KWL An engaging teaching method that stems from cognitive-social-constructivism

1. KWL • An engaging teaching method that stems from cognitive-social-constructivism • Works well for an introduction and extension of a topic • Requires a good amount of time! (so make sure you don’t overdo it – choose a few topics/lessons that would be best delivered through this approach) • Created by Donna Ogle (1986) • Benefits: • Prior knowledge tapped (bridging what students know with what they want to know and what they would eventually learn) • Bring all student to a relatively similar knowledge base / platform of learning • Being critical about information • Allowing students to generate questions • Students look for answers to the questions (self-generated) • Students have to verify if what they already know is valid and accurate, if not, say why or provide alternative (critical thinking) • Students get to correct each others’ knowledge base and contribute toward refining and reconstructing it • Purposeful reading and/or search of multimedia and internet materials/resources • Purposeful reading activity can culminate in purposeful group work • Generation of new ideas could lead to identification of new topics for projects and research • Students ask questions rather than the teacher doing so…!  • Collaboration as a classroom unit or small groups • Purposeful from beginning till the end of the lesson • Construction of knowledge and personal meaning – personalizing knowledge – better memory

2. Things that needs to be prepared: (e.g. lesson about “The Eiffel Tower”) • A handout on “The Eiffel Tower” – the complexity of the handout – language, length, pictures, etc. depends largely on the level of students, their language level, and attention span – a good handout is one that does not bore students and at the same time is comprehensive and interactive enough to engage students in learning (sometimes, teachers could choose to use the materials provided in the textbook or workbook) – regardless, what’s important is that the teacher spends time and intentionally chooses the material for reading and/or further research. If a teacher is ill-prepared and uses anything that comes to his mind first thing in the morning, the KWL method would prove to be disastrous! • KWL chart – this could be specially made by card sheet – has to be big enough for the whole class to view – ideally, a teacher could divide the white board into three sections and label the sections (K, W, and L). Sometimes, it also helps to use MS word table projected to a big screen – teacher could type as students provide input; this works well in a really big class…

3. The Eiffel Tower Designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the Worlds Fair, the Eiffel Tower is perhaps the most recognizable structure in the world. When the Eiffel Tower was first constructed in 1889, many in the artistic community of Paris signed petitions against “…the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.” Nature lovers worried it would disrupt the flight of birds over Paris. People claimed it could not be completed on time, or within its budget of 1.5 million dollars. Despite these early grumblings, people flocked to ride the elevator nine hundred feet up to the third level observation platform. From the platform visitors could marvel at the uninterrupted vistas of Paris from every direction. In fact, so many people visited the Eiffel Tower during its first year almost all its construction costs were covered by ticket sales. Today the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most famous landmarks of France, attracting tourists from all over the world. 1889 World's Fair The city of Paris held a competition in 1887, looking for designs for a temporary monument that would be unveiled during the 1889 Worlds Fair. The winning designer, Gustave Eiffel, designed a huge iron latticework tower as a tribute to the French Revolution. Originally the tower was slated to stand for only twenty years. Part of the rules of the design contest stated the structure could be taken down easily. However, by the twenty-year mark, in 1909, the tower was not only popular with tourists; it proved a valuable communication tool for radio broadcasting. A Modern Marvel Standing 986 feet tall, the tower is constructed of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron. Every seven years it is repainted. Three different colors are used to help give the tower a uniform look. Darker paint is used on the top, and slightly lighter paint is used on the bottom, to contrast against the lighter sky and darker ground. Because the Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its construction, Gustave Eiffel put careful consideration into how it would hold up to gusty winds. He designed the tower with open latticework of wrought iron, allowing winds to blow through the tower, rather than against it. This plan worked so well that even during the strongest winds the tower never sways more than four and half inches. A National Symbol By WWII, national pride in the monument that was once hailed as an eyesore was so great that when Paris fell to the Nazis, French rebels cut the cables to the elevator of the tower so Hitler would have to climb the stairs. When the Nazis hung their swastika flag from its summit, a determined Frenchman climbed up the tower and replaced it with the French flag. Despite poor acceptance during its first few years, the Eiffel Tower has been embraced by French citizens, and stands as one of the most recognizable structures in the world. sample

4. Teacher starts the class by saying… …students, today we are going to learn about THE EIFFEL TOWER. But instead of telling you all about it, I want us all to learn together. I am going to divide the board into three sections… the first section is entitled: “what I know?” the second section is entitled: “what I want to learn?” and the third section is labeled as: “what I have learned?”… … okay, let’s start with what we already know about THE EIFFEL TOWER. At this time, we are not worried about the accuracy or correctness of what we know. We will worry about that later – just share with everyone what you already know or what you think you know about THE EIFFEL TOWER… (note: let as many students as possible respond – do not dismiss any student’s answer – there is no need to only look for accurate information – the idea is to get everything out of students’ mind and have them express – later on the method has an inherent system of verifying all stated ideas… Teacher writes all the points by students down – teacher needs to be quick here – often, paraphrasing what students say is helpful. Sometimes, students may come up with silly points – write them down as well…! Teacher could contribute ideas as well… no harm in doing that. But don’t be fixated about correctness of facts and figures at this time!

