Egypt

Social Studies Online

It is important to identify students' prior knowledge about a topic in order to build on that knowledge rather than simply repeat it - and bore them to tears.

It is also important to identify what the students don't know in order to prepare learning activities that will enable all students to learn the content competently.

Organise the class into small groups of 3-4. Provide each group with one large (A2) sheet of newsprint and large felt pens or crayons. Each group divides the newsprint into three columns (folding will do nicely) and heads column one: What We Know; column two What We Think We know; and column three What We Want to Learn.
Tell them the topic is Egypt.

Give them five minutes (more or less) to fill in their chart. After five minutes have two groups merge and share their ideas. Bring the whole class back together and discuss their findings. It is a good idea to either collect the newsprint in and/or summarise the class's findings on an OHT or large sheet of cartridge paper (that can be on display throughout the unit) for future reference.

At the end of the topic refer back to the summary of the What We Want to Learn column and check whether or not the students' knowledge gaps have been filled.

Another version of this graphic organiser is the KWHL Chart.