Fostering knowledge building using concurrent, embedded and transformative assessment for high-and low-achieving students

Abstract

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the roles of knowledge building principles and portfolios as scaffolds in fostering collaboration for students of different achievement levels. Students assessed their contribution in Knowledge Forum™ using rubrics and they wrote electronic portfolios and group reviews to assess both individual and community progress. We used a 2 × 2 design (knowledge-building principles × achievement) with four classes of 9th grade students (n = 141) working on Knowledge Forum. We obtained the following results: (1) Students scaffolded with knowledge-building principles showed more participation and conceptual understanding than students working on Knowledge Forum with no principles; the effects were more pronounced for low-achievers compared to high-achievers, (2) Students' portfolio scores predicted domain understanding over and above the effects of academic achievement, and (3) Analyses of knowledge-building discourse and portfolios showed how students made progress in their collective knowledge advances.