Progressive Education Series, presents the content of Professional Learning Workshops conducted by me on specific themes for the benefit of teachers. Here is the one on KWL charts titled, "Are KWL Charts Still Relevant in the Twenty-First Century?"

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Focus:
Twenty First
Century
Learning
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Dr. Renuka Rajasekaran
PhD (Chemistry); PhD (Education); PhD (Educational Leadership)
Educator, Luella High School, Locust Grove, GA – 30248
Renuka.Rajasekaran@henry.k12.ga.us
The encouragement of the following educator
leaders is gratefully acknowledged:
Dr. Dennis Carpenter, Superintendent, Hickman
Mills C1 School District, Kansas City, MO 64138.
Dr. Pulliam Davis, Superintendent, Greene County
Schools, Greensboro, GA – 30248.
Mr. Gabrielle Burnette, Principal, Sharp Learning
Center, Covington, GA – 30248.
Mr. Jerry D. Smith Jr., Principal, Luella High School,
Locust Grove, GA – 30248.
Content in this Presentation
Section 1: Birth and Growth of the KWL Chart
Section 2: Middle School and High School Students’
Perception about the KWL Chart
Section 3: Teachers’ Perception about the KWL Chart
Section 4: College Students’ Perception about the KWL
Chart
Section 5: KWL Charts – How Far and How Fair?
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KWL Charts became quickly popular and teachers
across the globe started to us this graphic
organizer liberally and with great interest.
KLEW charts were created; the E
stands for Evidence and W
represents Wonderment [3];
here L represents what is being
Learned. 2006
Doubtless, there was uncontested appreciation
and fillip for the use of KWL charts. In fact, the
KWL charts have gone through several stages of
metamorphosis (Figure 1) in their growth cycle.
Figure 1. Improvisation made to the KWL charts
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KWL (Know-Want-Learned) Charts have been
originally introduced three decades ago [1] as
diagnostic assessment tools to ascertain what
was learned out of what was intended to have
been learned and what the learner likes to learn
going forward.
Some of the advantages of KWL chart , which
make it so popular are:
1. The simplicity of its design
2. It can be used by learners of all ages and grade
levels
3. It is quick to generate a lot of data.
KLW charts were created;
W represents Further
Wanderings [1] 1986
KLEHW charts were created; the
H stands for the How the
Learning would be done [4]2009
KWHLAQ charts were created;
the A stands for the Actions to be
taken; Q stands for Questions
that we have [5] 2011
KWLS charts were created; the S
stands for the Scientific Principles
[5] 2015
KWFLSD charts s were
created; the F stands for the
‘how to find”; S stands for
“how to share”; D stands for
“what to do next.” [7] 2015
KWLS chart was replaced by THC chart
[7] where T stands for Thinking; H stands
for How to find out; and C stands for
how to Conclude 2004 [2]
Section 1. Birth and Growth of the KWL Chart
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Figure 2 presents some of the expressions made
by students from high school and upper middle
school settings. . Each of these statements
deserve our attention because students are the
primary users of the KWL.
I do not see the purpose here;
how would I know what I want to
learn – when I am still yet not
finished learning about it.
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Students’ perception about the KWL charts reveal
that they are not pleased with the KWL chart for
routine learning in the classroom
This is a burden on the students
Putting your thoughts into words
and writing is time consuming
“Writing is hard – we hate to
write”
Section 2. Middle School and High School Students’
Perception about the KWL Chart
Why should I have to know how
to find the learning material -
should it not be provided to me?
What are the teachers getting
out of this?– why do they ask us
to do this?
When I do not even know how far I
should learn about what I am to
learn – how can I say, what I know,
what I want to learn, etc.?
Many a times, this work is not graded –
sometimes, “yes” – but every body gets the same
grade whether are not you wrote something. Why
should I ever care to respond to a KWL chart? –
Why should I be wasting my time and effort?
Figure 2. High School and Upper Middle School Students’ Perception about the Use of KWL Chart
KWL chart may work for
some subjects but not for
all. Math and Sciences are
hard for KWL charts. Even
the improvised versions
are not really handy.
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More arbitrary words and
phrases are used by kids that
make the measurement
difficult.
Figure 3. Middle School and High School Teachers’ Perception about KWL Chart.
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Students use this as fun to write
libel and or profanity, including
cursing the teacher.
Grading is hard because it is
difficult to create a rubric. Mere
participation grade dilutes the
significance of the whole
exercise.
This is time intensive – we do not
have time available for this
exercise in our available
instruction time.
