Knowledge Building in Classrooms:Ideas at the Center

Mary Lamon

Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology (IKIT)OISE/University of Toronto

Knowledge Building in Classrooms:Ideas at the Center

Mary Lamon

Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology (IKIT)OISE/University of Toronto

Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology

We are an international group (19 countries)

• cognitive and computer scientists • educational researchers • educators at all levels• students from Grade 1 to university • community organizations (hospitals)• businesses

We are designing and researching an approach to teaching and

learning that is changing classrooms from a place where the focus is on

tasks and activities to a place where ideas are at the center. In these

kinds of classrooms a revolution in education is happening.

Scardamalia

Scardamalia

Knowledge Building

Social Transformation

Technological Transformation

Knowledge Forum®

• A social activity whose object is the creation of knowledge.

• There is a focus on idea improvement - when faced with a problem of understanding students go deeper using all available resources.

• There is both a personal and collective responsibility for advancing a community’s knowledge.

Knowledge Building

Knowledge Forum supports a culture for creative work with ideas.

• Students construct their own database as they tackle real ideas and authentic (to the learners) problems

• Knowledge building dialogue in the database encourages students to reflect on their theories, explanations and accounts.

• Peer feedback leads to revisions in writing thereby increasing literacy.

CSILE (computer supported intentional learning environments)

Knowledge Forum®

Students collaborating on ideas takes them into realms that adults find amazing.

Improvable Ideas

There is a focus on idea improvement - when faced with a problem of understanding students go

deeper using all available resources.

A side effect of knowledge building is an increase in literacy

(reading, writing, technology)

Through knowledge building discourse, students bring in their own ideas. As they do so they need to find how their ideas fit with other ideas (peers,

teachers, authoritative sources).

Peer Feedback

Students Teaching Researchers

Grade 9

Grade 5

Epistemic Agency

The great challenge is for teachers to turn executive processes over to learners (e.g.,goals for learning, identifying difficult to understand problems, monitoring progress).

“Common fears for teachers,especially Grade 9 teachers, are that they are too immature, they can't handle this, I can't leave them alone, what happens if they do it at home. So what! Technology and using it to think should be more of a focus in the new curriculum. We as teachers must break down our own barriers to technology. I really don't think it is the students who need much work with new models of learning; it's the teachers. So how do we do this? I think that's the interesting part.”

Sue Wilkins,Secondary School Teacher

Alex, Grade 9 student

Research ResultsResearch Results

• Standardized test scores in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling

• Ability to read difficult texts

• Quality of questions and comments

• Depth of explanation

• Graphical literacy

• Conceptual change

• Portfolio commentaries

• Collaborative processes

• Inquiry processes

• Standardized test scores in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling

• Ability to read difficult texts

• Quality of questions and comments

• Depth of explanation

• Graphical literacy

• Conceptual change

• Portfolio commentaries

• Collaborative processes

• Inquiry processes

HTTP://IKIT.ORG

Annual Knowledge Building Summer InstituteAugust 10-13, 2004 Toronto, Canada

This work is supported by a grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council:

Innovations for the New Economy