"Connections between Constructionism and Knowledge Building, and their Realization in Globaloria"

1. Connections between
Constructionism and
Knowledge Building, and
their Realization in
Globaloria
2013 AERA Conference
Rebecca Reynolds, Assistant Professor
Rutgers University
Cindy Hmelo-Silver, Professor
Rutgers University

2. INTERVENTION: Guided discovery-based game design program
and curriculum offered by the WorldWide Workshop. MS, HS
teachers and students gain experience and expertise in a range of
agentive digital practices.

3. Flash software, Wiki
Environment, Curriculum, Tutorials
“Hands On” Training Sessions (virtual, local)
• Globaloria Academy – In-person, intensive trainings (3)
• Online Mini Webinars - Web-based workshops (7)
Globaloria Mentors Program
Experienced educators take on a leadership role by
supporting other educators
“24/7” Virtual Support
• Expert Support via wikis, blogs, email, WebEx
• Educator Community Development – private
educators community wiki, peer-to-peer mentoring, weekly
educators newsletter, sharing teaching & learning reports
Rewards and Recognition
•Teachers: Stipends and Graduate credits are earned
•Students: Nationally-Recognized Game Design
Competitions
Learning Supports for Students and Educators:

4. Globaloria is currently active
in 4 U.S. states: CA,TX, NY,WV, >2000 students

5. E-Learning Environment as Information System

6. Domains of Learning and Expertise
• Game Example
• Constructionist digital literacy (skills needed in knowledge economy =>
6-CLAs)
• Computational thinking through game design in Flash and programming in
Actionscript
• Core curricular subject matter:
o When game subjects are linked to core curriculum and students deepen
knowledge about topic through online research and design
• STEM career interests: Technology & Engineering; Computer Science
• Motivation, Affect, Attitudes, Life Choices, New Possibilities and Horizons

7. Knowledge Building as Conditions to
Cultivate in Instructional Design
Scardamalia & Bereiter (2006) state these in brief as:
 Knowledge advancement as a community rather than individual
achievement
 Knowledge advancement as idea improvement rather than as progress
toward true or warranted belief
 Knowledge of in contrast to knowledge about
 Discourse as collaborative problem solving rather than as argumentation
 Constructive use of authoritative information
 Understanding as emergent

8. Connections between Knowledge Building and
Constructionism

9. Connections between Knowledge Building and
Constructionism

10. Connections between Knowledge Building and
Constructionism

11. Connections between Knowledge Building and
Constructionism

12. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Real ideas
and
authentic
problems:
 Design
process;
 Game
topic

13. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Improvable ideas:
 Ongoing
iteration
 Wiki as
coordinating
representation
 Day after day
 Location after
location
 Year after year

14. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Idea diversity:
 Wiki as
coordinating
representation

15. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Rise above:
 Game topic
 Game
mechanics and
programming

16. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Epistemic agency:
 Inquiry &
resource use
 Collaboration
 Studio-based
setting
(educator
training)

17. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Community
knowledge, collecti
ve responsibility &
democratizing
knowledge:
 Communication
 Teamwork
 Social
engagement
 Intellectual
property norms

18. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Community
knowledge, collecti
ve responsibility &
democratizing
knowledge:
 Communication
 Teamwork
 Social
engagement
 Intellectual
property norms

19. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Symmetric
knowledge
advancement:
 Reciprocal
development:
 Teachers
 Students
 Organization
 Researchers

20. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Pervasive
Knowledge
building:
 Teamwork
 Teacher
mentorship
 Cross-sharing
best practices

21. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Constructive uses of
authoritative
sources:
 Inquiry
 Information
system
 Wider web
 Information
literacy needs
more
scaffolding
 Teacher
mentorship

22. Realization of Knowledge Building
Principles in Globaloria (Afforded, not guaranteed)
Knowledge building
discourse:
 Consciously
improving upon
teamwork and
inquiry
practices over
substantial time
provided
Concurrent, embed
ded, and
transformative
assessment

23. Next Steps
 Practitioners and instructional designers need greater insights on
implementation
 Contribute to the HOW – PRAGMATICS for realizing these aims in today’s
schools
 (e.g., how to meet NETP principles and goals)
 Role of wiki and e-learning information resources as coordinating
representations
 Collaboration patterns (group flow, activity structures => Zhang)
 Self-reports, secondary data yielded initial but somewhat vague findings (role-
taking, peer help, challenge of version control and file management)
 Observation, learning analytics approaches are next

24. Next Steps
Formalize our explication of KB principles in the instructional design of
Globaloria (Reynolds, Hmelo-Silver, Harel Caperton, in progress)
Drawing upon interview, observational, and team case study data, develop
evidence base:
 Successes and failures
 Conditions that supported both
 Instructional design improvements?
 Given the ongoing nature of Globaloria, and the archive and retrieval
capacities of the wiki, one could hypothesize that year over year, the quality
of the work would improve.
 Also investigating this, using knowledge outcome variables including content
analysis, possible addition of a knowledge assessment

25. Rebecca.reynolds@gmail.com
Rutgers University website
http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/directory/rbreynol/index.html
Thanks to IMLS!
Thanks to my partners!
Globaloria.org
Worldwideworkshop.org
Thank you!