Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity 5

Reflection on Possessed and Newly Acquired Knowledge by Applying Thinking 
Tools in the Context of Distance Learning
To facilitate the development of the 
skills of expert learners—learning to recognise what they already know and the new 
information they are learning—and to improve their English communication skills, 
the teacher asked the students to watch the video ‘300 English Questions and 
Answers’, which provides questions and answers as text and verbal information. 
The teacher suggested watching the video for three minutes and then drawing a 
table with two columns titled ‘I knew’ and ‘I didn’t know’. She also asked the stu-
dents to write three questions and answers in one column and another three ques-
tions and answers in the other. The students were asked to present the results during 
the lesson: ‘To which questions did you already know the answers? Which answers 
contained totally new information for you?’
Teacher Alma: Let’s start with what you knew.
Augustina: What is the capital city of Spain?
Teacher Alma: Say in a full sentence, please.
Augustina: I know that the capital city of Spain is Madrid.
7 Development of Knowledgeable and Resourceful Learners

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Teacher Alma: Use the form—I already knew that ...
Augustina: I already knew that the capital city of Spain is Madrid.
Teacher Alma: And what was new to you?
Tadas: I didn’t know that an ant can lift 50 times its own weight.
Teacher Alma: Why did you know some things, but you didn’t know others?
Tadas: We knew general knowledge but didn’t know specific facts. (Observation, 36)
The lesson fragment shows that it was a very suitable exercise to encourage the 
students’ considerations about what they did and did not know. The video was con-
venient for the students themselves to make this distinction, answer the questions 
choosing the appropriate sentence beginning and write each answer in the appropri-
ate column. The recognition of new information and linking it to already possessed 
information contribute to constructing deep personal understanding.