The human brain is wired to make connections. Activating Strategies support connections by bridging the gap between what is already known and the new content to be learned. New information needs to be linked to prior knowledge to support consolidation and long term memory linkage.
As the brain interacts with new information, it seeks to find what it already knows about that information and to link it with existing information.
If students have no background knowledge on a topic, give them an experience to build background knowledge to which the lesson content will be connected.