ABSTRACT
The previous chapter described achievement scores as the primary means by which prior knowledge is normally assessed. That is, prior knowledge is described in terms of performance on achievement tests prior to instruction. This chapter asserts that there is another type of knowledge, structural knowledge, that describes and facilitates the application of prior knowledge. Structural knowledge is the knowledge of how ideas within a domain are interrelated (Diekhoff, 1983). Explicit awareness of those interrelationships and the ability to personally describe those relationships is a fundamental component in prior knowledge and an essential component in higher order thinking. It is not enough to know that (as measured by recall tests). To know how (application of prior knowledge), you must know why. Structural knowledge provides the conceptual basis for why. It describes how prior knowledge is interconnected. For example, to say that “warm air rises” requires connections between “air” and its modifier, “warm” as opposed to “cold.” That this type of air rises is predicated on a causal relationship between “warm” and “rising,” which forms the principle of convection. Structural knowledge enables learners to develop the understanding of connections that is required to describe and use prior knowledge.
