Supporting the Implementation of the Knowledge Building Communities Model: Analysis of Principle-Based Study Group Interactions

• In Event: Designs for Learning and Practice

Abstract

In a recent article in the Journal of the Learning Sciences Zhang and his colleagues (2011) reported on a laboratory school that has been highly successful at implementing the learning sciences derived principles-based Knowledge Building Communities model. Key elements reported in the Zhang article were support for teacher risk taking and regular teacher meetings to discuss their implementation approaches. However how the principles are incorporated into the meetings and how they coordinate with teacher risk taking was unclear. This paper seeks to extend this work by examining the discourse patterns of principle-based study groups at a laboratory school and in two separate public schools. The perspective is that these meetings represent a channel for tunneling the innovation into these schools.

Author

• Richard J. Reeve, Queen's University