Activate Prior Knowledge and Promote Curiosity with a KWL Activity
You can't build something on nothing. In education, like construction, a sound foundation is important.
When introducing a lesson, it is important to activate prior knowledge that students already have. Perhaps they know something about the US Constitution or the play Romeo and Juliet.
Students also need to promote their own curiosity. Questioning leads to more learning than answering. If your students learn to question, they will learn.
Both of these things - activating prior knowledge and promoting curiosity - can be accomplished with a KWL (Know-Want-Learn) activity.
What is KWL (Know-Want-Learn)?
The method consists of three steps.
First, students identify what they already know. They should be given a short period of time - 1 to 2 minutes - to jot down anything they know about a subject. Students should share this information and record it on the board.
Next, students should discuss what they want to learn. Go around the room and allow students to pose any questions relevant to the topic. These questions become goals and objectives for the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, students should consider the question, "What have I learned?" This concluding activity gives students a chance to re-organize and cement the knowledge that they've gained in an activity.
How to Do It?
The format is fairly simple - but there are several ways to do this.
The most basic way to do a KWL is collectively on the board. Students identify their prior knowledge and the teacher writes it on the board. Students generate questions and the teacher writes it on the board. At the end, students discuss what they have learned and the teacher writes it on the board.
One of the goals of KWL is to allow students to direct the learning process. It makes sense, then, to allow students to direct the KWL activity as well.
One way to do that is through individual graphic organizers or foldables.
Create an organizer with three sections. One section corresponds to the question, "What do I already know?" A second section corresponds to the question, "What do I want to know?" The final section corresponds to the question, "What have I learned?"
This allows for instant differentiation. Each student can create their own KWL - identifying their own knowledge and setting their own learning goals. It would still be wise to share and record some responses on the board, but each student would retain his or her individual organizer.
Purposes and Advantages
This method has several uses and advantages.
It allows students to build off of prior knowledge. By identifying and activating prior knowledge - such as every day knowledge of the government - students are activating their schema and preparing to add new things. This foundation is important.
It allows students to drive the learning process. The second step, "What do I want to learn?" is crucial. This takes the power out of the teachers hands and places it with the students. They decide the appropriate learning outcomes.
It comes with a built in assessment tool. If students can answer the final question - "What have I learned?" - then they have learned something. By making this response correspond to the second step - "What do I want to know?" - you validate the learning process and prove that the activity is in line with your objective.
KWL is a quick and simple activity. It is perfect for introducing new topics and finishing old ones. Give it a try and let your students have a hand in guiding the learning process.
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