Designing a one-size-fits-all lesson assumes that every student is starting from the same point. The reality is that students enter our classrooms with varied skillsets and prior knowledge. If teachers assess their students’ knowledge before diving into an explanation, lesson, or unit, they might be surprised by the wealth of experience and information that students bring into the classroom.
I had the pleasure of working with teachers in Texas this week. During the workshop, we explored strategies designed to assess prior knowledge (pre-lesson), check for understanding (during the lesson), and encourage students to reflect on their learning (post-lesson). I realized I had not written a blog about these strategies. I am dedicating the next three blog posts to discussing strategies teachers can use to collect informal data before, during, and after a lesson. The more teachers build mechanisms into their lessons to collect data, the more likely they are to adjust their lessons for learners at different levels.
Below are strategies I have used to gauge what students know prior to a lesson or unit. For any of these strategies to be effective, students must feel safe taking risks. Even though they may have some previous knowledge, they may not feel confident that they are “right.” I explain that these strategies will help me to understand what they know about a topic, so I can tailor the lesson or unit to their needs. Students need to know that they will not be graded or judged based on the accuracy of their answers.
1. Concept Map
Give students a concept map with a topic, problem, historical event, or person’s name. Then ask them to fill in as much information as possible using the structure of a concept map, like the one pictured below. Alternatively, students can create a free form concept map linking key ideas and information to a central topic.
2. Online Discussion
Unlike a class discussion in which only a handful of students get the opportunity to share their ideas, online discussions give everyone a voice. You can post a discussion question online using Google Classroom or Schoology and give students 5-10 minutes to describe what they know about a topic, concept, problem, historical event, or famous person. Ask them to describe where they learned this information–a conversation with a parent, a book or movie, another class, or from life experience.
3. Carousel Brainstorm
Put posters with a word, concept, or problem in each of the four corners of the room. As students move around the room, the goal is to add their thoughts, ideas, and prior knowledge to the posters. If you use big pieces of poster paper, students can write the information directly on the poster. Alternatively, you can print the topics on computer paper and ask students to write information on post-it notes and stick them on the wall.
If you post math problems around the room, ask students to explain how they think they might solve each problem. What strategies would they use? Why?
4. Three Things…Word Association
Ask students to share the first three words that come to mind when they hear a topic, concept, problem, historical event, or famous person’s name. Asking students to share the first three words they associate with a topic can reveal a lot about what information or misconceptions they are bringing into the learning environment.
You can have them share these words offline with post-its or post them online using Mentimeter. Mentimeter will transform their responses into a real-time word cloud. Words that are entered by multiple students will appear larger in the cloud amplifying the common associations that students are making. Teachers using Mentimeter cannot view individual student’s contributions to the word cloud, so this activity works better to read the room in terms of prior knowledge.
5. Two Minute Talks
Pair students up and ask them to spend a minute each describing what they believe they know about a topic. Encourage them to explain where they learned that information. During these quick chats, you can circulate around the room observing and listening. It amazes me how much I learn by simply watching students and listening to their conversations. In just a couple of minutes, I get a clear sense of who has prior knowledge on a topic and who does not.
6. 90 Second Brain Dump
Teachers who enjoy quick writes can give students 90 seconds to write everything they know about a topic. I use a Google Form for these quick brain dumps so that the students’ responses are shuttled to a Google Sheet. That makes it easy to skim their responses or use Control+F to search for keywords to see how frequently they occur in the sheet. This provides insight into what the class knows about this topic, but I can also look at individual responses to gauge a specific student’s knowledge of the subject.
If you have a strategy you use for assessing prior knowledge, please post a comment and share it! I love hearing what works well for other educators.