Miha LeeINTRODUCTIONPanel #3 page 1Miha LeeProfessor RivasSED 60014 March 2007Awareness of prior knowledge is the mostsignificant factor in helping a science teacherbe successful.INTRODUCTIONMassive general ‘transfer’ can be achieved by appropriate learning, andeffective teaching practices are based on the profound learning theories. As ateacher we need to take our position regarding views on the learning theory. By andlarge, there are two views on the learning process in the educational community:passive and active.The view on learning as a passive process originates from Positivism (Johnson,2005), a philosophy states that knowledge exists outside of the individual. From thisperspective, learning is the process of receiving information from outside of theindividual. The purpose of schools is to supply students with a designated body ofknowledge and skills in a predetermined order. Teaching is a matter of transmittingknowledge from point A (teacher’s head) to point B (students’ heads). (Johnson,2005) Thus, learners don’t need to play an active role to make connection betweennew information and their prior knowledge in the learning process, and in turnteachers don’t need to consider their students’ cognitive structure. In sum, passivelearning is the process of accumulation of new knowledge in learner’s mind.In contrast, active learning is base on constructivism (Johnson, 2005), fromwhich knowledge is seen as a subjective entity constructed by individual as he/sheinteracts with the objective environment. From this perspective, learning is an inneractivity that uses both objective and subjective knowledge to constantly build andrevise our cognitive structures. The purpose of schools is to help students constructknowledge and develop the skills they need to live in their worlds successfully.Teaching is a matter of creating conditions whereby students are able to transactPanel #3 page 2with knowledge. (Johnson, 2005) Thus, learners need to play an active role to makeconnection between new information and their prior knowledge in their learningprocess. In short, active learning is the process of integration new knowledge intocognitive structure. The importance of prior knowledge for subsequent learning has beenrecognized by these constructivists. According to them, learners build meanings onthe basis of what they have in their minds. (Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer & Scott,1994) From this perspective on learning, in order to predict how learners willrespond to attempts to teach science, it is necessary to understand their priorknowledge, the knowledge that students bring to a given teaching situation. (Leach& Scott, 2003) Students come to science classrooms with a range of strongly heldpersonal science views. So, to prepare their instructions teachers should haveinsights about students' prior knowledge, which are information about students'characteristic ways of thinking and talking about the world. Student performanceimproves when instructions are designed to deal with specific difficulties revealed instudies of students' prior knowledge. (Savinainen & Scott, 2002) Therefore, neglectof prior knowledge can result in students learning that is something opposed to theteacher's intentions, no matter how well those intentions are executed in his/herteaching practices. (Roschelle, 1995)Especially, learning science is referred to ‘conceptual change’ based on priorknowledge in learner’s cognitive scheme or conceptual structure (von Glasersfeld,1999, Roschelle, 1995) Therefore, in order to teach science successfully inclassroom, teachers should be aware of what students’ prior knowledge is, how itaffects science learning, and how they make the best use of it in their teachingpractices. Prior knowledge appears to be simultaneously necessary and problematic. Therole of prior knowledge in science learning can be considered as both foundation forlearning and barrier to understanding. (Fisher, 2004) And the definition of priorknowledge varies with the perspectives on its role. A typology developed by Taber(2001) offers a helpful tool to analyze the role of prior knowledge and address thelearning impediments in science education.PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AS FOUNDATION FOR LEARNINGWhy can Prior Knowledge be seen as Foundation for Learning?Panel #3 page 3According to cognitive learning theory, students build new knowledge based ontheir prior knowledge. Prior knowledge provides an anchor to assimilate newknowledge into cognitive structure (schemata). The notion of ‘cognitive structure’can be defined as ‘the facts, concepts, propositions, theories, and raw perceptualdata that the learner has available to her at any point in time, and the manner inwhich it is arranged’ (Taber, 2001, White, 1985, and Ausubel & Robinson, 1971). Piaget’s believed that learning was a change in the cognitive structure throughthe processes of adaptation: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation involvesthe interpretation of new events in terms of existing cognitive structure.(http://tip.psychology.org/piaget.html) Assimilation increases knowledge whilepreserving cognitive structure, by integrating information into existing schemata;accommodation modify cognitive structure to account for new experience. ForPiaget, learning as a process of adaptation does not replace prior knowledge, butrather differentiates and integrates prior knowledge into a more coherent whole.(Roschelle, 1995)Further, the importance of the prior knowledge as a foundation for learning wasemphasized explicitly by Ausubel (1961). He pointed out that for ‘meaningfullearning’ to occur, the learner had to recognize that what was being taught hadsome connection with exiting knowledge. Therefore, a paramount factor in anymeaningful learning is what has previously been learned. In order for meaningfullearning to take place, it is necessary both for the learner to hold