Funds of Knowledge are the skills and knowledge gained by daily routines and practices, as well as cultural and historical interactions. It’s the social and cultural “stuff” that students know through personal experiences.
Background knowledge is the amount of information or knowledge someone has on a topic. Both funds of knowledge and background knowledge give us connection points for learning, and they’re both considered types of prior knowledge.
So what does this mean for instruction?
We should leverage our students' - and families’ - funds of knowledge when possible. We can use students' funds of knowledge and continue to build background knowledge on topics of study.
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Speaker 1:
Hi teacher friend. This is Laurie from Melissa and Laurie Love Literacy. In episode 170 on Read-A-Louds, author Molly Ness mentioned funds of knowledge. What are funds of knowledge and how are funds of knowledge related to background knowledge? Funds of knowledge are the skills and knowledge gained by daily routines and practices, as well as cultural and historical interactions. It's the social and cultural stuff that students know through personal experiences. For example, funds of knowledge might include preparing a Seder, a Jewish ceremonial dinner that happens on the first night or two of Passover. Or funds of knowledge might mean knowing how to fix a car.
Speaker 1:
Reading Rockets defines background knowledge as the amount of information or knowledge someone has on a topic. For example, students who live in a very urban or very rural area have different background knowledge about how to travel from one place to another. One student might be familiar with the subway system and traveling short distances, while the other is used to driving in a car for hours to reach a destination. Both funds of knowledge and background knowledge give us connection points for learning and they're both considered types of prior knowledge. So what does this mean for instruction? We should leverage our students and families funds of knowledge whenever possible.
Speaker 1:
One teacher shared with us recently that at the beginning of Diwali she asks the students family to come to class and share Diwali traditions. Students build background knowledge from their fellow classmates funds of knowledge about Diwali. We can use students' funds of knowledge and continue to build background knowledge on topics of study. We can't wait to keep learning with you. Thanks for listening. Literacy Lovers, to stay connected with us, sign up for our email list at literacypodcastcom. Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests of the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast are not necessarily the opinions of Great Minds PBC or its employees. We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to learn with us.