Networks of family members and friends
Church and other religious practices (e.g., recitation, choirs and hymns, manner of prayer)
Material goods (computers, saved up food stamps, old baby food jars, car)
Languages and ways of speaking in different contexts
Professions (medicine, auto mechanics, construction, law, restaurant work, janitorial work, bus and cab driving, law enforcement)
Navigating and knowing how institutional systems (like schools or hospitals) work
Family and cultural activities (e.g., hunting, gardening, farming, sports)
Skills/trades (farming, cooking, fixing cars, herbal medicine, woodworking, needle arts)
An engineer draws on her funds of knowledge in her quest for clean water.
There are several other concepts in the field of education that are related to funds of knowledge. Click on each of the buttons below to learn more.
You may have heard of the concept of prior knowledge, and the importance of either building or building on students' prior knowledge before teaching more complicated or detailed aspects of the topic. Peoples' prior knowledge regarding many topics will likely be related to their funds of knowledge, but there is not a direct correspondence. One way to think about the difference is to consider where the emphasis lies in each term. The emphasis in prior knowledge is on knowledge, or what people know. The emphasis in funds of knowledge is on the funds, or the sources of peoples' knowledge.
Consider the following differences:
Funds of knowledge are historical (Muhammad, 2020). That is, the ways in which people communicate, common experiences in families and communities, and peoples' occupations are often tied to community histories. For example people who live in transnational and immigrant communities often speak more than one language, engage in translation practices, and may be familiar with practices such as wiring money abroad. These practices are often cross-generational, and are necessary for getting through daily life (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005).
Everyone has funds of knowledge. Click on the button below to access and download a graphic organizer designed to help you think about the skills, everyday practices, and knowledge that come from your own family and community.
Typically, the funds of knowledge of middle class white people permeate school cultures and engagements (Muhammad, 2020). They seem so "normal" and "natural" that they go unnoticed by teachers (a population that is largely white and middle class). Why is this? Because those with social, political, and economic power tend to have their funds of knowledge valued by default in social institutions (Willis, 2019).
Watch the first video, a read aloud of Conner's big hunt. Note how the reader thinks aloud about Conner's experiences and funds of knowledge.
What funds of knowledge are evident in the following three texts? As you watch these read aloud videos, have a pen and paper handy, or a document open on your device. Jot down the kinds of skills, knowledge, knowledge domains, and community resources that you think the child at the center of each story might have, as well as the sources--the funds--of that knowledge.
