Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP): Designs for Deep Understanding

Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP): Designs for Deep

UnderstandingThérèse Laferrière, Christian Perreault, Pier-Ann Boutin, Christine Hamel,Laval University, Quebec, CanadaNancy Law & Johnny Yuen, University of Hong Kong, Hong KongMireia Montané, Collegi de Llicenciats, Barcelona, Catalonia, SpainOscar Hernandez Lopez, University IberoAmericana, Puebla, MexicoPere Boluda, Escola Sant Pau, Tarragona, Catalonia, SpainMarta Blancafort, Escola Projecte, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Blended sessionOnline participants

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2010-2011 Edition: Focus onwater quality, a sustainability issue

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Background

The Knowledge-building International Project (KBIP) provides an opportunity for teachers 1) to engage school learners in collaborative

inquiries on sustainable development issues under the guidance of the KB principles and the support of Knowledge Forum

2) to codesign classroom-based knowledge-building communities; and

3) to foster deep understanding of problems.

Design Research

University-school partnerships have been at the basis of this innovation. In three out of four partnerships, the local government has also played an important role.

The Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP) is an outgrowth of the Knowledge Society Network (KSN). The idea was born during the Knowledge Building Summer Institute 2007, the annual face-to-face meeting of the KSN members.

Design Research

The summer institutes that followed were critical for renewing the commitment toward the project, identifying gains, making adjustments, and planning next iterations. Changes were made to the local/international socio-technical designs on the basis of emerging results.

Changes primarily regarded the teaching of the knowledge building principles (timing and feedback to teachers), the matching of classrooms, and the management of databases.

Design Research informed by the KB

principles Democratizing knowledge

Community knowledge/collective responsibilityReal ideas/authentic problemsImprovable ideasIdea diversityEpistemic agencyConstructive use of authoritative sourcesKnowledge building discourseRise aboveSymmetric knowledge advancePervasive knowledge buildingEmbedded, concurrent, transformative assessment

Participants

Sites Students Teachers

Schoolprincipals

Ministrypersonnel

Graduatestudents

Universityresearchers

Catalonia 525 22 11 3 1 2

Hong Kong 350 13 2 1 4 3

Quebec 350 20 4 1 4 3

Puebla 150 5 2 - - 2

Catalonia, Spain COMconèixer

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http://www.xtec.cat/ofinternacional/COMconeixer/

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LIVE

KBIP in Hong Kong:KB without boundaries

KBTN Project Team

History

HK KB Teacher Network established since 2006KBIP students & teacher collaborations has been

practiced ever since!Past topics for KBIP collaboration…

Local ecologyWater qualityProblems of the earthLittle inventors/professorsLocal Culture, Festivals

2007

2008 Tomorrow’s Innovators@IKIT-SI

2009 Tomorrow’s Innovators IKIT-SI@Majorca

Shatin Tsung Tsin School & Beijing Zhongguancun No. 1 PrimaryKB: Empowering Millennium Kids

Mexico

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Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla,

México

KBIPDesigns for

Deep Understanding

Puebla: • 150 Students: 2

schools • (H.S. 120 Puebla,

30 Tlaxcala)• 5 teachers:

• 3 Puebla, 2 Tlaxcala

• 2 Univ. Researchers: O. H y A. D.KF: Web based

collaborative platform for extending and deeping classroom discourse. Scaffolds to support writtten discourseAnalytical measures

Use of Knowledge Forum Software

Multi-user web based videoconferencing system (VIA)Videoconferences with teachers and students from

Catalonia, Quebec and other countries.

•Twelve Knowledge Building Principles

Emerging Knowledge Building communities to focus on specific questions of collective interest.

Deep understanding

Pervasive knowledge

It is not easy to engage teachers and students in KB projects as part of curriculum

Discurse ‡ Actions

Meaning of wordsScafolds in spanish:

Categoría Andamio (Scafold)Compilación de N. Resumen Incremental (R.A)

Compromiso epistémico ‡ Gestión epistémica (epistemic agency)

Anyway we have had rich experiencesColaborative learning

Extended learning community

Deep understanding

Extended to other teachers/levels/schoolsUIA-P uebla/UABarcelona Primary schools in S.L.P. Col. San

Francisco Javier/Quebec/Catalonia

¡

¡Thanks!

Colombia

Québec, Canada

Remote Networked Schools (RNS) &

PROTIC

PROTIC Students learn in a 1-1 laptop

environment.

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Objective of the PROTIC program

Description How participation in KBIP helps to achieve the objectives of PROTIC

Entrepreneurial culture Developing entrepreneurial skills (motivation, team work etc.) to promote the development of active citizens

Students take ownership of research. They work in teams to deepen their understanding of research questions.

Technological culture Youth are active and experienced users of technology

Students use videoconferencing, online forums and the internet.

Language skills Oral and written communication in English and French

Students present their findings at international meetings in English and French.

Exposure to the world Curriculum that introduces students to all aspects of society (social sciences, natural sciences, arts)

Students collaborate with peers in other countries. They understand their research topics from various international perspectives.

Students’ Research Questions

1. How does the pH level in the water of the St. Lawrence River affect the biodiversity level in the area?

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2. Why are there more fish on the south shore of the St. Lawrence river in Quebec compared to the north shore?

Example of a student’s contribution

in the KFExample of student note in KF with types

of contribution highlighted

( inference, synthesis etc.)

inference synthesis of learning

Next steps KBIP allowed PROTIC students to deepen

their understanding of sustainable development problems while developing their

language skills, technological skills, citizenship skills and entrepreneurial skills.

Moving forward, the project aims to allow students to continue their process of collaborative inquiry, deepening their

understanding of new research questions and improving their quality of explanations.

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KBIP in Quebec, Canadahttp://kbip.fse.ulaval.ca

A RNS classroom and one from Burkina Faso

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Monitoring the authentic questioning process and the level

of explanation

Data analysisKBIP Quebec 2009-

2011

Data 2009-2010, 2010-2011

2009-2010 2010-2011 Total

Contributions 664 952 1616

Questions 88 205 293

Explications 576 747 1323

2009-2010

Use of scaffolds

Depth of explanation in KF discourse as evidence of depth of understanding

Grid inspired by Hakkarainen (2003), Chan & co, 2007,

Deep understanding as measured by depth of

explanation

Deep understanding

Cognitive and conversational analyses conducted by Turcotte, Hamel and Laferrière (2011) revealed that students who wrote better explanations on the Knowledge Forum scored higher on post-activity interviews even when they scored lower on the pre-activity interviews. Active use (1 hour a day) produced the greatest improvement of student explanation skills, and that confirmed teachers’ impressions and field observations.

Coordination and support

Since Fall 2007, graduate students and professor Laferrière have participated in the coordination of university-school partnerships (the drivers of innovation).

We use email (Google Groups discussion/email system) and videoconferencing (iVisit, Via and Skype) to communicate with teachers on a regular basis.

Different modes of organization of the KF spaces between participant classes were explored over the years with the aim of satisfying the needs of the classes and facilitating collaboration between groups by making each class’ discourse visible to other classes.

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Coordination and support

We adopted progressively a national database for all the participants in Quebec – thus breaking the barriers of the school boards’ databases. Teachers were invited to join it, but it was not mandatory. In 2010-2011, almost all classes worked in the (inter)national database.

Since French is the primary language, we provide support for translation to English, Italian and Spanish, when needed (no Cantonese so far!).

In 2010-2011, the task was divided among 2 graduate students for the 2 levels of coordination : national and international.

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THANK YOU!

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