Engineering Commons^™

Using Knowledge Building To Support Deep Learning, Collaboration And Innovation In Engineering Education, Glenn W. Ellis, Alan N. Rudnitsky, Mary A. Moriarty

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Knowledge building is a potentially transformative approach to engineering education. In knowledge building students participate in an interactive discourse in which they work together to broaden ideas, reform problems and share knowledge - the result being a deeper level of understanding and the collaborative production of new knowledge. In 2009 we conducted a knowledge building pilot study in the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College. In this study students worked together to formulate a question about the potential for a conscious machine and then engaged in an intensive knowledge building discourse. Assessment data showing the effectiveness of the approach and …