Knowledge Creation in Education


Book Description

This book arises from research conducted through Singapore’s National Institute of Education on such topics as integrating knowledge building pedagogies into Singaporean classrooms, with both students and teachers across school levels, from primary schools to high schools. Additionally, international scholars contribute research on theories of knowledge creation, methodological foundations of research on knowledge creation, knowledge creation pedagogies in classrooms and knowledge creation work involving educators. The book is organized in two sections. Section A focuses on theoretical, technological and methodological issues, where sources of justification for claims are predominantly theories and extant literature, although empirical evidence is used extensively in one chapter. Section B reports knowledge creation practices in schools, with teachers, students or both; the key sources of justification for claims are predominantly empirical evidence and narratives of experience The editor asserts that schools should focus on developing students’ capacity and disposition in knowledge creation work; at the same time, leaders and teachers alike should continue to develop their professional knowledge as a community. In the knowledge building vernacular, the chapters are knowledge artifacts – artifacts that not only document the findings of the editors and authors, but that also mediate future advancement in this area of research work. The ultimate aim of the book is to inspire new ideas, and to illuminate the path for researchers of similar interest in knowledge creation in education.




Collaborative Knowledge Creation


Book Description

This book presents perspectives on the knowledge creation metaphor of learning, and elaborates the trialogical approach to learning. The knowledge creation metaphor differs from both the acquisition and the participation metaphors. In a nutshell trialogical approaches seek to engage learners in joint work with shared objects and artefacts mediated by collaboration technology. The theoretical underpinnings stem from different origins, including Bereiter and Scardamalia’s theory on knowledge building and Engeström’s activity theory. The authors in this collection introduce key concepts and techniques, explain tools designed and developed to support knowledge creation, and report results from case studies in specific contexts. The book chapters integrate theoretical, methodological, empirical and technological research, to elaborate the empirical findings and to explain the design of the knowledge creation tools. The target audiences for this book are researchers, teachers and Human Resource developers interested in new perspectives on collaborative learning, technology-mediated knowledge creation, and applications of this in their own settings, for higher education, teacher training and workplace learning. The book is the result of joint efforts from many contributors who took part in the Knowledge-practices Laboratory (KP-Lab) project (2006-2011) supported by EU FP6.




Conversational Learning


Book Description

They shift the emphasis from the more common prescriptive techniques that are essentially insensitive to different contexts, attitudes, and beliefs, and instead elaborate a theory of learning that is more social and interactive.




Learning Spaces: Creating Opportunities For Knowledge Creation In Academic Life


Book Description

This book sets out to (re)capture learning spaces within academic life. By challenging the notion that academic thinking must take place in cramped, busy working spaces, it re-introduces the reader to the importance of spaces for reflecting, thinking and writing.




Social Knowledge Creation in the Humanities


Book Description

"Social media has transformed the ways new knowledge is understood to be created, validated, and reviewed in every academic field of study. In the humanities, Social Knowledge Creation has helped define how social media platforms and other collaborative spaces have shaped humanistic critique in the 21st century"--




Universities as Centres of Research and Knowledge Creation: An Endangered Species?


Book Description

This book primarily addresses the variety and gaps in higher education across the globe, concentrating on the challenges to transitional and developing countries. It addresses the related issues of research capacity, research productivity, and research relevance and utility.




Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation


Book Description

'. . . my opinion is that this book not only presents a wide and complete report of an extensive research effort, but also opens new directions for future research advancements in this field, that is very relevant both from theoretical considerations and policy-making implications.' Education Economics 'This book is the first work that brings together comprehensive evidence on research and education activities conducted in European universities. The volume is both timely (current discussion on the European Research Area is based on very poor quality comparative evidence) and important for scholars, practitioners, policymakers and students. It provides a critical assessment of the availability and use of inputoutput data and indicators to measure and map European higher education systems. At a time when universities are being asked to play an increasing number of roles, this book represents a foundation on which scholars and policymakers can start to develop the harmonised statistical infrastructure needed to evaluate, assess and support European universities in their changing roles.' Aldo Geuna, University of Sussex, UK Although the role of universities in the knowledge society is increasingly significant, there remains a severe lack of systematic quantitative evidence at the micro-level, with virtually all policy discussion based on country level statistics or case studies. This book redresses the balance by examining original data from universities in six European countries Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. The authors provide micro-based evidence on the evolution of the strategic profile of universities in terms of scientific research, contract research, education and the third mission. The result is a highly innovative book that combines detailed national case studies and comparative institutional analyses with state-of-the-art quantitative techniques. Applying for the first time new generations of nonparametric efficiency measures on a large scale, Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduate students in higher education, economics of science and technology, and innovation studies. It will also appeal to policymakers and administrators in governments, ministries and universities.




Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge


Book Description

This fully revised and updated edition of Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge recognizes that the future of economic well being in today's knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators. Novak’s pioneering theory of education presented in the first edition remains viable and useful. This new edition updates his theory for meaningful learning and autonomous knowledge building along with tools to make it operational ─ that is, concept maps, created with the use of CMapTools and the V diagram. The theory is easy to put into practice, since it includes resources to facilitate the process, especially concept maps, now optimised by CMapTools software. CMapTools software is highly intuitive and easy to use. People who have until now been reluctant to use the new technologies in their professional lives are will find this book particularly helpful. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge is essential reading for educators at all levels and corporate managers who seek to enhance worker productivity.




Achievement and Inclusion in Schools


Book Description

Thoroughly updated to reflect the challenges of diversity in today’s schools, this new edition of Achievement and Inclusion in Schools shows how high levels of inclusion can be entirely compatible with high levels of achievement and that combining the two is not only possible but also essential if all students are to have the opportunity to participate fully in education. Each chapter has been fully revised to reflect an understanding of inclusion as being concerned with the learning and participation of everyone in a changing education policy context. Based on new case study research, this edition sets out to answer the following questions: Are there strategies which can raise the achievement of all students, while safeguarding the inclusion of others who are more vulnerable? How can schools ensure high levels of inclusion as well as high levels of achievement for everyone? How might research into these matters be carried out? With new case studies in this second edition that reflect the devolution of education policy in the four countries of the UK, this book addresses concerns about how schools can respond to differences between learners without marginalising some of them. It offers guidance to practitioners as well as those undertaking research on this important topic.




Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age


Book Description

In this book, Carl Bereiter--a distinguished and well-known cognitive, educational psychologist--presents what he calls "a new way of thinking about knowledge and the mind." He argues that in today's Knowledge Age, education's conceptual tools are inadequate to address the pressing educational challenges and opportunities of the times. Two things are required: first, to replace the mind-as-container metaphor with one that envisions a mind capable of sustaining knowledgeable, intelligent behavior without actually containing stored beliefs; second, to recognize a fundamental difference between knowledge building and learning--both of which are essential parts of education for the knowledge age. Connectionism in cognitive science addresses the first need; certain developments in post-positivist epistemology address the second. The author explores both the theoretical bases and the practical educational implications of this radical change in viewpoint. The book draws on current new ways of thinking about knowledge and mind, including information processing, cognitive psychology, situated cognition, constructivism, social constructivism, and connectionism, but does not adhere strictly to any "camp." Above all, the author is concerned with developing a way of thinking about the mind that can usher education into the knowledge age. This book is intended as a starting point.