connected ideas—enable students to develop deep understanding.
“Bodies of knowledge are the goal. We don’t want students who can parrot back individual bits of information. We want students who have developed bodies of connected knowledge (think a vast complex network of assimilated ideas)”
When prior knowledge isn’t activated or checked some students succeed (those who already know enough) whilst others silently struggle (those who don’t). This creates the illusion of progress. Worse still, students may connect new learning to the wrong prior knowledge, leading to misconceptions. Ultimately, activating prior knowledge matters because:
APK enables students to make meaning from new ideas
APK reduces cognitive overload and supports thinking
APK strengthens encoding and improves long-term retention
APK ensures all students are thinking, not just some
Let’s find out some key steps and strategies in activating students’ prior knowledge.
How do I Activate Prior Knowledge?
The steps below outlined by educator Sarah Cottinghatt show concrete steps to remember to help make learning more meaningful. As usual, I’ve mapped it out into a easy to read ⚗️DistillED table:
Step | Explanation | Example |
|---|---|---|
1. Explicitly State Connections
| Students won’t always spot connections on their own. Explicitly tell them how new ideas relate to what they already know, highlighting both similarities and differences. | Strategy: Direct Explanation |
2. Start Broad, Then Narrow
| It’s easier to assimilate new ideas under broader, general concepts. Introduce these first so students can organise detail meaningfully. | Strategy: Big Picture Framing |
3. Set Meaningful Processing Tasks
| Even when connections are explained, students may not internalise them. Use tasks like self-explanation to force students to articulate links. | Strategy: Think–Pair–Share / Self-explanation |
4. Check for Meaning, Not Just Recall
| Go beyond correct answers—check how students are connecting ideas. Be wary of verbatim responses and address misconceptions or weak links. | Strategy: Mini-Whiteboards / Cold Call “Explain how this links to what we learned yesterday.” |
5. Keep Meaning Alive
| Meaningful learning is still subject to forgetting. Revisit and retrieve ideas so students retain access to both concepts and detail. | Strategy: Do Now / Retrieval Practice “Where have we seen this idea before?” |
6. Motivate Meaningful Learning
| Meaning is made by students, not teachers. Build a classroom culture that values thinking, connection-making, and deep understanding—not just recall. | Strategy: Norms / Framing |
Activating prior knowledge is the mechanism that allows learning to happen. When we retrieve the right knowledge, at the right time, and connect it explicitly to new ideas, students move from isolated facts to connected understanding.
— Jamie
If you want more:
👉 Explore the Review and Practice CPD resources in the DistillED+ Hub
👉 Read the DistillED edition on Retrieval Practice
👉 Explore the The Attention and Hard Thinking one-page guides
👉 Get the DistillED Playbooks for practical, evidence-informed classroom practices
📥 Free Planning Resource
Meaningful Learning Planner
To help you put these ideas into practice immediately, download the Meaningful Learning Planner — a classroom-ready tool designed to help you activate prior knowledge, explicitly connect old and new learning, and build coherent bodies of knowledge over time.
⚗️DistillED+ Exclusive Content
This week, ⚗️DistillED+ members get access to an Activating Prior Knowledge CPD PowerPoint, a Meaningful Learning Planner, and a Printable One-Page Guide, breaking down how to retrieve prerequisite knowledge, explicitly connect old and new learning, and build coherent bodies of knowledge over time.
