Support Knowledge Construction Research Articles

Peer interactions during storybook reading on children’s knowledge construction: an experimental study on K2 and K3 children

This study explored the effects of peer interactions on kindergarten children’s construction of conservation and conflict resolution knowledge during storybook reading. Previous studies have identified that peer interactions can support the meaning-making processes of children in social relationships and problem-solving, but little is known about whether the interaction with mixed-age or more competent peers is more important in supporting knowledge construction. Sixty-four younger children in K2 and older children in K3 with similar socioeconomic backgrounds were recruited from a Montessori kindergarten in Kunming, China. An experimental design was applied to explore age group and conserver dominance effects on conservation and conflict resolution. Children were assigned randomly to eight groups in three 30-to-40-min intervention sessions. Each session had a different theme for the children to learn about conservation and conflict resolution concepts and a hands-on activity to practice and discuss. ANOVAs were performed to test group effects, while multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore individual variations in age and pre-test scores in predicting post-test scores. Conservation knowledge was significantly better among children who differed in age groups in the post-test, but differences were not found in conflict resolution knowledge. Groups balanced with equal conservers and non-conservers improved the best, suggesting that peer social interactions can facilitate conservation and conflict resolution construction. These results provide new insights for early childhood educators to support peer interactions and children’s development. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.

Editorial: Concept mapping: Improving learning and understanding

Concept mapping has undergone significant evolution over the past half-century. Initially developed by Joseph Novak and his graduate students as a graphic representation to model the science understanding of elementary school students through interviews, it has now become a widely used knowledge representation tool across age groups and in a broad range of domains. Although mainly used to support meaningful learning, its application has expanded to an ever-increasing variety of applications. Those of us who have worked with concept maps for years and seen their potential continually seek to improve their use, with a focus on understanding how to construct effective maps, how the maps can support knowledge construction and learning, and how they can aid in the development of higher-order thinking skills and knowledge integration. Such improvements can come in various forms, including software tools that support these efforts. This special issue showcases a selection of papers from the 9th International Conference on Concept Mapping that aim to improve and extend the use of concept mapping to enhance learning, understanding, and knowledge construction and sharing. Each author offers a unique perspective within this common theme.

Analysis of eye movements to study drawing in the context of vector fields

Research has shown that visual representations can substantially enhance the learning and understanding of STEM concepts; despite this, students tend to struggle in using them fluently and consistently. Consequently, educators advocate for explicit instructions that support the coordination of multiple representations, especially when concepts become more abstract and complex. For recent years, the drawing (or sketching) technique has received increasing attention. Theoretical considerations and prior research suggest that drawing has the potential to support knowledge construction and to provide cognitive relief. In this article, we present two studies that investigate the impact of drawing activities in a multi-representational, instruction-based learning scenario from physics, more precisely, in the context of vector fields. Further, mobile and remote eye tracking was used to record students' gaze behavior in addition to monitoring indicators of performance and cognitive load. Here, eye movements provide information about cognitive processes during the completion of the instruction, on the one hand, and during subsequent problem solving, on the other hand. Comparisons of a treatment group instructed with drawing activities and a control group instructed without drawing activities revealed significant differences in students' perceived cognitive load (p = 0.02, d = 0.47 and p = 0.0045, d = 0.37), as well as their response accuracy (p = 0.02, d = 0.51) and their response confidence (p = 0.02, d = 0.55 and p = 0.004, d = 0.64) during assessment after instruction (N = 84). Moreover, students instructed with drawing activities were found to distribute more visual attention to important parts of the instruction (vector field diagram and instructional text, N = 32) compared to the control group and, further, showed effective, expert-like behaviors during subsequent problem solving (N = 53). Finally, as a contribution to current trends in eye-tracking research, the application of mobile and remote eye-tracking in drawing-based learning and assessment scenarios is compared and critically discussed.

Examining the interplay of knowledge construction and group-level regulation in a computer-supported collaborative learning physics task

Group-level regulation (co-regulation (CoRL) and socially shared regulation (SSRL)) supports knowledge construction (KC), but it is not yet clear how the two phenomena intertwine in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This study aims to explore how phases of CoRL and SSRL (planning, task understanding, strategy use, evaluation) occur in relation to KC in collaborative interactions. Secondary school students (N = 34) were videotaped while collaborating in groups of three to four. Their task was to create a poster about “center of gravity” using an interactive tabletop. In the analysis, video data were coded for KC phases and phases of CoRL and SSRL. Process mining was applied to visualize sequential associations between KC and regulation as process maps. This was complemented by qualitative examples illustrating these associations in interactions. Results revealed that KC and regulation manifested either simultaneously via the same talk or interaction or prompted or followed one another. Group-level regulation guided, and supported KC. Current study contributes to CSCL research by demonstrating reciprocal relationships between KC and group-level regulation and the importance of regulation for collaboration. It also provides implications for designing pedagogical tools to support regulation and KC and advancing analytical methods that enable tracking CSCL processes for its better understanding.

