Collectively they know far more about a given subject than they do as individuals. In fact, my experience has been that my children often know more than I do about any given subject. By taking the childrens' conceptual model seriously and visually bringing it to life in the classroom, we provide the fuel that drives the entire Storyline topic. This principle is closely linked to the principle of story. New learning must be linked to previous knowledge.
Children build their understanding by going from the known to the unknown.
Context provides children the reason for learning what we want them to learn. Since a Storyline topic mirrors real life, the context is familiar and children see its relationship to their own lives. The linear, predictable structure of the story is also a context they understand. Children research, practice skills, and assimilate new knowledge because the story demands it and because they care about it. Before Activity Principle Before asking children to build their conceptual model we want to make sure that we have given them the chance to push their prior knowledge to its edges.