KBCNL participants from across the region
The Knowledge Building Community Network Learning (KBCNL), titled ‘Imagining New Possibilities in the Hybrid World: Cross Community Knowledge Building’ was held on 22 March 2022. This unique Network Learning session was jointly hosted by the University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen SongHe Primary School (China) and the Center of Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education (CRPP/NIE). The event brought together a total of 67 teachers and researchers from Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Singapore for an afternoon of cross-community sharing and reflection on KB practice across various disciplines. Nine local students from Teck Whye Secondary School and Clementi Town Secondary School were also invited to provide an in-depth and enriching account of their learning experiences from their KB projects. This cross-community connection was intended to support teachers in expanding their KB knowledge and practice through the collaborative sharing of their KB stories and metacognitive reflection.
Design of cross-community interactions
To further support interactions within the teachers’ cross community, a “KB metaspace” was constructed on the Knowledge Forum to provide teachers with a virtual space to share their KB stories, and their reflections across various subjects were supported by KB scaffolds. These scaffolds, termed ‘reflection of practice’, helped teachers to reflect and improve on their own KB lessons. Another set of scaffolds were designed for ‘cross community interaction’, allowing for the support of teachers in reflection and building on to peers’ ideas. Both sets of scaffolds are made available in English and Chinese to facilitate the interactions between teachers from the different regions (Singapore, Hong Kong and Shenzhen).
(Above) The KB Metaspace and Teachers’ stories are spaces and content created on the Knowledge Forum to support cross-community teachers’ interaction.
The above are two sets of KB scaffolds “Reflection of practice” and “Cross community interaction”, created to support metacognitive reflection among teachers.
Teachers’ cross-community discussion
Teacher Wu Jia Ling sharing how she used KB in designing her creative composition lessons
Teacher Wang Zhi Yong sharing the context and scaffolds design for the KB lesson.
Two Chinese Language teachers, Ms Wu Jia Ling from ShenZhen SongHe primary school (China) and Mr Wang Zhi Yong from St Hilda’s primary school (Singapore) kickstarted the sharing session by discussing and reflecting on pedagogical strategies to support primary students in creative composition. The teachers presented their KB stories that are guided by principle-based practices and KB principles of idea diversity and idea improvement, forming the foundation of the students’ exploration. Participants were encouraged to discuss the strategies emerging in the classroom, like the use of KB scaffolds, and shared how these can be brought back into their own classroom.
Teacher Jia Chen showcasing how ideas are being integrated into lessons.
Teacher Jiangyu presenting the different phases of students’ idea improvement.
Next, teachers from ShenZhen SongHe primary school continued the cross-community interaction on KB practice related to Mathematics and Science. Math teacher Jia Chen shared the design of using student ideas to help them make connections between mathematical concepts in the KB story titled ‘Volume’ in a fifth-grade classroom. Two science teachers, Ms Jiangyu and Ms Ouyang, also shared how a fifth-grade combined class worked on a KB story titled ‘Hot and Cold’ and ‘Super Architecture’. The teachers related how the improvement of students’ epistemic agency and strategies helped deepen students’ exploration with big ideas. Overall, the teachers presented students’ theories about thermal expansion and contraction while further discussing how they utilised promising ideas to support students in the theory improvement.
Teachers Melvin and Kennedy sharing on their KB framework to guide the history project.
To wrap up the sharing session, two humanities teachers Mr Melvin Chan from Teck Whye secondary school and Mr Kennedy Loo from Clementi Town secondary school shared a history KB story titled ‘Developing Theories About War Through Newsletter Collaboration’. The teachers presented their students’ innovative ideas on war and the idea improvement journey that supported students to visualise the progression of their ideas and to see possible avenues for exploration. Both teachers also engaged with participants to discuss and reflect on the strategies that were used to support the growth of student ideas.
Live sharing on KB experience from students
During the final session, History students (from Teck Whye Secondary School and Clementi Town Secondary School) joined the sharing and presented their learning experiences from their KB projects. The students shared how they benefitted from the collective meaning-making processes and the inquiry of each other’s ideas to identify gaps for idea improvement and rise-above questions. The students also gradually appreciated idea diversity arising from collaborative discussions and exerted greater agency in building on to each others’ ideas so that they can deepen their collective understanding of History and war.
Students presenting their personal views and reflections at the KBCNL.
Student conducting an activity for teachers to understand the history of war, based on the decisions a fictional admiral will make.
Moving Forward
By the end of the network learning session, teachers across the various geographical regions were able to connect, share, and understand more about collaborative discussions in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. The sharings from teachers across different subject domains and the students’ learning experience created a rich and ongoing space for all KB teachers to grow in their understanding and design of KB practice. By constantly reflecting on their lessons to focus on growing creative student ideas, teachers are able to truly promote students’ agency and support them in knowledge building.
In the upcoming Network Learning sessions, we hope teachers can continue to work closely with the KB community to produce meaningful and enriching cross-community interactions through the ‘KB metaspace’, as a means for enhancing their professional development.
If you are interested to join the KB metaspace and/or the next KBC Network Learning session, we encourage you to use the following link so that we can keep you updated!