Just about every teacher is, or should be, familiar with all the research finding that it’s easier to learn something new when you can connect it to something old. For example, before we learn about Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I might ask students to quickly share about big celebrations they’ve experienced in their home countries.

I’ve written a number of previous posts about helping students connect their prior knowledge to new information.

But, I guess it never hurts to have additional research backing up our instructional strategies.

Eureka Alert brought news today of yet another study finding that this connecting of past to new does, indeed, work.

Here’s an excerpt:

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