Building Background Knowledge

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Why it works

A large body of research shows that comprehension is heavily determined by a reader's background knowledge about the topic, often more than by generic comprehension skills. The well-known baseball study and much subsequent work show that knowledge of a topic lets even weaker readers comprehend a passage about it. This supports building broad knowledge deliberately, through a coherent, content-rich curriculum and wide reading, as a core comprehension strategy, not just teaching skills in a knowledge vacuum.

The research: Research on background knowledge and reading comprehension (Hirsch; Willingham).

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: build the knowledge a text assumes

Teachers leave with a plan to build the background knowledge one text requires, and broad knowledge over time.

Pick a text or unit.
Identify the background knowledge it assumes that your students may lack.
Plan to build that knowledge before and during (content, discussion, related reading).
Think about building broad knowledge coherently over time, not just for one text.

Knowledge is comprehensionA reader who decodes perfectly still cannot understand a topic they know nothing about. Build the knowledge a text assumes, and build broad knowledge over time.

Facilitator notes

Build the knowledge a text assumes.
Favor coherent, content-rich curriculum, wide reading, and discussion.
Knowledge over generic skills alone.

Comprehension skills in a knowledge vacuum do littleTeaching find-the-main-idea on random passages cannot substitute for the knowledge comprehension requires. Build broad, coherent knowledge deliberately.

Adapt it

Elementary: content-rich read-alouds and knowledge-building units.
Secondary: build the knowledge content-area texts assume.
All settings: build the assumed knowledge, broadly over time.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Background Knowledge: knowledge is comprehension

The real driver: build the knowledge a text assumes, and broad knowledge over time, through content-rich curriculum.

The text or unit:
The background knowledge it assumes that students may lack:
How I build that knowledge before and during:
How I build broad knowledge coherently over time:
Where knowledge, not skill, is the real barrier:

Make it stick

Build the knowledge:

Build the assumed knowledge.
Favor content-rich curriculum.
Bring a lesson where building knowledge unlocked comprehension to the next PLC.

Common questions

Isn't this the same as the comprehension workshop?

Related but distinct. Comprehension strategies help, but this is about the deeper driver: the knowledge a reader brings. Comprehension is less a transferable skill and more a product of knowledge plus decoding.

Why does background knowledge matter so much?

Because understanding a text requires knowing enough about its topic to make sense of it. A student who decodes fluently but lacks the relevant knowledge still will not comprehend. Knowledge is comprehension.

How do I build background knowledge?

Through a coherent, content-rich curriculum (building knowledge systematically across science, history, arts), wide reading, rich discussion, and deliberately activating and building the knowledge a text assumes.