Yesterday’s ResearchEd yet again highlighted the importance of prior or background knowledge for learning. A number of presenters made that very point in their session and I learnt that the hard way, attending Kieran Mackle’s Primary maths session ‘Old Yellow Bricks’ – focusing on concrete resources in the primary maths classroom.
Out of subject and out of sector – it may have been an honorable choice to try and connect with Kieran but I understood little about the session, I found it confusing and had to ask for help on more than one occasion. In reflection, how many pupils may feel in many lessons throughout any given day. How the irony.
Which got me thinking… if background knowledge is so important for constructing meaning, should we just directly teaching ‘background knowledge’ as a priority.
I can think of only one thing more foolest that trying to teach something to pupils without adequate prior knowledge and that is not addressing misconceptions before trying to teach something new.
I did learn ‘subitizing’ – the ability to tell the number of objects in a set, quickly, without counting.
Thanks for your patience and explanation Kieran. Sorry for being such a mathematical oaf.