The roles of knowledge in knowledge creation

Abstract

Reading comprehension research of the 1970s established that prior world knowledge is a determiner of the acquisition of new knowledge, mainly by providing schemas into which new information may be entered. This should clearly apply to students creating knowledge by building on their existing knowledge and on knowledge gained from other sources. In addition, researchers on Knowledge Building have identified other kinds of knowledge useful in knowledge building, including knowledge of promisingness, knowledge about knowledge (epistemology), principled procedural knowledge, and knowledge about external expectations (such as curriculum standards and tests). This symposium brings together researchers who have studied various roles of knowledge in knowledge building, with the goal of at least organizing the distinct views but if possible producing an integrative framework for treating knowledge in creative work with ideas.