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Knowledge Construction (knowledge + construction)
Selected AbstractsIntroduction: Knowledge Construction and Creation in Organizations,BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue S1 2004Haridimos Tsoukas While adopting a knowledge-based perspective on organizations has been valuable, since, among other things, it enables us to see links between organizational learning and a firm's competitive advantage through the development of idiosyncratic capabilities, it has nonetheless tended to treat organizational knowledge as ,given', exploring how it is related to other ,given' variables. The focus of this special issue is to unpack the notion of organizational knowledge by exploring the processes and practices through which knowledge is constructed and created in organizations. A constructivist perspective assumes that ,knowledge' presupposes work and seeks to explore how what comes to be considered as organizational knowledge is established and validated (or fails to do so). By seeing organizational knowledge as work we can further probe into how knowledge is shaped by organizational strategies and incentives and, more radically, how power and politics influence the struggle between competing bodies of knowledge in organizations. [source] Community-based individual knowledge construction in the classroom: a process-oriented accountJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 3 2010C.-K. Looi Abstract This paper explores the process of knowledge convergence and knowledge sharing in the context of classroom collaboration in which students do a group learning activity mediated by a generic representation tool. In analysing the transcript of the interactions of a group, we adapt the group cognition method of Stahl and the uptake analysis methodology of Suthers to understand how the members of the group did meaning making in their interactions, and how individual members did uptakes of their interactions and applied their new shared knowledge or understanding in new situations. The transcript is taken from our school-based research using the Group Scribbles software technology which provides representation spaces for individual, group or class work to support collaborative practices. Our work contributes toward a methodology for explaining a process-oriented account of a small group interaction through face-to-face communication over external shared representations. [source] Gender-related differences in computer-mediated communication and computer-supported collaborative learningJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 5 2007F.R. Prinsen Abstract A question associated with the introduction of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is whether all participants profit equally from working in CSCL environments. This article reports on a review study into gender-related differences in participation in CSCL. As many of the processes in CSCL are similar to those in computer-mediated communication (CMC), studies into CMC are also included in the review. Male dominance is found to play a role in many CMC settings. A learning culture with an explicit focus on participation by all students seems to be related to a more gender-balanced participation in CMC, however. A tendency for boys to be more active participants than girls is also present in CSCL environments, but it is less pronounced than in CMC. This may be explained by the fact that participation is explicitly promoted in most CSCL environments. Gender differences in the character of students' contributions are found in both CMC and CSCL. It is concluded that in order to avoid gender-stereotyped participation and communication patterns, it is necessary to explicitly address inclusiveness as an aspect of a collaborative classroom culture. A plea is made for further research into differential participation by students in CSCL, and the effects thereof on cognitive and affective learning outcomes. Research should also focus on the question how classroom cultures can be promoted that support active participation of all students aimed at collaborative knowledge construction. [source] THE DATA AVALANCHE IS HERE.JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010SHOULDN'T WE BE DIGGING? ABSTRACT We have access to an unprecedented amount of fine-grained data on cities, transportation, economies, and societies, much of these data referenced in geo-space and time. There is a tremendous opportunity to discover new knowledge about spatial economies that can inform theory and modeling in regional science. However, there is little evidence of computational methods for discovering knowledge from databases in the regional science literature. This paper addresses this gap by clarifying the geospatial knowledge discovery process, its relation to scientific knowledge construction, and identifying challenges to a greater role in regional science. [source] The role of discourse in group knowledge construction: A case study of engineering studentsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 3 2004Julie M. Kittleson This qualitative study examined the role of discourse (verbal elements of language) and Discourse (nonverbal elements related to the use of language, such as ways of thinking, valuing, and using tools and technologies) in the process of group knowledge construction of mechanical engineering students. Data included interviews, participant observations, and transcripts from lab sessions of a group of students working on their senior design project. These data were analyzed using discourse analysis focusing on instances of concept negotiation, interaction in which multiple people contribute to the evolving conceptual conversation. In this context, despite instructors' attempts to enhance the collaboration of group members, concept negotiation was rare. In an effort to understand this rarity, we identified themes related to an engineering Discourse, which included participants' assumptions