Create

"I enjoyed creating and sharing knowledge the most. It was satisfying

to answer a question someone has."

I.C. - High School Student

"Another thing I liked was creating my own ideas and seeing what others thought about them."

B.D.. - High School Student

The questions have been formed. Now the real work of creating knowledge and understanding around those questions begins.

It is time for the teacher to step-aside and let the students take control here. The students now assume the role of emerging ‘expert' by creating their own knowledge and ideas as they research authoritative sources of knowledge surrounding the questions they have created. Creating knowledge and ideas means that students work to bring something new into existence that didn’t exist for them before starting their research. It does not have to be new knowledge or idea the world has never seen before. Instead, the knowledge only needs to be new to them and their community.

What to Do

Students begin by deciding on a select few of their questions and/or ideas to begin Knowledge Building. Students use authoritative sources – the world wide web, books, articles, interviews etc. - to create knowledge guided by their questions. Like experts working at the cutting-edge of their fields of study, students too must ask questions, search then research about concepts at the outer limits of their knowledge and understanding. Creating knowledge and sharing it with their community is often exciting and motivating for students since they are working with questions they designed, not ones that came from the teacher or textbook.

Knowledge Building encourages something that few educational innovations promote: idea generation. Students can form ideas about how the world should work according to their understanding. This comes quite naturally to them. Sometimes ideas created are simply notions or beliefs about something, half-baked ideas on how something might work. Stronger ideas may be backed up by evidence that makes the ideas more compelling.

In the video below, students discuss how they work together surrounding their knowledge creations and theories. Watch how one student discusses her idea that paralleled that of professional scientists working at the cutting edge of their field.

Finally, to maintain the flow of knowledge and idea creation during Knowledge Building, it helps to leave questions behind for the community to consider. These questions should take the conversation into deeper territory that invite the creation of more knowledge surrounding their Knowledge Building goal. Watch the students below as they discuss how working with a question and leaving a question behind ("work a question, leave a question") grows the conversation.

Questions for Moving Forward

What relevant authoritative sources of knowledge will your students have access too in their topic area? Will they find age-appropriate material for their research?

Do your students have access to on-line materials (e.g. web pages, video, podcasts etc.)? If not, then what might be their alternative sources for knowledge?