Knowledge Building Communities: The tutor's role and inquiry activitydevelopment

Stefano Cacciamani

s.cacciamani@univda.itUniversity of Valle d'Aosta -Italy

OISE – University of Toronto Summer Institute 2003

1.0 Introduction

The Knowledge Building perspective can help to draw different learning environments and activities in which sometimes ( more often in on line course involving adults) we can have not only the teacher but also a “tutor”.

The tutor at least can play two different roles: - in one case he can give theoretical information supporting the teacher

explanations about concepts; - in another case he can participate in the community effort to apply

theoretical information in a real context.

This study is oriented to analyse a different strategy of inquiry development of two groups of students, attending an on line seminar, in connection with a different strategy of tutor participation during the discussion in Knowledge Forum.

The research

2.0 Hypothesis

A tutor strategy participation based in one case on questions oriented to apply theory in practical situation and in another case on information and theorical reflections can favour a different strategy of inquiry in students discussion in KF

3.0 Method

3.1 ParticipantsTwo different groups of overall 17 students of Educational Psychology of 4th

year of University of Padova (Italy), were involved in the research: Gr A= 9 students Gr B= 8 students

3.2 Procedure

The on line seminar of Educational Psychology has had three different subjects analysed by each group in three different views:

-1st view: Vygotskian perspective (Fig. 1-2)

-2nd view: Cross Cultural Psychology

-3rd view: Intrinsic Motivation (Fig. 3-4)

In each view the inquiry activity started with on INTU note made from each student, in which he or she can identify a problem about the subject, to discuss with the other members of community (starting note).

3.2 Procedure Design variable: strategy of tutor: -Strategy 1 (theoric-applicative approach) -notes MT and INTU with questions

to apply theory in practical situations (AP) -Strategy 2 (theoric-informative approach) -notes MT with theoretical

information and explanations (CT)

Observed variables:a) Knowledge Building activity of participants in the three views:1-noted created 2-% of notes linked3-% of notes read

b) Emerging forms of discussion: 1-number of problems (number of threads)2-depth of discussion (mean of notes for thread) 3-different kinds of INTU notes4-number of notes connected with different kinds of INTU notes

4.0 Results

A) First level of Analysis: Knowledge Building Activity of participants No differences in mean of

notes created and mean of % of notes read in 1st 2nd and 3rd view.

No differences in mean of % of notes linked in 1st and 2nd view (Fig. 1)

In the 3rd view notes in Group A are more linked than in Group B (Fig. 1)

(t (15) = 2,35 p<.05)Fig. 1: mean of % of linked notes

B) Second Level of Analysis: Emerging forms of discussion 1.Number of problems: The two groups develop a

discussion with more or less the same number of problems in 1st (Gr.A= 11- Gr. B= 9) e 3rd view (Gr. A= 9-Gr. B= 11), identified by the INTU notes: ZPD for each group develops nearly the same number of directions

2.Depth of discussion (mean of notes for thread):

No differences in the first view Significant differences (mean of

notes for thread) in the third view (Fig. 2)

(t (18)=2,79 p<.05)

Fig. 2: Depth of discussion

Note:

We can exclude an effect of the different student knowledge concerning the subject of discussion because there are no differences in the number of notes created by each participant between the two groups in the 3rd view.

How we can interpret the effect of tutor

strategy in each group? 3. Kinds of INTU notes To answer to this question we categorised the INTU notes written by the

students at the starting point of each discussion (we called them “starting notes”) in:

CT = note INTU oriented to Clarify Theory ( Ex: I need to understand what is the “psychogenesis of cultural method” in relationship with the three task of scientific research)

AP = note INTU oriented to realize an Application in Practice of Theory ( Ex: How is possible to realise in practice the scaffolding activity? )

The categorisation is realised by three different judges with an agreement of 95% . The controversial cases were discussed to find a convergent interpretation.

Two strategies of inquiry

In this sense we can define two strategies of inquiry:

-the “INTU CT strategy” identified by an INTU CTstarting note, in which the student try to have explanations at theoretical level;

(CT= Clarify Theory)

-the “INTU AP strategy” identified by an INTU AP starting note, in which the student try to apply theoric concepts in practice

(AP= Apply Theory)

Different kinds of INTU starting notes 1st view: No differences: the “INTU

CT strategy” is used more than “INTU AP strategy “ in both groups. (Chi (1) = 0,24 (0 with continuity correction) p>.05)

3rd view (Tab. 1): The “INTU AP strategy” and

“INTU CT strategy” are used at the same level in group A.

In group B the” INTU CT strategy” is more used then the “INTU AP strategy”.

(Chi (1) =5,08 (3,11 with continuity correction ) p<.05 )

1st view Group A Group B

INTU CT 7* 6

INTU AP 3 3

3rd view Group A Group B

INTU CT 4 10

INTU AP 5 1

Tab 1: INTU Starting notes

*A starting note is not INTU but MT : not classified.

What is the relation between the different strategies of inquiry and the depth of

discussion? 4. notes connected with

different kinds of INTU notes

1st view: no differences : both groups are oriented to use more “INTU CT strategy”, that groups 60% of notes ( 27 out of 45) in group A and 55% in group B (16 out of 29). (Chi (1)= 0,49 p>.05)

3rd view: Significant differences between groups:

-in group A the “INTU AP strategy” groups 62,7% of notes created by participants (54 out of 86)

-in group B the “INTU CT strategy” groups 88,8 % of notes created by participants (48 out of 54). (Chi (1) = 36,17 p<.01)

(Tab. 2)

Group

A

Group B

Total

Kind of

INTU

Starting

notes

CT 32 48 80

AP 54 6 60

Total 86 54 140

Tab. 2: notes connected at different kind of INTU starting notes in the third view

Legend: CT = starting note I need to understand oriented to Clarify Theory AP =starting note I need to understand oriented to realize an Application in Practice of Theory

5.0 Discussion The tutor strategy can influence the inquiry strategy of the students in Knowledge

Forum activity.

In particular the strategy called “theoric-applicative approach” based on questions devoted to apply theory in practical situations seems to influence the students:

-to create more “INTU AP starting notes ” -to participate in discussion with more notes connected with “INTU AP starting

notes”.

In this case the discussion activity is more oriented to apply theory in practical situation and has the effect of generateing a deeper level of discussion in the different problems.

The tutor strategy called “theoric-informative approach” based on notes containing information and theoretical explanation seems to influence students:

-to create more “INTU CT starting notes” in the third view -to have less depth of discussion in the different problems.

References

Scardamalia, M. (1999). Core beliefs and Principles. Note # 3356. In Knowledge Society Network .

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1999). Schools as knowledge-building organizations. In D. Keating & C. Hertzman (Eds.), Today's children, tomorrow's society: The developmental health and wealth of nations. New York, NY: Guilford.

Fig 3. Image of the View “Vygotskij” –

Group A

Fig. 4. Image of the view “Vygotskij” –Group B

Fig. 5 Image of the view “Intrinsic Motivation” Group A

Fig. 6. Image of the view “Intrinsic Motivation” –Group B