This document discusses anticipatory sets, which are brief activities at the beginning of a lesson to engage students and activate prior knowledge. It provides an example of an effective anticipatory set used with adult education students that involved solving a puzzle about Sealand, a small micronation off the coast of England. The set incorporated skills like reading, math, geography, and computer literacy. Research shows anticipatory sets lead to 9-29 percentile gains and higher student engagement and trust in teachers. The document encourages using interesting real-world topics that can tie in multiple skills.

1. What the heck is that?
Creating engaging, effective, and fun
“anticipatory sets” for adult education students
Presented for the 2017 LAPCAE Conference
By Rob Morton and Gingerbread Tanner

2. What is an anticipatory set?
• Also known as a “Set Induction”, “Advance
Organizer”, or “Hook”.
• Coined by the educator Madeline Hunter in the
1960’s.
• Defined as:
(noun) a brief portion of a lesson at the
beginning used to get students’ attention,
activate prior knowledge, and prepare them for
the lesson.

3. Simply put, an anticipatory set is a
way to pique students’ interest at
the beginning of a lesson.

4. Does it work?
• Research has demonstrated 9-29 percentile gains made by
incorporating anticipatory sets.
• Students exposed to anticipatory sets score
considerably higher during post-lesson comprehension
assessments.
• Teachers who deliberately and consistently use
anticipatory sets are viewed by students as
significantly more effective and knowledgeable, leading
to higher levels of trust and engagement.
Source:
Schnuck, RF (1969). The effects of set induction on pupil achievement, retention, and assessment
of effective teaching in a unit on respiration in the BSCS Curricula. Educational Leadership 2
(5), 785-793.

5. Despite being shown to work at all
educational levels, anticipatory sets
are often relegated to either
elementary school lessons or advanced
college lessons.
However, anticipatory sets are also
extremely effective for Adult Basic
Education students, many of whom
associate instruction with “memorizing
stuff” and “dry, boring lectures”.
Source: My students

6. We’d like to share with you an
example of an effective
anticipatory set that:
• Engages students
• Activates prior knowledge
• Covers cross-disciplinary skills (reading
fluency, reading comprehension, geometry,
computer literacy, and social studies)
• Is fun!

7. Let’s begin the lesson with puzzle…

8. What the heck is this?

9. Go on, take a guess! Write down your guess on the paper provided, fold it up, and
stick it in the hat.
If you know the answer, don’t shout it out, please! The winner will receive a prize.

10. This…

11. …is…

12. …SEALAND!

13. …

14. …what the heck is Sealand?

15. Sealand is a big concrete platform off the coast of
England.
But what makes Sealand special is that…
• It’s a country! Sealand is one of the smallest “micronations” in the
world.
• Sealand’s history involves kidnapping, pirate radio, fireworks, battles
with the British Royal Navy, diplomatic negotiations, internet piracy,
and much more.
• Anyone can become a citizen of Sealand.

16. It all started with this guy: Paddy Roy Bates.
Also known as, “King Roy”.

17. In 1965, King Roy started a Pirate Radio
Station in England. A pirate radio station is a
radio station that is operated illegally,
without government approval. King Roy
used his radio to station to play his favorite
songs by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis
Junior.
But then one day…
…he got busted.
He was given a fine and was forced to shut down his operation.

18. So, he moved his operation.

19. To here.

20. What is this place?
• “Roughs Tower”
• Built by the British Navy during WWII.
• Abandoned.
• 7 miles off the coast of England.
• In international waters.

21. The History of Sealand in 2 Minutes
• The British Navy attempted to regain control of Roughs Tower, but King
Roy and his son, Prince Michael, shot fireworks at their ships, scaring
them away.
• In 1968, a British court decided that the UK has no claim to Roughs
Tower, as it is outside of British territorial waters.
• In 1975, King Roy introduced a constitution, a national flag and anthem,
a currency, and passports.
• Then, in 1978, there was a coup! King Roy’s old pal Alexander
Achenbach (a German citizen) stormed the platform by jetski, and took
Prince Michael hostage. But Prince Michael fought back, and tied up
Achenbach in a closet. A German diplomat was sent via helicopter to
negotiate Achenbach’s release.
• Since then, Sealand has undergone many changes and challenges to it’s
sovereignty. Recently, the internet torrenting website Piratebay
attempted to purchase Sealand in order to house their servers on
Roughs Tower.

22. Before we continue…
• Does anyone recall the geometry formula for determining the
perimeter and area of a rectangle or parallelogram?
• Perimeter of a 4 sided figure: add up all the sides
• Area of a 4 sided figure: Length x Width
• What other kinds of geometric shapes do you see in the picture of
Sealand?

23. In 1980, King Roy decided to renovate the living space on Sealand. His
measurements were…

24. Length: 25 meters
Width: 15 meters

25. What is the perimeter of the living space at
Sealand? What is the area of the living space at
Sealand?
• Perimeter: 25+25+15+15= 80 meters
• Area: 25 x 15 = 375 meters squared
That’s not very big!

26. Additional math skill tie-ins:
• How to convert meters to feet
• Area of a cylinder
• Circumference of a circle
• Diameter of the concrete pilings on Sealand
• What is the mass, volume, etc. of the object?

27. Computer literacy tie-in:
A Google Scavenger Hunt!
Use the classroom computers to find the following:
• How did King Roy fend off the British Navy?
• How did they establish themselves as a separate nation?
• Do they vote?
• Do they have a police force?
First student to answer each question wins a prize!

28. Other Examples of Anticipatory Sets:
• Riddles
• Whodunnit mysteries
• Science scavenger hunts: How do ants create their nest? What are
some of the big challenges to sending a rocket into space? Is there a
way to “scrub” pollution from the atmosphere? Does a platypus lay
eggs?
• Student-led 5 minute reports at the beginning of class

29. The Big Take-Aways:
• Your anticipatory sets – and lessons in general – can come from
anywhere. Rather than trying to figure out which preexisting lesson
plans work best for your lesson, think of something that YOU find
interesting (like Sealand), or something that YOU just learned about.
Then, begin tying in whichever skills you were hoping to target that
day. This method is especially useful for including multiple cross-
disciplinary skills.
• Students enjoy the lesson more, retain the information better, and
achieve higher scores in post-assessments.