How Knowledge Matters

AbstractWe, in education, all have a common aim: We want students to be able to think deeply about what we teach them, go beyond their current experiences, and have a deep understanding of the world. We want to enable them to think critically, work together, solve problems, read for understanding, and carry out complex cognitive tasks. If we want students to be able to do all this, we should just include itt in the curriculum and teach them, right? In this chapter, we discuss why this apparently obvious strategy of simply teaching children how to think deeply does not work, and offer an alternative way forward. This chapter discusses the prominent role of knowledge in how we learn, think, read, understand, and solve problems. Insights from cognitive and educational psychology, sociology, and curriculum studies are used to underpin the current knowledge revival that is widely being observed in education.