Pieces of Knowledge: connectivist maps as allies of language learning

Abstract

Connections have been present in society since the beginning of time, and these possibilities allow knowledge among people to be perfected and taught to others in order to constitute a continuous learning network. In this context, there are several approaches that are commonly used, such as flashcards and learning maps. Under this scenario, this article demonstrates how a virtual learning environment constituted in the light of Connectivist and Activity Theories can help in the process of understanding a foreign language. In this environment, teachers and students build a map with interconnected contents, which can be: hypertexts, hypertext flashcards and links - called Piece of Knowledge - PoK, constituting pieces of knowledge about one (or several) theme(s). In addition, the environment provides forums and a different way of viewing the map in groups, where each student has their own vision, being able to suggest modifications to the map of other colleagues. In this sense, the present work demonstrates the theoretical foundation of this environment, as well as a study developed with secondary school students where the use of the environment in an activity of the English language discipline was analyzed.