Designing and Promoting Knowledge Building Trajectories through a Collective Journey of Scientific Practice

Abstract

We examined a knowledge-building environment mediated by Knowledge Forum^® (KF), enriched with a collective journey of scientific practice model designed to promote collective knowledge advancement. Thirty Grade-Five students studying Sink or Float participated in working as opportunistic groups co-designed and enacted the collective journey of knowledge building. Quantitative analyses show that students improved their contribution to collective knowledge advancement. Qualitative analysis reveals how students engaged in knowledge building using the designed collective journey involving formulating problems, generating, synthesizing, and modifying explanations, collecting evidence, making conclusions, and generating emergent questions for sustained collective knowledge advancement. This study sheds light on how the designed collective journey of scientific practice scaffolded young children to work as scientists and promote collective knowledge advancement.