<![CDATA[General Background: Reading literacy constitutes a fundamental educational priority for human resource development, yet national assessment scores frequently indicate suboptimal scholastic achievement on global scales. Specific Background: Third-grade learners specifically struggle to grasp core information, identify main ideas, and answer analytical questions regarding expository texts despite possessing basic reading fluency. Knowledge Gap: Although the Know, Want to Know, Learned (KWL) strategy is a proven metacognitive tool, previous implementations predominantly target upper elementary or secondary classes, leaving its viability for early-grade learners in the concrete operational stage largely underexplored. Aims: This quasi-experimental research analyzes the application of the KWL instructional model on third-grade reading comprehension regarding expository materials at SDN Jerukgamping. Results: Utilizing a pretest-posttest control group design with 32 participants, the experimental group demonstrated a notable progression from an initial mean score of 70 to 84, significantly outperforming the control group. Statistical testing confirmed a significance value of 0.000, validating the intervention's success. Novelty: The study uniquely adapts this active learning framework for nine-year-old learners, bridging abstract questioning with concrete expository facts to stimulate targeted curiosity. Implications: Deploying this student-centered pedagogy provides educators with an engaging mechanism to build foundational literacy, though it requires intensive instructor facilitation and extended instructional time to accommodate younger developmental needs. Highlights: The Know Want Learn model successfully guides third-grade learners through decoding factual narratives. Integrating curiosity-driven questioning significantly advances reading assessment scores compared to conventional teacher-centered methodologies. Intensive instructor facilitation ensures nine-year-olds systematically organize new information within concrete operational stages. Keywords: Expository Reading, Know Want Learn, Cognitive Development, Quasi Experimental Design, Student Centered Pedagogy]]>
