Knowledge Building

Attachment

2003_knowledge_building.pdf

11f8y2zxc-nw/b0bsl79jx59rwtw7lr978psshbdk7tsxlb1w4wlpmfhprmt/2003_knowledge_building.pdf

Description

In what is coming to be called the “knowledge age,” the health and  wealth of societies depends increasingly on their capacity to  innovate. People in general, not just a specialized elite, need to work  creatively with knowledge. As Peter Drucker put it “Innovation must be part and parcel of the ordinary, the norm, if not routine.” This presents a formidable new challenge: how to develop citizens who not only possess up-to-date knowledge but are able to participate in the creation of new knowledge as a normal part of their lives.

There are no proven methods of educating people to be producers of knowledge. Knowledge creators of the past have been too few and too exceptional in their talents to provide much basis for educational planning. In the absence of pedagogical theory, learning-by-doing and apprenticeship are the methods of choice; but this does not seem feasible if the “doing” in question is the making of original discoveries, inventions, and plans. Rather, we must think of a developmental trajectory leading from the natural inquisitiveness of the young child to the disciplined creativity of the mature knowledge producer. The challenge, then, will be to get students on to that trajectory. But what is the nature of this trajectory and of movement along it? There are three time-honored answers that provide partial solutions at best.

Author

Marlene Scardamalia & Carl Bereiter