Distinguishing knowledge-sharing, knowledge-construction, and knowledge-creation discourses

van Aalst, Jan

Phase 1: Orientation (2 weeks) The goal of the first phase was to enable the students to identify problems and select the most promising inquiry foci. Research into inquiry-based learning has shown that the nature of students' own questions constrains student-led inquiry (Krajcik et al. 1998; Lipponen 2000; Polman 2000) . The students were thus asked to read widely and post notes in their group's view, summarizing the main points and raising questions and ideas. Toward the end of Phase 1, they were asked to propose problems of understanding, using a Research Question note format stating the question, its background (relation to earlier notes), and ideas for studying the question. Finally, they were asked to select a few of the most promising problems for further research, considering: (a) the extent to which a question might lend itself to inquiry worth several weeks of effort, (b) whether they had ideas or resources for researching the question, and (c) the coherence among the questions that were under consideration. The researcher explained the rationale for these processes and related it to knowledge-creation principles.