Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy, And Technology - Literature review Example

?Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter (2006), have identified the function of education as to “enculturate youth into the evolving] knowledge-creating civilization and to help them find a place in it” (p.2) They (Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter, 2006) have forwarded this new paradigm pointing to the limitations of traditional educational model that stresses on “knowledge transfer” and “constructivist” approaches (p.2). To replace these two models, Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006) have offered a new “knowledge-creating” cultural model enabled by new technologies such as Internet and other interactive forums (p.2). From the perspective of this theory, Internet is viewed as “the first realistic means for students to connect with civilization-wide knowledge building and to make their class room work a part of it” (Scardamala and Bereiter, 2006, p.2). Flow of information made possible in infinite directions and negating either a top-down or bottom-up approach, (yet incorporating both), is the core characteristic of this civilisation-wide knowledge building process. Another major aspect of this knowledge paradigm, as put forth by Scardamala and Bereiter (2006), is that it is not an enterprise of any single individual but a collective process (p.2). In other words, instead of the authority-of-knowledge model, what Scardamala and Bereiter (2006) develops is an equality-in-knowledge model, made possible by a forum like Internet and a model by which a great levelling is effected between the inquiries of great scholars and novice students (p.2). Both become party to the discourse within knowledge and about it. This view of knowledge as a community or civilizational activity rather than a highly scholarly activity (limited to a few brilliant minds) leads to the conclusion that knowledge can be created in class rooms (Scardamala and Bereiter, 2006, p.4). As cited by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006), there have been many instances of new vision and new dimensions of knowledge emerging once the use of Internet was introduced into the class rooms. There have also been instances when students contributed new insights and improvements to knowledge (Scardamalia and Bereter, 2006). Improvement on existing knowledge rather than arriving at ultimate truth, becomes the key to this new paradigm (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.5). This theoretical model has also put practical know how above the traditional text book knowledge and placed “knowledge of” model above the traditional “knowledge about” model (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.9). It is the text book knowledge that imparts an individual, the knowledge about something but it is through sheer practicing that knowledge of something is acquired, according to Scardamalia and Beretier (2006, p.9). For example, the Internet and similar interactive platforms provide the students access not only to the geographical information about a place but also its pictures, videos, realistic and three dimensional google maps, socio-cultural information, and even access to the people of that locality and the people who have studied that locality. This is the essence of the “knowledge of” model (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.11). Further, the enhancement of the “knowledge of” learning system is envisaged through “problem-solving” rather than theorising and application of reason (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.11). Discourse, especially involving collaboration between many parties, has been viewed as the pathway to achieve all these (Scardamala and Bereiter, 2006, p.11). The process of “self-regulated learning” has to go hand in hand with this collaborative discourse because apart from oneself, and to a limited extent, the teacher, no other authority looks over this knowledge-making process (Scardamala and Bereiter, 2006, p.16). What started as Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments, in universities, and gradually evolved into concepts like “Knowledge Forum,” can be viewed as a practical situation where this model is applied (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.17-21). These knowledge-creation platforms make possible community-level interaction whether it be in a school or within a research community or among communities (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.17-21). To conclude, the “knowledge-building pedagogy” that emerged out of this technology-enhanced environment is student-centered, improvement- oriented, and collaborative (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.17-21). Scholars like Girvan and Savage (2010, p.3) have developed the model put forth by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006) and observed, “communal constructivism” becoming a new pedagogy in the use of computer-enhanced virtual worlds in education. They (Grivan and Savage, 2010) qualitatively analysed the data obtained from a study that involved five learner groups who interacted in virtual worlds and helped generate “chat logs, learning artefacts, post-activity semistructured interviews, and researcher's observations.” The inferences drawn from this analysis suggested that “learners collaboratively constructed knowledge for themselves as a group and for others, as the features of the pedagogy emerged” (p.3). The topic of this study, that is, the interaction and communication between students in using an online forum for achieving a particular learning task in the geography curriculum, is a perfect example of this model of knowledge-building and pedagogy. This newly designed forum can achieve a particular learning task in the geography curriculum through collaborative discourse by improving on the existing knowledge that can be assimilated in the form of prevailing knowledge-culture environment (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.17-21). Acoording to the model of Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006), the new forum can assist pupils in achieving particular learning tasks in the geography curriculum, just because it can fulfill the requirements of the basic features of this model, namely, “civilisation-wide knowledge building”, “collaboration”, and “discourse” in a technology-enhanced environment (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006, p.17-21). It is the online nature of the forum that makes this model applicable to this situation (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006). The pupils can interact with each other in a community of a particular knowledge practice and also react to the forum in terms of the content, accessibility and ability to assist and interact with each other. This is an equal, democratic platform for sharing knowledge and improving upon it. Every student involved in the endeavour is equally important because it is unpredictable who is going to find out some new information or arrive at a new idea that can contribute to the knwoledge-creation activity in its totality. As this research is focusing its attention on an online forum for female high school students in Saudi Arabia, aged between 17-18 years, this model is specially relevant. This is so because this forum can give these students, who are living in a society that imparts many restrictions on its female population, access to world-wide collaborative discourses of knowledge-building which in a traditional educational model, they cannot even dream of accessing. As the teacher will put a project for them in the forum to let them learn, share and improve upon knowledge, they will become parties in a democratic exercise of knowledge creation that negates the authoritative knowledge structure. As Zhang, Scardamalia, Reeve and Messina (2009) have suggested, this small group of students can be developed into a loosely bound network of groups in “opportunistic collaboration, with small teams forming and disbanding under the volition of community members, based on emergent goals that arose as they addressed their shared, top-level goal of refining their knowledge”, in this case, of their geography curriculum (p.7). References Girvan, C. and Savage, T. 2010. 'Identifying an appropriate pedagogy for virtual worlds: A communal constructivism case study', Computers and Education, vol.55, issue.1, pp.1-19, viewed 20 November 2012, Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. 2006. Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and technology. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, pp. 97-118, New York, Cambridge University Press. Zhang, J., Scardamalia, M., Reeve, R. and Messina, R. 2009. 'Design for collective cognitive responsibility in knowledge building communities', Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol.18, no.1., pp.7-44. Read More