To prepare students for acquiring new knowledge means that they need to be mentally engaged. Activate their thinking about a topic by motivating and inspiring them to want to learn about it (emotion) and by having them access their prior knowledge (meaning) about related topics and concepts. Engaging students with prior knowledge is successful when they can connect to an experience they have already had or to something they already know. Many students may not have the academic background knowledge that they can link new knowledge about a topic to, so you will likely need to create new experiences with them to build the foundation to which the new information can fit into.
Use of emotion for engaging students is highly effective, such as giving them an exciting preview about the topic (similar to a movie trailer), having students look at extreme viewpoints or situations, asking students what their stand is on an issue, and applying something about the topic in a real or simulated scenario.
