Towards
a Principle-Based Approach for Knowledge Creation in Teacher Professional Development Carol K.K. Chan & Yanjie Song |
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ABSTRACT Despite knowledge building as an educational approach advocated in classroom innovations, little attention has been paid to professional development regarding how to develop teachers to understand and to engage in such innovations. This paper reports on an ongoing 2-year research into teacher development in knowledge creation work adopting principle-based design approach under a framework of Principles-Collaboration-Reflection-Practice. A variety of data sources were drawn from a group of 9 teachers, including teacher interviews, reflective notes and artifacts, video clips on classroom discourse, reflective journals and discourse on knowledge forum – a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Data analysis focuses on how principle-based approach worked on knowledge building practice in teacher development. The research findings show that the principle-based approach was conducive to teachers’ changes in conceptions of principle-based understanding, and changes in their knowledge building practice, which reflected in changes in collective knowledge advances in classroom. |
| Link to draft paper | |