Teaching for Empowerment: Creative Use of Student-Generated Knowledge to Enrich Learning

Shuang Wang

doi:10.4236/ce.2021.124065

Abstract

This paper will use the approaches and practices adopted by Dr. Aihe Wang, Honorary Associate Professor from School of Chinese at HKU, to illustrate how a student-generated knowledge project empowered students to grow into producers of knowledge by developing them as partners during the implementation process. This project provides an opportunity for students to co-construct an online database of oral history testimonies. To prepare, undertake, analyze, and document their oral history interviews, students need to be actively engaged in reading, researching, asking, discussing, interpreting and writing. At the final stage of the project, each student generates a one-page archive, and all participants co-construct an online oral history archive. Through this case study, I seek to demonstrate how this project enhances students’ critical thinking abilities and empowers students to be knowledge producers for a student-built oral history online archive. This study also attempts to address the active role of teachers in this learning process. Teachers should actively adjust teaching methodology based on students’ difficulties and provide support to help students develop deeper levels of thinking.

Highlights

Empowering students to be independent and critical thinkers is considered one of the most important educational goals of higher education
This paper will use the approaches and practices adopted by Dr Aihe Wang, Honorary Associate Professor from School of Chinese at HKU, to illustrate how a student-generated knowledge project empowered students to grow into producers of knowledge by developing them as partners during the implementation process
Scholarship shows that critical thinking skills are enhanced when students become active in their learning process (Walker, 2003; Kusumoto, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Empowering students to be independent and critical thinkers is considered one of the most important educational goals of higher education In a traditional history lecture, the professor delivers a carefully crafted lecture to a large body of students who passively receive information In this way of transmitting knowledge, students are passive recipients absorbing knowledge from their teacher. In this type of education, as Marton and Säljö (1976) pointed out, students engage in surface-level processing, passively memorizing and reproducing information They are not empowered to think critically or contribute knowledge. This article will use the practices adopted by Dr Aihe Wang, Honorary Associate Professor from School of Chinese, The University of Hong Kong, to demonstrate how this student-teacher partnership can be useful in enhancing students’ critical thinking abilities and empowers them to be knowledge-makers.

Student-Generated Knowledge

Preparing for the Project

Implementation of the Project

Conclusion