Knowledge construction in collaborative enquiry among teachers1

Abstract

In this article knowledge productivity, a process that creates conceptual artifacts, is used as a way to investigate the outcomes of collaborative and enquiry‐oriented activity by teaching professionals. It is an outcome of the motivation to learn (self‐regulation) in that it studies the issues from different professional perspectives (reflection on action) while aiming towards the construction of new knowledge and understanding (conceptual change). A team approach was used in order to examine how teachers working together as a team could become knowledge‐productive learners in their work environment. In three different cases the outcomes of the study team process were evaluated against three different criteria of knowledge productivity: (a) improving knowledge and understanding; (b) shifting individual perspectives; (c) achieving commitment to the outcomes for professional practice. Process accounts and retrospective evaluations by the three study teams themselves were the basis for judging evidence of knowledge productivity. The approach has revealed insights into ways in which the teachers accepted the study team’s (collaborative) outcomes, especially their initial (un)easiness for sharing existing knowledge and their (un)certainties about practicing the results of their collaborative enquiry.