A framework for designing applications to support knowledge construction on learning ecosystems

We are building a society increasingly immersed in digital contexts. In this transformation process, mainly because of the daily use of technology, several contexts of our lives are changing, including education and the school itself, which have especially received IT support to be carried out in an informal and personalized way. Learning ecosystems, if properly promoted, could be a partner of this school. In this paper, we propose a Framework to support the modeling of Smart Learning Environments (SLE) capable of stimulating interactions (including location-based interactions) in the diverse ecosystems in which we participate and thus support the construction of knowledge. We also present some SLEs designed with the Framework to demonstrate the practical result of its use and others for validation purposes.

Effect of design-based learning on elementary students computational thinking skills in visual programming maker course

ABSTRACT Recently there has been a change in elementary curricula to focus on computational thinking, however, a good curriculum needs to be matched with good learning or teaching strategies. This study explores design-based learning (DBL) in elementary students to examine the development of computational thinking and to support knowledge construction in designing final products. An experimental design was used with 64 students; divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group used a DBL approach with worksheets aimed at students designing their own final product design, while the control group was taught by the traditional approach with worksheets for redoing, practicing and designing their final product. Pre and posttests were used for data collection and evaluation scheme developed to score the final product. The finding showed no significant difference in the development of computational thinking between the two groups. However, there was a significant difference in designing the final product between the two groups. Therefore, DBL supported elementary students in designing the final product although redesigning curricula by integrating both teaching methods is suggested for the greater achievement of computational thinking.

Creating the digital citizen: students’ co-construction of meaning for global citizenship during online discussions

PurposeThis study examines whether online asynchronous discussion forums support student’s meaning-making about citizenship in a globalizing world. Citizenship is an increasingly contested identity for young people, yet they have few opportunities in traditional civic education to consider their own citizenship. Although online discussions are considered effective spaces for increasing dialogue and critical thinking between diverse students, there has been little research to understand how effective they are for helping students to construct new understandings of citizenship.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis approach was used to analyze and code 89 discussion board posts. The Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) coding scheme was used to describe and analyze the quality of knowledge construction that occurred across the posts focusing on different aspects of global citizenship.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that the discussion boards produced substantive talks about the meaning of citizenship that in some instances reached the level of new knowledge construction. The students considered different meanings for global citizenship and negotiated positions on key issues. However, the highest levels of knowledge construction were rarely reached.Practical implicationsA major implication is the need to organize and cue discussion boards to support knowledge construction in addition to fostering dialogue.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the role that technology can play in supporting students’ knowledge construction about global citizenship that go beyond the scripted meanings conveyed in civics classes.

The effects of a group awareness tool on knowledge construction in computer‐supported collaborative learning

AbstractThe present study attempts to examine the effects of group awareness on knowledge construction and further surveys in what ways the different group awareness types support the collaboration in CSCL. In this quasi‐experimental study, we adopted a self‐developed group awareness tool that could display cognitive, social and behavioral group awareness in an authentic semester‐long class with 93 undergraduates involved in. Using a mixed research method, we explored the effects of group awareness on knowledge construction by comparing the characteristics and behavioral patterns of knowledge construction between GA (with the GA tool) and NA (without the GA tool) classes and further examined the different role of three group awareness types in supporting collaboration through interviews. The content analysis indicated that GA groups centered their collaboration on negotiating meaning or constructing new knowledge (C3) and conducted more higher‐level knowledge construction behaviors (C4 & C5) while in NA groups, sharing and comparing information (C1) appeared to be the most frequent behavior. The sequential analysis showed two distinctive sequential patterns, C4→C5 and C5→C4 in GA class and C2→C4 in NA class. The interview revealed that students thought cognitive and social group awareness played a major role in supporting their collaboration while unexpectedly, the behavioral group awareness was of little use. Finally, pedagogical implications were suggested. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Successful knowledge construction is regarded essential for both individuals' learning and high‐quality collaboration in CSCL. Since students collaborating in CSCL environments lack necessary perception of peers and the group, they encounter more difficulties in building new knowledge. Some researchers proposed that group awareness might be helpful for students constructing knowledge because it could provide necessary information about group members and the group needed for successful knowledge construction. However, there is little empirical study exploring the effects of group awareness on knowledge construction. What this paper adds Reveal the positive effects of group awareness on knowledge construction by comparing the characteristics and behavior patterns of knowledge construction in GA and NA classes. Indicate the distinct role the three group awareness types play in supporting knowledge construction. Unpack the mechanism of cognitive and social group awareness supporting the knowledge construction. Implications for practice and/or policy Provide a starting place for adopting group awareness to improve learners' knowledge construction in CSCL. Based on the mechanism of group awareness, it might bring new ideas to designers and teachers to develop more kinds of GA tools or to better utilize it in real class. Teachers and curriculum designers may need to design and implement instructional programs to guide students pay equal emphasis on self and group members' participation.