about the purpose of group work, the views about effective groups, and their epistemologies and ontologies. We explore how the themes associated with the engineering Discourse played a role in how and when the group engaged in concept negotiation. We found that underlying ideologies and assumptions related to the engineering Discourse played both facilitating and inhibitory roles related to the group's conceptually based interactions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 267,293, 2004 [source] The Political Psychology of Liberation: From Politics to Ethics and BackPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Maritza Montero The origins and development of the psychology of liberation are described, detailing the intellectual and political context in which the concept of liberation emerged in Latin American social sciences. Its constitution as a mode of doing psychology, and the founding ideas of Ignacio Martin Baró, its pioneer, are analyzed. Primary concepts such as problematization, de-ideologization, and de-alienation are discussed, and I explain how they are integrated into a central process characterized as conscientization. The role of relatedness as an epistemological base for knowledge construction and liberation is highlighted. The dynamics in which these processes interact in order to facilitate and catalyze the transformation of negative living conditions through participatory action and reflection, to empower people so they become conscious citizens, and to strengthening civil society and democracy is also discussed. I argue that the ethical, critical, and political character of the liberating actions respond for the participatory, reflexive, and transformative conception of this form of psychology. [source] Black Metropolis and Mental Life: Beyond the "Burden of ,Acting White' " Toward a Third Wave of Critical Racial StudiesANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2008A. A. Akom In this article, I reflect on Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu's classic research on the "burden of ,acting White' " to develop a long overdue dialogue between Africana studies and critical white studies. It highlights the dialectical nature of Fordham and Ogbu's philosophy of race and critical race theory by locating the origins of the "burden of ,acting White' " in the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, who provides some of the intellectual foundations for this work. Following the work of F. W. Twine and C. Gallagher (2008), I then survey the field of critical whiteness studies and outline an emerging third wave in this interdisciplinary field. This new wave of research utilizes the following five elements that form its basic core: (1) the centrality of race and racism and their intersectionality with other forms of oppression; (2) challenging white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and other dominant ideologies; (3) a critical reflexivity that addresses how various formulations of whiteness are situated in relation to contemporary formulations of Black/people of color identity formation, politics, and knowledge construction; (4) innovative research methodologies including asset-based research approaches; and, finally, (5) a racial elasticity that identifies the ways in which white racial power and pigmentocracy are continually reconstituting themselves in the color-blind era and beyond (see A. A. Akom 2008c).[oppositional identity, Black student achievement, youth development, acting white, Du Bois, critical whiteness studies, critical race theory, race, Black metropolis, double consciousness, twoness, hip-hop] [source] Beyond cognitive and metacognitive tools: the use of the Internet as an ,epistemological' tool for instructionBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2004Chin-Chung Tsai This paper argues that Internet-based instruction should not be only perceived as a cognitive tool or a metacognitive tool; rather, it can be perceived and used as an epistemological tool. When the Internet is used as an epistemological tool for instruction, learners are encouraged to evaluate the merits of information and knowledge acquired from Internet-based environments, and to explore the nature of learning and knowledge construction. This paper further asserts that Internet-based instruction is perceived as a way to help learners develop advanced epistemologies. On the other hand, developmentally advanced epistemological beliefs can facilitate the practice of Internet-based instruction. [source] Students' levels of explanations, models, and misconceptions in basic quantum chemistry: A phenomenographic studyJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 5 2009Christina Stefani We investigated students' knowledge constructions of basic quantum chemistry concepts, namely atomic orbitals, the Schrödinger equation, molecular orbitals, hybridization, and chemical bonding. Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning provided the theoretical framework and phenomenography the method of analysis. The semi-structured interview with 19 second-year chemistry students supplied the data. We identified four levels of explanations in the students' answers. In addition, the scientific knowledge claims reflected three main levels of models. By combining levels of explanations with levels of models, we derived four categories. Two of the categories are shades of variation in the rote-learning part of a continuum, while the other two categories are in the meaningful-learning part. All students possessed alternative conceptions some of which occurred within certain categories, while others spanned more categories. The insistence on the deterministic models of the atom, the misinterpretation of models, and the poor understanding of the current quantum concepts are main problems in the learning of the basic quantum chemistry concepts. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 520,536, 2009 [source] | |||||||||||||