5.12 K-W-L-S

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We teachers are a wise and creative group of professionals, and we have the wisdom to identify effective teaching techniques and the creativity to modify these techniques to fit different situations. Combining the K-W-L-S technique with CL is a result of such a wise and creative process. Here is the story.

The original technique was K-W-L, which stands for “Know,” “Want to know,” and “Learned.” “Know” means what students already know about a topic, such as Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). “Want to know” means what else students want to know about what makes cities and communities more sustainable. After students have read, viewed, and/or discussed SDG 11, in the ‘Learned’ step, they share what they learned about that topic. Thus, K and W take place before studying, and L takes place after studying.

Of course, learning is a lifelong process, and we will always enjoy the urge to learn more and to use what we learn to help others and ourselves. To encourage this spirit of lifelong learning, S was added to K-W-L to create K-W-L-S, with the S standing for “Still want to know.”

Originally, K-W-L-S was designed to be taught by teachers, with students working alone—which is useful in some instances. However, at other times, students benefit from collaboration with their peers. Fortunately, it is easy to convert K-W-L-S into a CL-based lesson, and here are one set of possible steps.

Step 1: Students in groups of 3 have one K-W-L-S chart per group. A sample chart is pictured below. Group members will take turns after each letter (K, W, L, and S) to input what the group has said into the K-W-L-S table.

 

K-W-L-S Table on __(topic)_____________________

What We KNOW

What We WANT to Know

What We LEARNED

What We STILL Want to Learn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: The groups write their topic in the blank field above the table. Next, they discuss what they already know about the topic and how they know it. For example, maybe they learned it from a textbook, documentary film, a website, or personal experiences. Then, students write what they know in the ‘Know’ column of the table.

Step 3: The groups discuss what they want to know and why they want to know it. The ‘Want to know’ points go into the second column.

Step 4: After the class has studied the topic, groups write in the L and S columns. For the L column, they also discuss how they learned this information, and for the S column, they discuss how they might learn what they still want to know.

Variations

  • The class can add a U column to the K-W-L-S table. The U stands for “Use,” that is, how they can use the information that the Know or Learned.
  • To encourage equal opportunity to participate, each group member can have a different color to write with in the table. For instance, one student can have a pencil, one a black pen, and one a blue pen. Their table should have a roughly equal distribution of colors.
  • Using something like Everyone Can Explain – Mobile (see above), a member of each group can share their group’s K-W-L-S table with another group.

 

Reflective Break

Could you use a process similar to K-W-L-S in your own learning journey as a teacher? What might you learn about?

 

Sample Response

I Know that AI is important in Education and so many other areas in life. So, I Want to know more about how to use AI in my teaching and elsewhere in my life. To Learn more, I am taking a course on ChatGPT soon. However, more developments are certain to occur in AI. Thus, there will be much that I will Still want to know.


Last modified: Thursday, 6 March 2025, 6:56 AM