What is a K-W-L Chart?

A K-W-L Chart is a graphic organiser where students indicate what they know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they have learned (L) about a topic.

This metacognitive strategy, designed by Donna Ogle in 1986, can help activate students’ prior knowledge, identify their learning needs, and track their learning progress in relation to a lesson/concept.

As a result, teachers will know about students’ needs and interests and thus create more engaging teaching materials.

So, the K-W-L chart can drive instruction as well as guide student learning.

KWL strategy

A K-W-L chart can be used for all subjects and grade levels, with individual students or in groups for different purposes. Here are some ideas to integrate this strategy into your teaching.

K-W-L chart as a reading strategy

Teachers can use the K-W-L chart as a reading and thinking strategy to teach students active reading skills.

According to researchers, the KWL strategy can improve students’ reading comprehension and engage students deliberately with texts (Szabo, 2006).

This is because it guides students through their reading material, and helps them reflect and evaluate their reading experience (Burke,2005).

Before reading the text (K)

Students brainstorm all what they know about the topic. To stimulate their thinking, prepare questions in advance such as what do you already know about this topic? What do you think about..? What comes into your mind when you hear….?

Also, use visual aids (pictures, graphs, objects, etc.), sentences, or words from the texts to encourage them to predict the text’s content.

Students (individually or in groups) write their answers in the chart, and then share them with the rest of the class.

Prompting students to explain their association is important to support them to think more and provide details for their answers. (What makes you say that? How do you think this would happen? Why is that important to you? Etc.).

While reading the text (W)

Ask students to indicate what they want or need to learn about the topic. You can either pose questions to prompt their responses (what would you like to learn more about this idea?) or ask them to formulate their questions concerning the information they need to learn from that reading.

While they are reading, students use prior knowledge to comprehend the text and monitor their understanding. They also look for the answers to their W questions

After reading the text (L)

Students reflect on what they read by listing, mapping, and summarizing what they have learned.

In addition, as they fill in the (L) column, ask them to answer their W questions or search for other resources in case they do not find their answers in the text.

K-W-L Chart for research project

Students can use a K-W-L chart as a note-taking technique to prepare their research project and track progress.

Using a K-W-L chart in project-based learning and problem-solving tasks not only helps students organize their research but also encourages them to engage in higher-order thinking.

What I Know (K)

Ask them first to reflect on what knowledge and information they know in relation to a topic and how these can be used in problem-solving.

Students can identify the following information in the first column (K):

• Knowledge of the research topic;
• research techniques and strategies they think will work;
• the resources and materials to search this topic.

You can prompt their answers by posing questions or providing them with pieces of information to choose what reflects their prior knowledge.

What I Want to Know (W)

For the second column (W), students can write the questions that relate to that research topic. Then, they opt for the most relevant one to investigate in their research.

Another alternative is providing them with those questions and asking them to make their selection and justify their choice.

In the same column, students can also indicate their goals and action plan, which includes all the steps they need to go through and resources to use to conduct their research.

In addition, students monitor and track their progress along the research process, recording their achievements and learning needs to accomplish their goals.

What I Learned (L)

Here, students summarise their research findings. They also include the lessons they learned throughout the research process.

Those lessons include, for instance, the mistakes to avoid, the steps and resources that should have been undertaken and used for more reliability and time-saving, as well as the obstacles or research limitations encountered by students.

K-W-L Chart for classroom discussion

Students often resist participating in classroom discussions for various reasons. Pushing them to say a word in class might sound daunting and often ends up with the student uttering a few words just to get over the embarrassment.

But, we should never give up on encouraging students to voice out their ideas in class. Because this boosts not only their learning but also their feeling of self-confidence and self-esteem.

So, we should implement effective strategies to engage students more in classroom discussions.

For this purpose, a K-W-L chart can help because it allows students to articulate their thoughts in writing (individually or in groups). So, they’re likely to feel less tense as they have time to express themselves without being watched or interrupted by others.

You can use this chart as a starting activity for your discussion session. Students write what they already know and need to know more about the topic. Then, they share their ideas with the rest of the class.

Having the chance to read aloud their ideas can help students overcome their fear of talking in front of others, and motivate them to take part more in the discussion.

K-W-L Chart for formative assessment

A K-W-L chart can serve as a useful formative assessment tool for both teachers and students.

It allows teachers to find out about students’ prior knowledge and their needs and so gear their lessons based on that.

You can also use it to check for your students’ understanding of any lesson and compare what they need to learn and have learned at the end.

This metacognitive strategy is also a great reflective tool for students. They can use the chart in their portfolios, learning journals, or logs to self-assess their learning.

Further, a K-W-L chart is useful for peer feedback. After completing the chart, students work in pairs to share and reflect on their learning. So, they peer teach and help each other close any learning gap.

A K-W-L chart can be a great learning tool for your students and also a valuable support to attain your teaching goals. So, prepare your handouts of the chart or simply draw it on the board and involve your students in completing it. You’ll see how powerful it is!

References

Burke, E. (2005). On Target: Reading Strategies to Guide Learning Grades, 4-12. Rapid City: Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC).

Szabo, S. (2006). KWHHL: A student-driven evolution of the KWL. American Secondary Education, 34, 57–67.