K-W-L (Know, Want to Know, Learned)

ARTICLE SECTIONS

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Description
Purpose
How to use the K-W-L strategy
Example

Description
K-W-L (Ogle, 1986) is an instructional reading strategy that is used to guide students through a
text. Students begin by brainstorming everything they Know about a topic. This information is
recorded in the K column of a K-W-L chart. Students then generate a list of questions about what
they Want to Know about the topic. These questions are listed in the W column of the chart.
During or after reading, students answer the questions that are in the W column. This new
information that they have Learned is recorded in the L column of the K-W-L chart.

Purpose
The K-W-L strategy serves several purposes:
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Elicits students prior knowledge of the topic of the text.

Sets a purpose for reading.

Helps students to monitor their comprehension.

How to use the K-W-L strategy

1.

2.

Choose a text. This strategy works best with expository texts.

Create a K-W-L chart. The teacher should create a chart on the blackboard or on an
overhead transparency. In addition, the students should have their own chart on which to record
information. (Below is an example of a K-W-L chart.)
K

3.
4.

Ask students to brainstorm words, terms, or phrases they associate with a topic.The
teacher and students record these associations in the K column of their charts. This is done until
students run out of ideas.
K COLUMN SUGGESTIONS

Have questions ready to help students brainstorm their ideas.

Sometimes students need more prompting than, Tell me everything you know

about _____, to get them started.

Encourage students to explain their associations. This is
especially important for those associations that are vague or unusual. Ask,
What made you think of that?

Ask students what they want to learn about the topic. The teacher and students record these
questions in the W column of their charts. This is done until students run out of ideas for questions. If
students respond with statements, turn them into questions before recording them in the W column.
W COLUMN SUGGESTIONS

Ask an alternative question for generating ideas for the W

column. If, in response to What do you want to learn about this topic? your
students are either having trouble coming up with ideas, or are saying,
nothing, try asking one of the following questions instead:
What do you think you will learn about this topic from the text you will be
reading?
Choose an idea from the K column and ask, What would you like to learn
more about this idea?
Come prepared with your own questions to add to the W
column. You might want students to focus on ideas in the text on which the
students questions are not likely to focus them. Be sure not too add too many
of your own questions, however. The majority of the questions in the W column
should be student-generated.

5.

Have students read the text and fill out the L column of their charts. Students should look
for the answers to the questions in their W column. Students can fill out their L columns either
during or after reading.
L COLUMN SUGGESTIONS

In addition to answering the W column questions, encourage

students to write in the L column anything they found especially interesting. To
distinguish between the answers to their questions and the ideas they found
interesting, have students code the information in their L columns. For
example, they can put a check mark next to the information that answers
questions from the K column. And they can put a star next to ideas that they
found interesting.
Have students consult other resources to find out the answers
to questions that were not answered in the text. (It is unlikely that all of the
students questions in the W column will be answered by the text.)

6.

Discuss the information that students recorded in the L column.

Ogle, D.M. 1986. K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository
text. Reading Teacher 39: 564-570.

Example

Following is an example of a completed K-W-L chart that students might complete if they were
reading a text about gravity.
Topic: GRAVITY
K

It keeps us
What is gravity?
from floating
around.
It makes
things fall.

Gravity is the force that pulls

objects towards Earth.

Why is there less gravity The amount of gravity there is

on the moon?
depends on the masses of the
objects involved. The moon is a
lot less massive than the earth, so
there is less gravity on the moon
than there is on earth.

How did Newton

There is less discover gravity?
gravity on the
moon.
What determines how
Isaac Newton fast something will fall to Air resistance determines how
discovered
the ground? (teacher
fast something will fall to the
gravity.
question)
ground.

* The students question about Newton was not answered in the text. Students should be
encouraged to consult other sources to find out the answer to this question.