Any new learning must connect with what learners already know. Instructors must assess students’ prior knowledge of a subject and teach him or her in such a way as to build on that. When learning goes wrong, students manifest amnesia (the students forget the material or even forget learning it), fantasia (the students revert to incorrect prior knowledge), or inertia (the students are unable to synthesize or apply the facts they have learned) with respect to material, even after they’ve done well on the exam. Teaching students a greater volume of material does not result in greater understanding of the subject.
