According to A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works (2012), questions, cues, and advance organizers are a way to help students access and organize prior knowledge and understanding of content. 

Cues - reminders or prompts about what the students are learning

Questions - serve the same purpose as cues, but can be used to elicit basic recall of background knowledge, analysis, or connections to new learning

Advance Organizers - provide a framework to document prior knowledge about content and can be three different types of tools:

1. Expository - including words and pictures

2. Narrative - Stories that may connect prior knowledge to new content

3. Skimming - Students preview a text paying special attention to text features such as headings, subheadings, and diagrams