There is no return on the
investment that both
students and teachers
make in KWL charts
Students do not take KWL charts seriously.
Section 3. Teachers’ Perception about the KWL Chart
Data generated are not relevant and are
not useful to make any educational
decision for the students or for the
teachers or schools.
High School and Middle School Teachers’
perception (figure 2) about the KWL charts reveal
that they are also not pleased with the KWL chart
for routine application in the classroom
It is very hard to apply KWL
charts to complex subjects like
Mathematics, Chemistry, or
Human Anatomy, and Physiology,
which involve innumerable
concepts to be learns.
The improvisations made to KWL
charts are not truly providing any
improvement.
KWL charts are no way useful for
students with special needs and
exceptions.
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Figure 2 presents some of the expressions made
by students from high school and upper middle
school settings. . Each of these statements
deserve our attention because students are the
primary users of the KWL.
This helps as a roadmap in your
learning journey
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College students’ perception (Figure 4) about the
KWL charts reveal that they are pleased with the
KWL chart and find it useful for several of their
routine activities both in academic and
nonacademic settings.
This is a good approach to review
before the test
You need to have the maturity to
use and benefit from the chart
You need to have a lot of
discipline to develop and follow
up with the chart.
Section 4. College Students’ Perception about the KWL Chart
I use this for my labs. It helps me
to keep track of everything from
materials and methods to my
completing the report.
My research supervisor and I
share this all the time.
This helps me to pace with my
professor because I use KWL as a
bridge between my course syllabus
and my professor’s coverage of the
content.
I use this extensively in my outreach and
volunteer activities. This is a real handy tool –
once you know how to stick to it.
Figure 4. College Students’ Perception about the Use of KWL Chart. Students from undergraduate
to Post-Doc level have been interviewed for this purpose.
I did not quite like it in the
school – when you are a
baby you cannot really
use this.
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DFormative assessments can be made out of KWL
charts if they are accompanied by a blue print of
criterion referenced questions constructed in the
format of Aristotle’s famous four questions:
(1) When we have ascertained the thing’s
existence, (2) We inquire in its nature, (3) When
we know the fact, (4) we ask the reason
The KWL chart has been
originally designed for Reading
and Comprehension and its
intended use was self-evaluation
of the learner in the Reading
task. Trying to fit the KWL chart
for other learning tasks need not
yield good results.
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With the input from students and teachers, let us
see what we can do with the KWL chart to make
them relevant in the 21st century. The power are KWL charts can be embraced by
teachers in their curriculum, unit, and lesson planning
Since the KWL chart works
well with adults, at the
high school level, it may it
may be found useful by
seniors to some extent.
Section 5. KWL Charts – How Far and How Fair?
With Lab Safety becoming a big issue in schools, at
the middle school and at the high school level
classes, KWL chart can be used for lab sessions.
Teachers can prior-prepare a KWL chart (in the form
of FAQs) for each lab and walk the students through
the KWL chart before the start of the lab activity.
KWL charts are not good assessment tools either for
learning or of learning, as they cannot guide learners to
the depth of knowledge levels. They cannot substitute
Formative Assessment Tools.
KWL charts may be found useful in
tracking work in Project Based Learning
to track the progress in the light of the
Rubric or Timed Schedule.
KWL charts may be found
useful in helping students to
gain the twenty-first century
skills and can be used
effectively in advisement
sessions.
Figure 5. Going Forward, these facts can be borne in mind when using the KWL charts.
For KWL charts to yield relevant and
useful data, for self-evaluation in
advisement sessions, purposes,
students need to be guided by
purposeful questions for them to fill
out the KWL chart.
KWL chart seems to be a
Learning Task Organization/
Management Tool than a
Learning Tool; therefore we
need to harness its power
in the correct perspective
and context.
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8. REFERENCES
[1] Ogle, D.M. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of
expository text. Reading Teacher, 39, 564–570.
[2] David T. Crowther and John Cannon (2004).
http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=49675
[3] Kimber Hershberger, Carla Zembal-Saul, and Mary L. Starr (2006).
http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=51519.
[4] Instructional strategies online. (2009); http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/kwl/
[5] Silvia Tolisano, http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/07/21/upgrade-your-kwl-chart-to-
the-21st-century/
[6] | Hershberger, Kimber; Zembal-Saul, Carla, Science and Children, February 1,
2015 | Copyright; https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-401214906.html
[7] Reem Faukry, https://www.readorium.com/2015/09/inquiry-based-learning-and-the-
kwl-chart/
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