Knowledge building

Abstract: Despite knowledge building as an educational approach advocated in classroom innovations, little attention has been paid to professional development regarding how to develop teachers to understand and to engage in such innovations. This paper reports on an ongoing 2-year research into teacher development in knowledge creation work adopting principle-based design approach under a framework of Principles-Collaboration-Reflection-Practice. A variety of data sources were drawn from a group of 9 teachers, including teacher interviews, reflective notes and artifacts, video clips on classroom discourse, reflective journals and discourse on knowledge forum – a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Data analysis focuses on how principle-based approach worked on knowledge building practice in teacher development. The research findings show that the principle-based approach was conducive to teachers’ changes in conceptions of principle-based understanding, and changes in their knowledge building practice, which reflected in changes in collective knowledge advances in classroom.

Abstract: This study is designed to investigate the impact of teacher experience and teacher cognition on teacher questioning in the framework of Knowledge Building (KB) pedagogy. We already know that it is teachers who ask most questions in a classroom, and the majority of their questions have little impact on learning as they focus on classroom management ( Almeida, 2010 ; G. Brown & Wragg, 1993 ; Floyd, 1960 ; Hogan & Gopinathan, 2008 ; Kerry, 2002 ) . However, there is relatively little research done to find out how inquiry-based and dialogic classroom discourse would influence a teacher’s approach to use questioning strategies. I this paper we present a research project that was conducted in a Singapore primary school and argue that teaching experience has a powerful influence on the questioning teachers use in their classrooms. Furthermore, the implementation of Knowledge Building pedagogy has a positive impact on teacher questioning and contributes to creating an effective learning environment. Normal 0 false false false EN-SG ZH-CN X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-SG; mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;}

Abstract: Intended for educators working within a prescribed curriculum, this article demonstrates how student engagement and success are achieved using an inquiry approach and integrating the curriculum. Alison outlines how she initially planned for this outcome by selecting four questions that were provided for the Toronto District School Board’s Teaching and Learning Critical Pathways for Literacy. She then documents the children’s responses throughout the inquiry to assess their understanding. Subquestions, rich narrative stories, and knowledge building were used to support the children’s learning in a deeper context. Ultimately, the children with the most challenges in reading and writing were able to demonstrate their knowledge using a variety of assessment forms that included oral responses, visual arts, science journals, and technology.