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Full-Text Articles in Education

Reading For Idea Advancement In A Grade 4 Knowledge Building Community, Jianwei Zhang Jul 2011

Reading For Idea Advancement In A Grade 4 Knowledge Building Community, Jianwei Zhang

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

This study looks into the reading practice in a Grade 4 knowledge building community that involved 22 students and a veteran teacher. The students investigated light over a threemonth period supported by Knowledge Forum, a networked collaborative knowledge-building environment. The classroom designs encouraged the students to take on high-level responsibility for advancing the community’s knowledge, as represented in their online discourse in Knowledge Forum. The tracing of student conversations in Knowledge Forum and content analysis of their portfolio notes demonstrate productive advancement of scientific understanding. Qualitative analyses of classroom videos, online discourse, and the teacher’s reflection journal characterize student reading …


Sustaining Knowledge Building As A Principle-Based Innovation At An Elementary School, Jianwei Zhang, Huang-Yao Hong, Marlene Scardamalia, Elizabeth A. Morley, Chew Teo Apr 2011

Sustaining Knowledge Building As A Principle-Based Innovation At An Elementary School, Jianwei Zhang, Huang-Yao Hong, Marlene Scardamalia, Elizabeth A. Morley, Chew Teo

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

This study explores Knowledge Building as a principle-based innovation at an elementary school and makes a case for a principle- versus procedure-based approach to educational innovation, supported by new knowledge media. Thirty-nine Knowledge Building initiatives, each focused on a curriculum theme and facilitated by nine teachers over eight years, were analyzed using measures of student discourse in a Knowledge Building environment--Knowledge Forum. Results were analyzed from the perspective of student, teacher, and principal engagement to identify conditions for Knowledge Building as a school-wide innovation. Analyses of student discourse showed interactive and complementary contributions to a community knowledge space, conceptual content …