5. After filling up the first column with all that students “claim” they know, the teacher says… “wow… look at the board… look at all that we already know about THE EIFFEL TOWER… but I am wondering if there are things that we are still wondering about… things that we still need to find out about the EIFFEL TOWER… I bet that there are many other things that we want to find out or learn more about THE EIFFEL TOWER… why don’t we write the questions that we have in our minds in the second column now…?” Teacher elicits questions from students – writes them down – from time to time, teacher needs to paraphrase student questions so that it is understandable by all – but allow students to ask questions in their own way – don’t correct them – just accept questions and put them up in the correct form (language, word use, etc.) – the idea is to get them thinking about questions – and asking them – no matter how silly they might sound and be.

6. sample

7. Once the two columns of the KWL chart have been filled with the help of the whole class, the teacher then directs the students’ attention to the next step, which is a crucial one. “we have successfully filled two columns of our KWL chart – now, we need to do the following: First, we need to verify or check if what we said we know about EIFFEL TOWER is correct… Secondly, we need to answer the questions that we have raised so that we could learn more about the EIFFEL TOWER… Thirdly, if you come across anything… anything at all other than what’s on the board, feel free to note it down too… there is no harm in learning more than we had planned” To accomplish this, I have prepared for you a special handout – read the handout – interact with it – highlight, circle, underline, etc. – read with the purposes of fulfilling the three objectives mentioned above – 1) to verify 2) to answer 3) to seek additional information Note: this kind of reading is highly motivating because students are now reading with a purpose! Variation: ask students to google “the eiffel tower” or put students in groups to research on “eiffel tower” – whichever way you choose, make sure they are purposefully trying to accomplish the three objectives mentioned above…

8. The Eiffel Tower Designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the Worlds Fair, the Eiffel Tower is perhaps the most recognizable structure in the world. When the Eiffel Tower was first constructed in 1889, many in the artistic community of Paris signed petitions against “…the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.” Nature lovers worried it would disrupt the flight of birds over Paris. People claimed it could not be completed on time, or within its budget of 1.5 million dollars. Despite these early grumblings, people flocked to ride the elevator nine hundred feet up to the third level observation platform. From the platform visitors could marvel at the uninterrupted vistas of Paris from every direction. In fact, so many people visited the Eiffel Tower during its first year almost all its construction costs were covered by ticket sales. Today the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most famous landmarks of France, attracting tourists from all over the world. 1889 World's Fair The city of Paris held a competition in 1887, looking for designs for a temporary monument that would be unveiled during the 1889 Worlds Fair. The winning designer, Gustave Eiffel, designed a huge iron latticework tower as a tribute to the French Revolution. Originally the tower was slated to stand for only twenty years. Part of the rules of the design contest stated the structure could be taken down easily. However, by the twenty-year mark, in 1909, the tower was not only popular with tourists; it proved a valuable communication tool for radio broadcasting. A Modern Marvel Standing 986 feet tall, the tower is constructed of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron. Every seven years it is repainted. Three different colors are used to help give the tower a uniform look. Darker paint is used on the top, and slightly lighter paint is used on the bottom, to contrast against the lighter sky and darker ground. Because the Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its construction, Gustave Eiffel put careful consideration into how it would hold up to gusty winds. He designed the tower with open latticework of wrought iron, allowing winds to blow through the tower, rather than against it. This plan worked so well that even during the strongest winds the tower never sways more than four and half inches. A National Symbol By WWII, national pride in the monument that was once hailed as an eyesore was so great that when Paris fell to the Nazis, French rebels cut the cables to the elevator of the tower so Hitler would have to climb the stairs. When the Nazis hung their swastika flag from its summit, a determined Frenchman climbed up the tower and replaced it with the French flag. Despite poor acceptance during its first few years, the Eiffel Tower has been embraced by French citizens, and stands as one of the most recognizable structures in the world. sample

9. sample