Argument Theories - Knowledge Building and Progressive Inquiry

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Similar to Baker’s learning mechanisms in online dialogue, Scardamalia and Bereiter (1992) developed a framework for learning and knowledge construction through online social dialogues called knowledge building. ‘Knowledge building takes place in social settings or communities which are similar to scientific research communities and operate based on constructivist principles (knowledge is a human construction and not something that is to be revealed or transmitted), sociocultural activity (as the medium through which knowledge construction takes place) and apprenticeship (skills of young scientists are acquired by working with a more mature scientist).’ (De Laat & Wegerif 2007, pp 9) Scardamalia and Bereiter developed a networked learning environment called CSILE (computer-supported intentional learning environments) that embedded the following knowledge building principles to support online dialogue (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 1992, p. 44-46):

• Objectification - Treat knowledge as objects that can be criticized, modified, compared and related, and regarded from different viewpoints, in different contexts.

• Progress - Knowledge building should lead somewhere and progress should be noticeable to the students.

• Synthesis - Encourage higher order representations and integrations of knowledge rather than the proliferation of loosely connected items.

• Consequence - Something nice should happen to the students as a consequence of knowledge building activities.

• Contribution - Contributions to the communal database should be visible, not exclusively in terms of their intrinsic worth, but also to their contribution to advancement of the group’s knowledge.

• Cross-fertilization - Maximize opportunities for the students to come into contact with related ideas, kindred spirits, and useful information, unrestricted by boundaries of space and category.

• Social - There should be continuity between work in CSILE and other curricular activities.

The central activity of knowledge building is aimed at progressive discourse associated to advancement of knowledge. Hakkarainen (1998) developed a pedagogical model called Progressive Inquiry (PI) to facilitate this process. PI engages members of a knowledge building community in a step-by-step process of question and explanation-driven inquiry (Muukonen, Hakkarainen & Lakkala, 1999). This is similar to the problem based / inquiry based learning approach which underlies many curricula in present day higher education. PI consists of the following elements (Muukonen, Hakkarainen & Lakkala, 1999):

• Context: The participants in a PI structured activity begin by creating the context. In order to explore the problem more deeply, the participants have to become familiar with it. A context is first created in order to clarify why the issues in question are relevant and worthwhile to investigate. In this way the community develops a body of understanding that serves as an anchor for the formulation of the problem statement or research question.
• Questions: Scientific inquiry, which is used as the basis of this model, can be seen as a problem solving process. Initial questions guide and direct the search for information.
• Brainstorm: Once the participants have agreed on an initial research question, the members are invited to construct their own interpretation. In this phase the participants have a brainstorm session to present and construct personal working theories. The participants are stimulated to use prior knowledge to offer an initial explanation for the problem. In this phase a first ‘knowledge base’ of the community’s understanding of the problem has been created. This knowledge base (or inventory of distributed expertise) needs to be evaluated.
• Critical evaluation: Evaluation is an important next step to assess advancement in the theories or explanations being offered. Through an evaluation of whether, and how well, the working theories explain the chosen problems, the community can assess the strengths and weaknesses of different explanations and identify contradictory explanations and gaps in the knowledge.
• Deepening: The next step is to search for deepening knowledge. Considerable advancement of the inquiry cannot be made without obtaining further, new information. By re-examining prior problem statements or working theories, with the help of new information, the community may become aware of their inadequate presumptions. New information may help them to reconstruct their conceptual understanding of the problem.
• Structuring: Progressive Inquiry is a process of further refinement and structuring of the collective understanding of the problem. Initially the community had a broad conception of the problem that lead to general questions. After making an inventory of prior knowledge, and searching for new information, more specific questions could emerge. Advancement of the inquiry is obtained by developing a chain of deepening questions.
• Concluding: In the last phase, the community, by finding answers to subordinate questions, approaches step-by-step toward a fuller answering of the original question or problem statement.
• Shared Understanding: This stage is the fundamental element of PI activity. Knowledge building is a social process aimed at advancing knowledge through active engagement in the learning activity by all members of the community. By explicitly working towards a shared understanding of the problem at each stage during their dialogue the members are able to construct knowledge collaboratively and in doing so advance the knowledge of the individual as well the entire community.

This understanding of the PI is useful in that it could be the process by which learning can be supported using the online tools. In effect there could be separate synchronous discussions for each stage or some of the stages of the PI process. This ensures that the synchronous tools are used effectively to allow for furthering the learning from the discussion as part of the overall learning process rather than used in isolation.