Organising knowledge: The purpose and pedagogy of knowledge organisers

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A knowledge organiser (KO) sets out the important, useful and powerful knowledge on a topic on a single page (Kirby, 2015). With the content demands of new courses, and schools adopting a knowledge-based curriculum, these are becoming increasingly popular in schools at secondary and even primary level. With this in mind, what are the key principles to ensuring that these are designed and implemented effectively? For these to become a useful classroom and study tool, we should consider the purpose (what is the point of a knowledge organiser?), the content (what should be included and how should it be presented?) and the pedagogy (how can knowledge organisers become a practical tool used effectively by teachers and students?). Purpose For students to succeed in a particular area, they must have a foundation of factual knowledge, understand those facts in the context of a conceptual framework and organise knowledge in order to facilitate retrieval and application (Bransford et al., 2

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This article was published in September 2018 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.

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