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The Teacher's Role in Designing and Orchestrating a Knowledge Community and Inquiry Curriculum

Fri, April 5, 12:00 to 1:30pm, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Floor: 800 Level, Room 801B

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this study was to use the KCI pedagogical model (Slotta, J.D., & Peters, 2008) to design and orchestrate a 12th grade high school health science course where students worked for a semester developing knowledge and performing rich inquiry projects. These inquiry activities were designed to address content expectations and accommodate the community’s “voice”. The study reports on the role of the teacher during orchestration and the “in-the-moment” decisions made while using the KCI approach to teaching and learning.

Theoretical Framework
The role of the teacher in a constructivist classroom is to promote student-centered, discovery-based, self-directed learning and encourage social interaction with peers. Social interactions help foster communities within which knowledge is constructed. In active learning communities learners engage in scaffolded activities that allow them to assimilate and accommodate new concepts by negotiating, explaining and consolidating with other members (Bielaczyc & Collins, 1999).

Methods
Design-Based Research (DBR) offers a model for the design and testing of innovations within an authentic classroom context. (Cobb et al., 2003; O’Neill, 2012). This study included data from two iterations of the five month health science curriculum. Action Research was conducted as the teacher was also the researcher, the student context was the classroom and the findings are public and accessible beyond the immediate community. (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009).

Data Sources and Results
The data for this study included formal student feedback, student focus groups and interviews that capture student perspectives of the learning community experience. Student artifacts were created in Google Docs and allowed for easy creation of a structured, editable knowledge base with authoring permissions, student comments and other features. student artifact

Scholarly Significance
This study identifies “the in-the-moment decisions” that a teacher made during the orchestration of KCI and is helpful to teachers designing and implementing KCI curriculum. This research also contributes to the development of technologies for learning communities.

Author