ABSTRACT

Both at the level of the course and the class, teaching needs to take account of what the students have done before, so this first question is about the relationship between your teaching and what the students bring to the sessions by way of existing knowledge, skills and attitudes. In some cases, they may be embarking on a quite new subject or topic that seems to involve little or no prior knowledge, though even then the slate is not quite clean: there may well be related skills or ideas that affect their learning. At the other extreme, prior knowledge, skills or experience may actually block or interfere with their new learning, and have to be ‘unlearned’ before they can progress. Whatever the situation, you will need to consider where they are coming from.