Draft - to appear in Science & Education The Knowledge Creation Metaphor – An Emergent Epistemological Approach to Learning Sami Paavola & Kai Hakkarainen University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: sami.paavola at helsinki.fi, kai.hakkarainen at helsinki.fi Abstract: We argue that beyond metaphors, according to which learning is a process of knowl- edge acquisition by individual learners (a “monological”approach) or participation to social in- teraction (a “dialogical” approach), one should distinguish a “ trialogical” approach, i.e., learning as a process of knowledge creation which concentrates on mediated processes where common objects of activity are developed collaboratively. The third metaphor helps us to elicit and under- stand processes of knowledge advancement that are important in a knowledge society. We re- view three approaches to knowledge-creation, i.e., Bereiter's knowledge-building, Engeström's expansive learning, and Nonaka and Takeuchi's organizational knowledge-creation. We give a concise analysis of the trialogical character of the knowledge-creation approach, and illustrate how the third metaphor may be applied at the school level.