Knowledge Organisers – When To Share With Students?
By Kate Jones
Implementing knowledge organisers isn’t always a straightforward process. Thought must be given to how and when they are shared with students, as Kate Jones explains.
Knowledge Organisers (KO) have become widely used as a popular classroom resource to support learning. The idea of a KO is credited to former Michaela Community School Senior Leader and English teacher Joe Kirby writing in 2015.
For anyone unfamiliar with the concept of a KO here is a description by Kirby;
“A knowledge curriculum specifies, in meticulous detail, the exact facts, dates, events, characters, concepts and precise definitions that pupils are expected to master in long term memory.” Kirby further adds; “The most powerful tool in the arsenal of the curriculum designer is the knowledge organiser. These organise all the most vital, useful and powerful knowledge on a single page.” Kirby explains that they are useful because they provide “clarity for teachers and memory for pupils”.
There has been a lot of discussion about the creation and design of a KO. This is important because the information presented on a KO must be clear, concise and comprehensible. It is essential that a KO isn’t crammed with information or contains irrelevant images as this can confuse learners. The KO must help, not hinder, teaching and learning. In addition to considering the construction of a KO, teachers should consider when to share a KO with their classes.
Kirby explained KOs are “given to all pupils at the start of each unit to help them remember what they’re learning”. This makes sense to specify the knowledge and curriculum content. However, as we know in education context is key. There can be occasions where giving a KO to students (and their parents) at the start of a unit or topic might not be appropriate.
When to give students a KO will ultimately depend on the purpose of the KO, whether it is for encoding and retrieval practice or with more of an emphasis on retrieval practice. If a KO is given to learners at the start of a topic a teacher can regularly refer to their KO in lessons. It is also possible to give a KO to your class at the end of a topic and I have outlined the key reasons below:
Learning out of context – When students are provided a KO that contains content of a whole topic, which will likely be taught over a period of time perhaps a half or full term, they are being exposed to material that they have not yet been taught by their teacher. If students take a KO home they may attempt to learn material before the teacher has taught, discussed and addressed this in class. This can lead to students developing misconceptions as the vital teacher explanation is absent.
Confusion for parents – If a KO is sent home to parents at the start of a unit, that should be explaining otherwise parents that try to discuss or quiz their child on content from the KO that may not have been taught at that point. Students can’t be quizzed on content they haven’t been taught but this could happen. Instructions can be provided on a KO or on the flip side as to when content is covered but there is limited space on a KO. If children and their families are given the KO once all content has been taught, the child will have developed a strong understanding of the content taught in the lesson and the parents/carers can quiz their child on any of the content as it has been taught and covered, therefore they should be able to answer any questions linked to the KO.
Share a KO from last term to focus on previously taught materials. A KO based on previously covered content can be used for revisiting and quizzing (either in class, independently or with family members). Retrieval tasks in class can be based on previously taught content, included in the KO and students know this and can use their KO to prepare.
Spoiler alert! By giving learners a KO at the start of a unit may spoil the learning journey. What about awe, wonder and curiosity? There may be some subjects where it is useful to share the KO during the encoding process, but this is where nuance between the different subjects must be considered. If reading and studying a story as a class, it simply wouldn’t make sense to give students a KO at the beginning which would reveal elements of the plot, this would reveal the plot!
A curiosity gap is created when there is a gap in knowledge that sparks intrigue and interest, this is like an itch that needs to be scratched to be satisfied. Teachers can create curiosity gaps in lessons. This could be reading a story with a class and stopping at a particular point leaving the lesson on a cliffhanger. Another idea could be to ask a question or pose a problem, then reveal after lunch or the following day what the correct answer or solution is. Curiosity, awe and wonder play an important role in learning and those elements can and should be planned as part of a knowledge rich curriculum.
A KO has the potential to be a fantastic resource to support teaching and learning, both inside and outside of the classroom but like most aspects in education a KO can be implemented well, or badly, so careful consideration and regular reflection are key.
5 Activities
Knowledge Organisers (KO) have grown in popularity in recent years. They have been embraced across many primary and secondary schools, across different subjects and topics. This idea is credited to teacher and leader Joe Kirby. A KO is a document that contains the core curriculum content that learners need to know. This content can range from key facts, vocabulary, events, individuals, dates and more.
The KO clearly communicates curriculum content to students, and their parents, offering support and encouraging independent study. There are many ways a KO can be used, inside and outside of the classroom, to support learning with five examples below:
- Self and pair quizzing
Retrieval practice has become established as an effective evidence-informed teaching and learning strategy to support long term memory, therefore support learning. Students can use their KO to quiz one another, asking questions based on the contents of the KO and using the KO to provide immediate feedback to one another. A KO can be used for independent study and self-quizzing, as students can create questions based on the KO to answer and then refer to the KO to self-assess, check and correct.
- Fill in the blanks
This activity is easier for the teacher to set if they created their own KO, for example if the KO was made using PowerPoint or Google Slides the KO can be duplicated and that version can have sections removed for a fill in the blanks task. The sections removed can include the definitions, so students have to write down the definitions of the key vocabulary from memory. In history, key events can be removed from a timeline on a KO for students to fill in or labels on a diagram can be erased. Key facts can be partially removed for the learner to complete. This activity can then be self-assessed as the students refer to their completed KO to once again check their answers.
- Flashcards
Flashcards are a very useful activity to support consolidation of knowledge and they can also be used to provide opportunities for retrieval practice. Flashcards can be used across all subjects with the recall of facts, dates, quotes, definitions and more. A flashcard can contain a question on one side and answer on the flip side, or key term and definition or translation on the other. Flashcards can be used independently or with someone else, as the feedback is provided on the reverse of the flashcards. They are a very simple technique for learners to use but the creation of flashcards can be a challenge.
Research has shown (Zung et al, 2023) that making your own flashcards is more effective than using premade flashcards decks. However, it is important the questions are linked to the curriculum content and are at the appropriate level of challenge. In terms of creating flashcards students are often novices and will need support and guidance to do so. A KO can offer this support, as students can transfer the information and contents from a KO to flashcards in question and answer format.
- Supporting Spellings
A KO will often contain a list of Tier Three vocabulary, subject specific key terms, that are often new to students and can be challenging to recall or spell correctly. A KO can be used in lessons for students to check spellings of key terms or used for self-quizzing spelling tests as students write down key terms and use their KO to check for accuracy. It is important for students to be regularly referring to their KO, to check spellings or facts, in contrast to the KO that is glued in the back of a book never to be viewed or used.
- Create your own KO
Students can be tasked to attempt to create their own KO, not to replace the teacher version which will have been carefully created or chosen, but instead to see how much learners can recall. This is more challenging than a ‘fill in the blanks’ task, as the KO template is empty for the students to complete! If learners are regularly using, referring to and engaging with their KO it should become a document they are very familiar with. However, we can’t assume learners know all the contents of a KO, it is important to check to find out.
A KO can be a very versatile and useful teaching and learning resource. If schools are using KOs then it is worth reflecting on how and when they are being used.
References:
Pan, S. C., Zung, I., Imundo, M. N., Zhang, X., & Qiu, Y. (2023). User-generated digital flashcards yield better learning than premade flashcards. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 12(4), 574–588.
https://pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/knowledge-organisers
You can read more articles by Kate Jones here.
