Effective teaching begins with what learners bring to the setting, including knowledge of academic content and cultural practices and beliefs. This is based on substantial research evidence that learners use their current knowledge to construct new knowledge, and what they know and believe influences how they interpret new information. Moreover, learners current knowledge may support or hamper new learning. Effective teaching assists students in making connections between their previous knowledge and their current academic tasks. Effective teaching facilitates students building of connected knowledge i.e., promoting deep understanding by linking new learning to their current understanding, rather than developing disconnected sets of facts and skills.
Information becomes meaningful when it is presented in some type of framework.
This implication is based on evidence that emphasizes that the ability to think and solve problems like an expert in a particular field requires knowledge that is accessible and applied appropriately. Effective teaching utilizes assessment to support learning, not merely serve as a way to assign a final grade. Assessments should reflect the learning goals and provide feedback and opportunities for students to revise and improve the quality of their thinking and understanding. With learning goals of understanding and application of knowledge, assessments should not focus primarily on memory for facts and formulas. Effective teaching fosters social interaction and collaboration and promotes a sense of community within which exists high standards and expectations and norms that value learning.