Exploring schemas in the Welsh curriculum: A coming to know for practitioners and children

This paper explores one child’s use of their schema to construct their knowledge and understanding within the early years curriculum for Wales – the Foundation Phase (FP). It considers how a knowledge of schemas can facilitate practitioners in supporting children along their learning continuum and inform classroom pedagogy. This paper explores and defines what schemas are and examines prior research into schemas. It examines FP practitioners’ lack of knowledge and understanding of schemas within the chosen setting, thus providing the rationale for the research. Lastly, it charts Harri’s learning journey over two terms and how a coming to know about Harri’s trajectory schema facilitated a different understanding of his actions by practitioners and helped shape classroom pedagogy. The paper highlights how an informed knowledge of schemas supported Harri’s engagement in tasks and fostered his collaboration with others. This paper is useful for policy makers, practitioners and researchers, particularly in Wales, in understanding how nurturing and nourishing a child’s schema supports knowledge construction within a play-based curriculum such as the Foundation phase.

An interaction analysis model to study knowledge construction in interprofessional education: proof of concept

ABSTRACT A goal of interprofessional clinical learning experiences is to facilitate learning through co-construction of knowledge in support of patient care. Yet, little is known about knowledge construction processes among health professions students working together to care for patients. Understanding knowledge construction processes can guide health professions educators in the design of interventions to support knowledge construction and high-quality learning in clinical placements. In this article, we describe findings from a proof of concept study that explores the feasibility and utility of using Gunawardena’s Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) to evaluate health professions students’ knowledge construction processes in clinical placements. The IAM has been used to study knowledge construction processes in computer-supported collaborative learning environments, but not in interprofessional education. The IAM describes five phases of knowledge construction – sharing/comparing; exploring dissonance; co-constructing meaning; testing; coming to agreement/applying co-constructed knowledge – each representing a progressively higher-level learning process. Application of the IAM to learner dialogue proved labor-intensive but feasible and useful as a research tool to characterize learners’ knowledge construction behaviors. Our findings suggest that the IAM warrants further study and may offer a framework to guide the design of clinical placements and analysis of interprofessional learning behaviors.

The development of an implementation framework to support knowledge construction in online networked learning

ABSTRACT A networked learning community (NLC) comprises teachers from different schools engaging collaboratively in purposeful and sustained professional learning. Networked learning entails the construction of knowledge that is new to the members of the group by tapping their collective practitioner knowledge and the public knowledge base. Members can use technology to engage in knowledge construction in a sustained NLC environment even though they may not be able to meet face to face regularly. This paper outlines the development, aided by the design-based research methodology, of an implementation framework to support knowledge construction in online collaboration groups by NLCs in Singapore. Findings from an empirical research on interactions within NLCs’ online collaboration groups and members’ perceptions of online knowledge construction informed the development of the implementation framework. Feedback obtained from a field test of the framework revealed the importance of ensuring members recognise the importance of co-owning and co-leading the knowledge construction in online collaborative environments. The framework can inform the work of NLCs, particularly in the challenging aspect of sustaining technology-supported knowledge construction that is co-led and co-facilitated by teachers.

Creating Promotion Stories with Knowledge Management Reinforced by Systems Thinking

This paper proposes a systematic approach to creating stories to promote research or business projects and examines its effectiveness through an actual story-making project. This approach can be used to create promotion stories for, not just projects, but also products or services. It originates in a knowledge construction systems methodology, whichisageneral knowledge-building methodologythat systematically supports knowledge construction from validated objective knowledge, information spreading to society, and people’s vivid inspiration. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was verified through a story creation project at a national institute in Thailand. Participants in the project, which lasted three months, and executives of the institute, were happy with the completed promotion stories. Because new ideas for promoting research or projects are often less universal, this paper provides justification principles for judging the practicability of new ideas as well as an evaluation method by people’s sensibility. These were used to evaluate the created stories and confirmed to be effective.

