Culture as a tool: facilitating knowledge construction in the context of a learning community

Abstract

Knowledge construction is regarded as an effective learning model in practice. When more and more learning communities are organized to promote knowledge construction, it is necessary to know how to use different tools to support knowledge construction in the learning community context. In the literature, few researchers discuss how to construct knowledge with such tools in the contexts of learning communities. The purpose of this project is to explore how culture as a tool supports knowledge construction in the context of the Zhabei Learning Community in Shanghai, China. Social constructionism and the cultural diamond are employed as devices to frame the study. Some of the conclusions are influenced by postmodernism. Data from five learning cells indicate that culture is a bridge that connects multiple knowledge creators together; culture is a prop which transfers knowledge to a variety of receivers; culture is a lubricant nurturing an open learning environment; and culture is used as a toolkit to compose the new knowledge product.