Unit 2 Assignment 2A

11/5/2014

Determining Prior Knowledge

Lorand Irinyi

National University

Class: TED634-60386-1411

Instructor: Deborah Spellman Smith

Abstract
This paper will examine the methods used in determining prior knowledge of high school
students of physics. The paper will demonstrate the methods chosen how they were applied, and
the rational behind having chosen the cited methods. This will be demonstrated in the
presentation of a larger unit of physics instruction with all the rational explicated in each instant
during the presentation of said unit of instruction.

I chose to teach Conservation of Energy. This is a larger unit covering new concepts that connect
previously presented content material. The successful teaching/presentation of the content
material for the unit will be predicated on having mastered previously presented/taught content
material, namely Motion and Forces explicating and applying Newtons Laws.
To form a reasonably accurate judgment about what the students know I will initiate the
discussion with a Free Recall where the teacher suggests a topic (Newtons Laws) and asks
students to brainstorm, saying anything they suspect a treatment of that topic might contain
(McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p.74). The cited vocabulary and terminology will indicate whether
a thorough refresher is in order or not. If not, Free Recall will be followed by Structured
Questions where sequences of carefully crafted, progressively more difficult questions can tell a
teacher a great deal about the limits of prior knowledge (McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p.75). I
will ask students not only to enumerate Newtons Laws, but will ask students to give examples in
every day applications of them. This would bring me to a thorough Review of Motion and
Forces, where review can be an effective first step in introducing the new material (McKenna
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& Robinson, 2014, p.76). To further activate prior knowledge I would also use props like a
baseball, a hard rubber ball, spring-loaded lab cars and other similar props that would
demonstrate and illustrate Newtons Laws in action. As McKenna and Robinson stated, physical
objects can occasionally provide a visual referent that will enhance comprehension enormously
(McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p. 82). I would also make students solve simple problems
incorporating the equations/formulae that describe and define Newtons Laws. The solutions to
the proposed problems would give a quite accurate assessment whether prior knowledge has
been activated sufficiently enough to initiate the introduction of new content material. Once I
will have determined that students are ready for the presentation of the new content material, I
will segue into it by using the props, and will start asking guided questions leading into inquiry
based learning about the new concepts being introduced. Having triggered prior knowledge
about Motions and Forces would put students at their zone of proximal development and would
need only a little guidance to make the connection between Motions and Forces and Kinetic
energy and Potential Energy, the first new concepts leading up to the main theme, Conservation
of Energy. Using the same props that were used for triggering prior knowledge, connections
between new and prior concepts would be established. The same baseball would be tossed up
repeatedly, or hard rubber ball dropped to the floor repeatedly, to make the necessary conceptual
connections to the new content material. For lack of better analogy it would be the same as
having a slice of bread and a jar of peanut butter. Smearing the peanut butter on the slice of bread
would be the next logical step, and not only easily followed, but actually anticipated by students.
Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy are the expanded ideas of the basic Newtonian concepts.
They truly follow those ideas in an inherently logical set of steps.

English Learners will see the used vocabulary prominently displayed on the smart board and will
have vocabulary handout distributed to them, as well as to all other students. I will use the
content-specific vocabulary repeatedly in context, and will ask students, ELs and non-ELs in
alternating sequence, to use the vocabulary in context, providing necessary practice to all
students with added focus on ELs.
Depending on the needs of the Special Education student(s) I would tailor the strategy to
determine prior knowledge of the students. There might be need to facilitate communication in
different forms, due to the characteristics of the limited ability to communicate. This can take
form in speech enhancing devices, text-to-speech or any other technologies that facilitate
communication. The needs of Special Education students is so wide ranging that, short of
naming the myriad strategies and technologies available to teachers and students I must state that
it is the needs of individual students that will define the accommodations I will have to provide
for them in order to ensure their full participation in the teaching/learning process, and their
academic success when presenting new content material.
This is how I will determine students prior knowledge before presenting new content material.

References
McKenna, Michael C., Robinson, Richard D. (2014). Teaching through Text, Reading and
Writing in the Content Areas. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Science Content Standards for California Public Schools Kindergarten through Grade Twelve.
Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/sciencestnd.pdf

California Common Core State Standards English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Retrieved from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf