How Content Knowledge Can Unlock Learning: Developing students' background knowledge is key to exceptional learning experiences in all subjects.

EVIDENCE-based education; TEACHING; PEDAGOGICAL content knowledge; READING; READING comprehension; PHONOLOGICAL awareness; MATHEMATICS education; SCIENCE education

The article suggests evidence-based strategies to build students' background and content knowledge. These include reading and discussion, rereading, and partner reading to build vocabulary, boost language comprehension and phonological awareness, as well as using concrete and visual representations in math instructions, and anchoring science instruction by authentic, real-world scientific phenomena through research projects and hands-on science and engineering challenges.