“Designing Knowledge Building

Communities in secondary schools” research project 2012-2013

I’ve treated this presentation as a ‘knowledge object’ and tweaked it to suit my context – Madeline Campbell, Westland High School, Hokitika

madelinecampbell@westlandhigh.school.nz

Originally by Kwok-Wing Lai (in charge of project)

University of Otago College of Education wing.lai@otago.ac.nz

Methodology Teachers will use the knowledge building pedagogy and Knowledge Forum to teach selected topics. Class and online observations will be conducted. Online discussion notes portfolios will be collected. Teachers and students will be interviewed. Participation data will be collected.

Data Collection The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) will be administered to collect data on creativity, skills of learning how to learn, and collaborative learning skills. Analysis Content analysis on the discussion notes and portfolios, social network analysis of the participation data, document analysis, thematic analysis of the interview transcripts, and statistical analyses on the ELLI data will be conducted.

Why is this research important?

New Zealand is shifting from an industrial society to a knowledge society, and there is an urgent need to develop young people’s competency to work creatively and innovatively with knowledge. This research will provide evidence of how this can be effectively done in secondary schools. Jane Gilbert (NZCER) has been working extensively to investigate how the shift to a knowledge society impacts education in NZ.

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Information and communication technology has the potential to support students to acquire the metacognitive, problem solving, collaborative, and ‘learning how to learn’ skills that are required to work with and create knowledge in the knowledge society. One of the very few technology-supported learning environments that is based on a well-designed pedagogical model i s “knowledge bui ld ing communities”. The goal of knowledge building is “the production and continual improvement of ideas of value to a community” (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003, p.1370) and is based on the premise that all students can create authentic knowledge work and advance communal knowledge in their classes, similar to what research and science communities do.

In a knowledge building community, students use Knowledge Forum, a Web-based networking software system designed to support knowledge building discussions with a set of scaffolding tools. Knowledge building communities have been systematically researched internationally and have demonstrated success in enhancing students’ knowledge building competency.  

NZ secondary school knowledge building research project 2012-2013 aims…

✺  The roles of teachers and the strategies they use to support students’ advancement of knowledge.

✺  The effects of the knowledge building community on the change of students’ domain knowledge, ‘collaborative learning skills’, skills of ‘learning how to learn’, and ‘dispositions as a lifelong knowledge builder’.

✺  How to develop a knowledge building culture in secondary

schools.

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(Image from TIME, December18, 2006)

The Knowledge Society…

✺  Emergence of globalisation & the knowledge economy

✺  Knowledge, not capital or labour, is the driver of economic growth

✺ Global workers have to be able to adapt to

technological innovations - the “mind workers”

✺  “A knowledge-based economy relies primarily on the use of ideas…and on the application of technology” (The World Bank, 2003, p.xvii)

(Image from TIME, December18, 2006)

The Knowledge Society…

✺  Students should not reproduce knowledge, but “actively interact with it: to understand, critique, manipulate, create, and transform it”

(R. Bolstad & J. Gilbert, 2008, p.39)

✺  New Zealand students are to acquire the competency of becoming “competent thinkers and problem solvers, [that] actively seek, use, and create knowledge”

(New Zealand Curriculum, 2007)

(Image from TIME, December18, 2006)

The Knowledge Society…

Workers in the 21st Century are “global trade literate, sensitive to foreign cultures, conversant in different languages” (Eskew, CEO of UPS, Dec 2006)

Teaching & learning in 2020…

✺  Ability to communicate orally at a high level ✺  Be reliable, punctual & show perseverance ✺ Work with others in a team ✺  Evaluate information critically ✺ Manage own learning ✺  Develop effective learning habits ✺ Work independently ✺  Be able to investigate problems & find solutions ✺  Be resilient ✺  Be creative, inventive, enterprising & entrepreneurial

(UK Department for Education and Skills, 2006)

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What is knowledge building?

✺  The goal of knowledge building is “the production

and continual improvement of ideas of value to a community” (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003, p.1370)

✺  The role of the teacher is to guide learners to “engage in extended questioning and explanation-driven inquiry” (So, Seah, & Toh-Heng, 2010, p. 480).

What is knowledge building?

✺  In Knowledge Building learners work in a

community (in groups). They investigate a topic, ask questions, conduct research (readings, experiments, etc) & assess their progress.

✺  Learners engage in online discussions to share, critique, build-on, and synthesize ideas that are new to their community.

✺  Personal and communal knowledge is advanced.

✺  Learners use a software called Knowledge Forum to support Knowledge Building.

Can learners create knowledge?

✺  Real ideas but not copied ideas

✺  Solutions to authentic problems useful to their community

✺  Knowledge that can create further knowledge

✺  Knowledge building as ‘theory building’

Twelve pedagogical principles of knowledge building…

Real ideas, authentic problems Democratising knowledge

Improvable ideas Symmetric knowledge advancement

Idea diversity Pervasive knowledge building

Rise above Constructive uses of authoritative sources

Epistemic agency Knowledge building discourse

Community knowledge, collective responsibility

Concurrent, embedded, and transformative assessment

How do you contribute to knowledge building?

Develop the three A attitude:  ✺  All ideas are acceptable ✺  All ideas are improvable ✺  All ideas become “knowledge objects” that

belong to the knowledge community (Fong, 2010)

How do you contribute to knowledge building?

Use the “PQP” system: �   

✺  “Praise” – state what you think is a good idea, a helpful piece of information, or a point you agree with

✺  “Question” – ask a question that will prompt you and the others to think deeper about the issue, or a question to help clarify a point

✺  “Propose” – suggest a new idea, new information, new strategy, or new approach to solve your current problem of understanding

(Fong, 2010)

How do you contribute to knowledge building?

Ask good questions:

✺  Big ideas – questions embedded with a number of concepts related to the curriculum

✺  Authentic and related to real life ✺  Interesting ✺  Broad, ill-structured, multifaceted ✺  Avoid descriptive or factual information, or questions

with a simple answer (Chan, 2010)

How do you contribute to knowledge building?

Understand the nature of text-based communication: ✺  Lack of contextual cues ✺  Absence of various communicative cues – auditory,

visual, kinaesthetic, olfactory ✺ Communication has to be explicit to avoid

misunderstanding ✺  A public forum - a complete record of everything ✺  Flaming - argumentative, outspoken, increased group

conflict ✺ Conversational form of writing - continually responsive -

somewhere between spoken dialogue & written interaction