The Importance of Background Knowledge

Well, to begin with, I had a one hour layover in Atlanta from Houston to South Carolina. However the flight from Houston ran 30 minutes late. Turned out when we landed in Atlanta, I had 30 minutes to make it to my connecting flight. 

I had never been to the Atlanta airpot before. Those of you that have been to the Atlanta Airport may see where this is going. ​

There I was sitting in the LAST row of the completely full airplane...the window seat too. I innocently asked the person next to me, "Do you think I'll make it to my connecting flight?"

The man laughed. Not in a rude way. Just a knowing laugh. He slowly explained the size of the Atlanta airport and told me, "As soon as you get off, find out which gate your next flight is in. Then get on the shuttle and head that way as fast as you can."

SHUTTLE? Shuttle?? What kind of airport has a shuttle? 

I began to imagine a subway, golf cart, a space shuttle. I really had no other schema of a shuttle inside an airport. So I did what the man told me. As quickly as I could get off the plane, I did. I found out the gate for my next flight, looked for the signs that lead me to the shuttle and waited at a door to hop on. As I waited, I observed others around me. They seemed to be in a hurry too. There were others waiting for the shuttle. It didn't take long before the much anticipated shuttle arrived. And we all rushed aboard. Everyone grabbed ahold of the bars and rails, so I followed suite. And suddenly the shuttle took off. I'm glad I held on like the others did. They must have known that this thing goes FAST. When it came to an abrupt stop, the doors opened and we sped off rushing to our gates. 

Now you might be hoping that this story would end nicely. That I made it on time to my connecting flight. Nope! I missed it by 5 minutes. 

But I learned a lot about teaching from my first experience at the Atlanta Airport. 

• I learned that pre-teaching key information helps learners prepare for what's ahead.
• I learned that learners may not achieve mastery the first time, but that's okay! Guess what, I've been to the Atlanta airport again since that first experience and I haven't missed any other flights (yet). 
• I learned that teaching others from the learning helps solidify the knowledge.
• I learned that learners observe others to help reassure themselves that they are on the right path.
• I learned that using prior knowledge and adding it to newly learned information helps learners to acquire and retain. 

I'm sure I learned more from the Atlanta Airport experience. It was actually a little scary experiencing something new and unknown. It was a good reminder for me that background know, pre-teaching and learning from others is important.