KWL

KWL

My class was filling out a KWL chart, an organizing strategy to help students learn. K stands for “What I Know,” W for “What I Want to Learn,” and L stands for “What I Learned” after studying. Our subject was frogs and toads. My students knew a lot. Frogs live in water; toads live on land. Frogs and toads eggs become tadpoles. Both eat insects. Some hibernate. 

One student raised her hand. Confidently she stated, “Toads give you warts.” Gently, I told her that this wasn’t true. She held firm. I added her statement to our chart hoping that she would later change her opinion. She was stuck in the “What I Know” step of learning. Would she ever get to the “What I Learned” step?

Today, many of us seem to be stuck in the same place as my student. We know what we know and we won’t budge no matter what evidence is presented. We refuse to consider any new information which challenges our position or opinion. This is especially true when we choose political positions or candidates or evaluate new scientific information. We stake out our position and stick to it. 

Obstinacy can be dangerous. In 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis observed that women who were assisted in giving birth by a doctor died from a puerperal infection at three times the rate than women assisted by midwives. He deduced that doctors, who performed autopsies while midwives did not, were bringing infection into the ward. He suggested hand-washing before attending new mothers. His ideas were rejected and he lost his job. Mothers continued to die.

In 1869, Joseph Lister, postulating that infection was carried from patient to patient, was mocked when he proposed sterilizing hands and instruments before surgery. Thousands died including an American president whose physician refused to wash his hands before probing the bullet wound James Garfield suffered in an assassination attempt. Garfield died from an infection, not the bullet wound.

The obstinacy of physicians stuck in the “What I Know” step of learning caused thousands to die unnecessarily. Today, Semmelweis is known as the “savior of mothers.” Lister is called the “father of modern surgery.” After doctors adopted antiseptic practices infection rates dropped dramatically. 

My student eventually changed her mind about toads and warts. After we did some research, she became fascinated by frogs and toads. No more worries about warts. After seeing the positive effects of hand-washing, nineteenth-century doctors became more open to research which reinvigorated the study of medicine. New treatments save thousands every year. 

Entrenched beliefs keep us from learning. Only when we are willing to ask questions, do some research, listen to the opinions of others, investigate new ideas, and reconsider our own opinions can we learn. What great things might happen when we all “Want to Know”? 

All three parts of a KWL chart are important. To move from “What I Know” to “What I Learned” one must “Want to Know.”