I want to address chapter 6 specifically, which focuses on connecting different strands of knowledge together, or the ability to take knowledge that we have compartmentalized and undo that process. Many students don't connect content from one class to the next, and are surprised when they are expected to use knowledge outside of the designated content area in which it was taught. This is a vital skill we need to build for students in order to allow them the continuity and multiplicity of different content areas in places they weren't expecting them.
Using prior existing knowledge is so valuable to students and will aid them in being more successful in their classes. As it says in the text, students who ignore math in science instead of using those skills they built will not be as successful and are not as strategic as students who recognize that algebra can be used in the science classroom.
This also reminds me of a section in Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide. Gallagher discusses how students in his class were not familiar with a word on a mandated reading test. Not one student knew what the word meant before reading about it. However, when Gallagher traveled from his classroom in a big city in California to a rural town in another state, the students in the other state knew the word because it applied to their lifestyle living in farm country. This demonstrates that when students bring prior knowledge to the table they open more doors to success. A student who doesn't know something is not necessarily less educated than the student who is aware. If may just be a question of experience, upbringing, culture, etc.
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