Meaning before details

...or the importance of schema/background activation. Someone on a listserv I subscribe to recommended John Medina's Brain Rules blog. I am so impressed with it, I want to share it here. His 12/30/2009 post, Meaning Before Details, is an important reminder that one should never introduce new information without first giving students a framework on which to organize it. Attaching something new to something old somehow makes it "stick" better. The schema video on their blog (and on Youtube) really brings this home. The first time I watched it, I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. With the schema activation they provide at the end, I understood it perfectly! What are the implications of this for language teaching? The first step of any lesson plan template is "schema activation" or "activate background knowledge," but too often I've thought of this step as a means of merely getting students' attention or getting them interested in what was to follow. I have a tendency to speed through the schema activation in order to get to the real lesson. I had never understood the connection between schema activation and memory by association. I am fascinated with how much is being done lately to apply the findings of brain research to classroom practices.