Learning about Collaborative Knowledge Building: A Case of Future School in Singapore

This study discusses the design, enactment and evaluation of a CollaborativeKnowledge Building (CKB) workshop, designed to resolve the prevalent problem that Asian students tend to lack the necessary skills and appreciation for collective cognitive responsibility. The study was conducted with Secondary one(13-year-old) students in one of the future schools in Singapore. The students participated in the CKB workshop that was designed with the material andstructural conditions (i.e., idea cards, knowledge wall, opportunistic grouping,reflective presentation) coupled with explicit instruction to help them learn about collaborative knowledge building skills. For evaluation, the participants completed the perception survey about collaborative learning attitudes after the workshop.We also collected and analyzed discourse data of one selected group’s discussion. The findings reveal that the students showed overall positive perception about collaborative learning experiences in the workshop and the indicators ofknowledge building discourse moves in the group discussion. However, the students still needed more guidance in the process of teamwork, particularly inconsensus building due to the tendency to reach a quick consensus.