A Mobile Learning Module to Support Interprofessional Knowledge Construction in the Health Professions

Objective. To develop and evaluate a mobile learning module to support knowledge construction between medical and pharmacy students through structured dialogue prompts. Methods. Rheumatologists and pharmacists collaboratively developed a two-week, case-based, asynchronous interprofessional learning module that was delivered via a mobile app and focused on collaborative medication management of a complex case involving a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus. The clinical case evolved over three phases: diagnosis, initial treatment, and medication-related complications. Dialogue prompts were incorporated in each phase as a mechanism to support knowledge construction among learners. Pharmacy and medical student pairs were randomized to receive either high guidance or low guidance prompts for collaborative learning. The student pairs worked together, asynchronously, online, to develop three collaborative care plans. The evaluation of the learning module to support knowledge construction included: analysis of text-based dialogue coded for knowledge construction phases; the accuracy and completeness of the three collaborative care plans; and quantitative and qualitative participant feedback. Results. Sixteen pairs of medical and pharmacy students (n=32) participated. Pairs who received high guidance engaged in all phases of knowledge construction more often than pairs who received low guidance. Guidance phase did not differentially impact collaborative care plan scores. Ninety-eight percent of students agreed or strongly agreed that the module improved their clinical reasoning, interprofessional communication, and knowledge of systemic lupus erythematosus. Conclusion. The knowledge construction framework can guide the design and evaluation of educational interventions such as a mobile learning module to support knowledge construction among health professionals.

Students' engagement in asynchronous online discussion: The relationship between cognitive presence, learner prominence, and academic performance

The growth of online learning environments entails understanding of how to promote collaborative knowledge construction processes and create learning environments that support meaningful student engagement and interactions. Asynchronous online discussion forums are intended to support knowledge construction and higher-order thinking and are becoming even more appealing for their predictive relationship with learning. This paper describes a study that explored the complex dynamics of knowledge construction in pre-service teacher education through examining student teachers' cognitive presence in online discussion forums and their academic performance. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that certain levels of cognitive presence were associated with students' academic performance. In addition, network analysis of discussion forums revealed that student centrality within their learning networks moderated the association between the highest level of cognitive presence and academic performance. The paper concludes with discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Elective Educational Unit: International Exchange Experience in Undergraduate Medical Training

ABSTRACT As part of the integrated curriculum, the Elective Educational Unity (EEU) is a tool to support knowledge construction and student autonomy during undergraduate training. The international exchange for undergraduates therefore aims to explore potentialities and challenges within a pedagogical perspective through the experience and understanding ofdiverse educational institutions and health services, through prolonged contact with other professionals and students. One constructive strategy of an elective internship is in conjunction with student associations. This report intends to contribute to medical education by reflecting on how the international elective internship impacts on medical training, analysing its potentialities and challenges. The reportaddresses the steps in accomplishing the exchange, presenting the activities developed in the experience, highlightingthe observed objectives and results, along with reflections on the experience. It is ascertained that the international exchange stimulates the experience, recognition and understanding of other cultures; it helps students build autonomy and stimulates a critical reflexive view which promotes knowledge construction, raising the student’s awareness of his own social responsibility as a health professional. Therefore, the Elective Educational Unit encourages the student to elect the exchange as a curricular activity, it supports him on choosing a study area and international or national institution of interest, with the option to liaise with other organizations, for example the student organization. Unquestionably, personal growth is one of the consequences through learning about diversecultures and making new friendships and partnerships between different countries. However, there are challenges, such as adaptation to another cultural context, affective detachment and the understanding that different places have distinct historical, social, economic contexts from one another. Thus, advances and changes are proposed to improve the Elective Educational Unit, stimulating greater student participation in international experiences during undergraduate training, as well as underlining the importance of the supervisor’s role in the elective planning process.

Supporting knowledge construction in elementary engineering design

AbstractEngineering design learning experiences are increasingly offered as part of elementary school, but research on how to support young learners’ knowledge construction during classroom engineering is still preliminary. Questions remain about how classroom supports can make engineering thinking visible so that students build engineering knowledge along with engineering products. We report results from a case study of an 11‐day teaching experiment in two elementary classrooms. With the classroom teachers, we guided fourth and fifth graders to document their design iterations with a digital notebooking tool, participate in whole‐class design talks, and create and exhibit posters with “stomp rocket” design recommendations. We conducted a microethnographic analysis of students’ interactions with these notebooking, talk, and poster tools. Our findings characterize how students constructed engineering design knowledge through the discourse of sense‐making about rocket phenomena, decision‐making for specific rocket iterations, and representation‐making for external audiences. These results have implications for elementary engineering instruction: it appears productive for learning to structure whole‐class design talks around representations of sequences of prototypes over time, rather than focusing only on current or best physical prototypes, and to structure engineering curriculum units so that they culminate with student‐generated sets of design recommendations, rather than single design solutions.

