 | | KWL activity in Math |
Socializing Inteligence: KWL Project
Teachers at LEAP use an instructional technique known as K-W-L, created by Ogle (1986) in their classrooms. Teachers activate students' prior knowledge by asking them what they already Know; then students (collaborating as a classroom unit or within small groups) set goals specifying what they Want to learn; and after reading and thinking students discuss what they have Learned. This is an opportunity for students to apply higher-order thinking strategies which help them construct meaning from what they read and help them monitor their progress toward their goals.
KWL Description:
 | | Student working on KWL table |
Our Wh-Q project last year focused on helping students to understand different types of Wh-Questions, to formulate questions, and to correctly respond to questions. Building on that success, the team wanted to focus on enabling students to question to learn across disciplines this year. Specifically we wanted to help students develop 1) the ability to ask questions when they are confused or when they are not comprehending the materials or the instruction, 2) the ability to ask questions in order to get information; and 3) the ability to ask questions to solve problems. We identified the K-W-L (known/Want-to-Know/Learned) as a school-wide technique that would provide a clear framework for teachers at LEAP to regularly engage their students in developing the language  | | KWL |
competency of formulating questions, and in developing the disposition and the skill of questioning to learn.
When teachers incorporate KWL in their teaching, they engage students, first, in articulating what they have already known about the topic to activate background knowledge, second, in asking questions about the topics on things that they want to learn about the topic, and third, in reflecting upon what they have learned at the end of the lesson or unit.
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Geometry_KWL__Activity.doc
The Octagon Problem
