subject: What is a KWL Chart [print this page] What is a KWL Chart What is a KWL Chart
KWL stands for Know, Want and Learned respectively.
A KWL chart is an instructional reading approach so that teachers will be able to guide the students' when reading. This strategy was designed especially to allow teachers to better assist their students especially when using a textbook wherein subjects are comprehensively discussed.
Illustrated below is a KWL chart. Explained in the chart is what each column should cover. With this as your guide, you will be able to know how to read a KWL chart when it is presented to you.
K
W
L
or know
represents what you already know about a topic
or want
on the other hand, stands for what information you would want to learn, find out or discover
or learned
corresponds to what you have absorbed after reading any reference material on the topic which you wanted to learn
to accomplish this column:
reflect on the details you know about the topic
write these details that you are already aware of about the topic
to accomplish this column:
write the questions you would want to know about the topic
to accomplish this column:
write the answers to the questions in columnW
write the new details you learned while answering the questions
Here is an example of a topic discussed in a KWL chart
SUBJECT: DOLPHIN
(from Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003)
K
W
L
A dolphin is a fast-swimming aquatic mammal.
They are sleek and powerful swimmers found in all seas
Dolphins were hunted for commercial consumption in the past, although I don't know what it was for.
Dolphins have blowholes and breathe through it.
To who are they related to?
What was the reason for hunting the dolphins in the past?
I know that they have a blowhole but how do they breathe through it?
Dolphins are related to a larger aquatic mammal called whales.
There are at least 32 species of dolphins
The killer whale is classified as a dolphin despite its much greater length of 9 m (30 ft)
Dolphins were hunted especially for the small quantity of valuable oil extracted from parts of the head and used to lubricate delicate watch mechanisms.
Cheaper oils have now been found from other sources, and dolphins are no longer hunted for this reason.
As they swim they break surface about every two minutes to make a short, explosive exhalation, followed by a longer inhalation before submerging again
Dolphins are excellently streamlined and can sustain speeds of up to 30 km/h (up to 19 mph), with bursts of more than 40 km/h (more than 25 mph).
Their lungs, which are adapted to resist the physical problems created for many animals by rapid changes in pressure, enable them to dive to depths of more than 300 m (more than 1000 ft).
