Image from http://www.freeimages.co.uk
Recently I wanted to revisit a library book I had borrowed a long time ago. Not thinking I would use the book again, I had kept no information about it. A technique called KWL saved the day.
I’ll start with the K, what I already knew about the book. I could only remember that:
- The book concerned adult education
- The book focused on Switzerland
- The author’s last name began with a D
- The book had an orange cover
Let’s move to the W, what I wanted to know. In this case I wanted to know the author and/or title. An URSUS keyword search for “adult education” yielded too many hits. When I added “Switzerland” as a search term, though, I had a more manageable list.
From there we get to the L, what I learned. I recognized the author’s name, Pierre Dominicé. An author search yielded the title Learning from our Lives, the one I was seeking.
Ogle (2009) gives a better description of KWL than I just did (She would, as she developed the technique.), and she suggests alternative techniques. I’m also using KWL for a very basic question. All the same I’m glad to illustrate it in action.
References
Dominicé, P. (2000). Learning from our lives: Using educational biographies with adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ogle, D. (2009). Creating contexts for inquiry: From KWL to PRC2. Knowledge Quest, 38(1), 56-61.
P.S. The Lewiston copy of Learning from our Lives does indeed have an orange cover.