Bereiter and Scardamalia (1996) argue that there is a difference between learning and knowledge building. Learning is activity directed towards improving personal knowledge. Knowledge building is trying to improve knowledge itself by considering ideas in regard to their strengths, weaknesses, applications, limitations, and potential for further development. Both learning and knowledge building are needed in schools. This paper traces the development of both in a Grade 5/6 classroom studying physical science.
Knowledge transforming discourse is central to knowledge building because it is the means through which knowledge is formed, criticized, and amended (Scardamalia, Bereiter & Lamon, 1994). In this knowledge building classroom, the capacity for transformative discourse was afforded by Knowledge Forum® and classroom processes. Our paper deals with how this class engaged in the process of articulating and changing their learning goals as they reflected on and evaluated their class' knowledge building progress. Our sources of data come from discourse in the Knowledge Forum® database and videotapes of classroom discussion. A second set of analyses designed to capture students' activity in the database used data from the Analytic Toolkit, a suite of tools designed to track each student's use of Knowledge Forum. A third set of measures came from a pretest and post-test of students' knowledge of physical science. Our results showed that students who engaged in knowledge building discourse around central features of physical science also improved their learning.
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design of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)
environments
Participation in progressive inquiry is facilitated by asking a user who is preparing a discussion message to
categorize the message by choosing a "category of inquiry scaffold" (e.g., Problem, Working theory,
Summary) corresponding to the PI-Model (based on the practices of Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1993). These scaffolds
are designed to encourage students to engage in expert-like processing of knowledge; they help to move beyond
simple question-answer discussion and elicit practices of progressive inquiry.
ther important aspect of inquiry, and a critical condition of developing conceptual
understanding, is generation of one’s own working theories — one’s conjectures, hypotheses,
theories or interpretations — for the phenomena being investigated (Carey & Smith, 1995; Perkins,
Crismond, Simmons, & Under, 1995; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1993).
Through evaluating whether and how well the working theories explain the chosen problems, the learning community
seeks to assess strengths and the weaknesses of different explanations and identify contradictory explanations,
gaps of knowledge, and limitations of the power of intuitive explanation
Progressive discourse occurs, for instance, in the sciences demonstarting both
accumulation and deepening of knowledge.
Each question opened one knowledge-buiding
thread, e.g., "How does the new information and communication technology support development of
students’ expertise in different contexts?" or "What kind of new pedagogical problems
may emerge in networked learning environments?"
Specific problems addressed included the following: 1) What is the nature of KB messages
produced by the participants? 2) How does the KB represent the model of progressive inquiry? 3) How
did the students used the scaffolds provided by the FLE-Tools?
During the
nine-week course the students posted 125 messages.
The postings to the database KB Module constitute the data analyzed in this study. The database
material was analyzed with qualitative and quantitative methods in order to evaluate the process of
knowledge advancement. The methods applied to analyzing the date aim at providing a richer view on
the content and the progression of the discussion (see Chi, 1997).
ded to elicit in-depth inquiry
The following
categories of inquiry scaffolds were also used to analyze how the students categorized their
messages: Problem, Working theory, Deepening knowledge, Comment, Metacomment, and Summary (Help has
been left out of the analysis because it was not used by the students)
To analyze the reliability of segmentation, an independent coder
classified approximately 15 percent of the messages. The inter-coder reliability was .91, indicating
that the reliability of segmentation was satisfactory.
each segment or idea was classified according to five principal
"idea categories" identified in the coding process: Problem, Working theory,
Scientific explanation, Metacomment, and Quote of another student’s idea. All of the
propositions fitted in these five categories of ideas, which were regarded to be mutually exclusive.
database was
considered to show remarkable connectedness (Hewitt, 1996).
FLE-Tools environment was
used in a pilot course to facilitate progressive inquiry in university education
The
students were asked to categorize their posting to the database by using a set of cognitive
scaffolds. However, the content analysis indicated that the students' productions often did not
correspond with the scaffold they chose. The students showed a bias for selecting a Category of
Inquiry
A thematic analysis of the discussion
suggested that a tutor's "just-in-time" participation could have significantly changed this pattern,
judging from the evaluations and reflections of the students.
First, although the
students were introduced the PI-Mode
Second, it is
possible that it is not natural for the students to partition their posting in a way that
corresponds to the given scaffolds; the students wrote rather long entries (often half a page) in
which they set up as well as explained their problems.
examination of the database
indicated that there was a substantial knowledge-management problem.
only the KB module was tested.
model of progressive inquiry
the students apparently need strong
community support that would induce them to participate and guide them in doing so
Surpassing
ourselves. An inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Chicago, IL
The design of a web-based, networked learning environment, Future Learning Environment Tools (FLE-Tools) embodies a model of progressive inquiry. In this paper, we introduce the progressive inquiry model and describe how different modules FLE-Tools are designed to facilitate participation in this kind of inquiry. Results of a pilot experiment of using FLE-Tools in higher education are presented. The study was based on an analysis of 125 messages posted by thirteen university students to the FLE-Tools database. The results indicated that the course provided positive evidence for an integration of progressive inquiry and online discussion. The pedagogical and design challenges with which we are currently struggling are discussed: the problems of creating a learning community for students collaborating at distance or managing large number of entries in FLE's database.