Translation among modes of representation by pre-service physics teacher on magnetic force on particle concept

In the 21st century, communication skills are the core of some competences required in a globalized world. Communication skills encompass the ability to speak and write confidently and to handle complex multi-modes information. For effective teaching a teacher need to be highly skilled in all these generic skills areas. In physics, more than only one representational format is often used to convey information and support knowledge construction. Pre-service physics teachers often find these use of representations both verbal and visual, and the translation between them difficult. This study was aimed at investigating translation among modes of representation skills of the pre-service physics teachers. The study involved 36 pre-service physics teachers. A test was constructed to measure their skills in translation among modes of representation. In this test, pre-service physics teachers were asked to explain concept in magnetic force on a particle. This finding support the necessity of developing skill of pre-service physics teachers in translation among modes of representation as a part of communication skills.

Effective principles of informal online learning design: A theory-building metasynthesis of qualitative research

Informal online learning is the unstructured learning that happens in daily life while people are accessing the internet. Research on the use and design of interactive Web 2.0 platforms for informal learning is minimal, and often platform-specific. This theory-building metasynthesis aims to identify what is known about how informal online learning can be effectively designed outside a formal online course structure. The study reviewed 22 articles that investigated learning that happened primarily online, was self-directed in nature, and had a primarily adult audience. The author brought together the findings of these individual studies to identified two effective principles of informal online learning design that research dissemination organizations can utilize when developing online outreach education programs for adult audiences: (a) interaction opportunities support knowledge construction and learner empowerment; and (b) segmented, titled, and tagged learning objects facilitate personalized learning. The principles identified in this study not only describe what is known about how adults learn informally online, but also provide the common language and goals to frame the interdisciplinary collaboration likely necessary to employ them.

How Success Versus Failure Cases Support Knowledge Construction in Collaborative Problem-Solving

Theorists suggest that collaboration is a key aspect in online, inquiry-based learning. However, research finds that meaningful interaction is challenging, and learners struggle to sustain interaction. One way to scaffold collaborative problem-solving is through case libraries; however, few studies have explored how the type of experience depicted in a case library (success and failure) catalyzes learning. To address this gap, this study explored how the presence of success versus failure case libraries supports learning in terms of understanding of the problem space, conceptual space, knowledge construction convergence, and social network interaction. Results found no differences between conditions when discussing the problem space. However, results found that the failure group outperformed the success condition in terms of conceptual space, knowledge construction convergence, and social network interaction. As it relates to scaffolding using case-based reasoning theory and failure-driven memory theory, the failure cases helped to scaffold learners understanding of the broader conceptual space, knowledge construction, and learner–learner interaction. Additional implications for inquiry-based learning and scaffolding using case-based reasoning theory and failure-driven memory theory are provided.

How do social network sites support product users’ knowledge construction? A study of LinkedIn

PurposeSocial network sites are emerging as a popular communication tool for knowledge sharing and construction. LinkedIn, which concentrates on professional networking, is reported to generate great informational benefits to its users. The purpose of this paper is to explore product users’ knowledge construction in solving technical problems on LinkedIn, which was chosen as a case example.Design/methodology/approachDiscussion threads with rich knowledge elements were selected from an interest group about solving technical problems with laptops. Adopting a qualitative content analysis method, selected threads were analysed with a prior analysis framework built in the context of traditional IT company sponsored peer user support forums.FindingsThe analysis revealed that the iterative and progressive knowledge construction process and associated trial-and-error strategy used on LinkedIn are similar to those found in peer support forums. However, LinkedIn members are more engaged in knowledge construction episodes. Meanwhile, the sub-category “proposing a new idea” accounts for a larger portion of discussions reflecting the high-level of expertise. One-to-one direct interaction is quite salient. Therefore, LinkedIn can support knowledge construction in a more efficient way due to the character of its social capital, including trust, sense of belonging, norms of cooperation, visible identity, knowledge articulation skills, one-to-one direct interaction and suitable strength of ties.Originality/valueThis research is novel in empirically revealing how LinkedIn attributes and its social capital attributes interact with each other and together facilitate an efficient knowledge construction process.