How students organize knowledge

What you can do in the classroom

Examples

Reveal and enhance knowledge organization

Show "big picture" organizational structure of course -- how key concepts of class inter-relate -- and refer to this structure explicitly over the semester.
Have students draw a concept map. This will illustrate not only their prior knowledge but how they are organizing it.
Have students complete a sorting task (e.g., sort different problems, concepts, or situations into categories).
Pay attention to the patterns of errors to see if a student is consistently misapplying a formula or strategy.
Have students work with multiple organizational structures by asking them to categorize items in one schema and then another.

Adapted from How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (2010, Ambrose et al.)

Download a pdf of all 7 principles, including ideas for classroom implementation.