Menu Close

Approaches

Using Assessment to scaffold and foster knowledge building

  • Analytic Toolkit and Applets
  • Reflection summaries
  • Student-generated knowledge-building portfolio
  • New technological tools
    • The Big Ideas Tool http://vimeo.com/13946174 (Chen & Scardamalia)
    • Knowledge Connection Analyzer (van Aalst & Chan)
    • Inquiry Thread Mapper (Zhang)
 
  • How can we assess knowledge building?
  • Quantitative assessment (e.g. ATK, Applet Tools, Knowledge Connection Analyzer)
  • Qualitative assessment (e.g. Reflection summaries, student-generated knowledge-building portfolios)
 

Knowledge building portfolio:
  • an assessment design enables students to analyse their own progress
  • not an individual work, but a community’s knowledge creation
  • Students discuss their progress, improve their work and present the collective work in the portfolio

 
Assessment Tools
Prof Chan’s research team, responsible for assessment in Asian classrooms, has made excellent contribution on knowledge building research and has been granted an international award.
The following are examples of assessment tools used in the knowledge forum:
1). Analytic Toolkit -- provides basic statistic information about students’ discussion:
  • The number of notes written
  • The percentage of notes read
  • Scaffold
  • Problems work on
2). Applet Tool
  • A social network analysis tool to show the connectivity students’ discussion and whether they read others’ notes. It also includes vocabulary measure.
3). Promising Idea Tool
  • to help students identify promising ideas
 
  • How do we engage students in knowledge building in a visual arts class?
  • Assessment for students’ discourse
 
Presentation
 
Examples of students’ self-assessing on their knowledge advancement process