Theme 1: Knowledge building for a Knowledge Society
Knowledge Building: A Trajectory
The
role of conceptual artifacts in knowledge building practice
Ann Russell, IKIT, OISE/University of Toronto, ON, Canada
Ann Russell, IKIT, OISE/University of Toronto, ON, Canada
This presentation investigates the role of conceptual artifacts (Bereiter, 2002) in knowledge building practices. Using activity systems theory as an explanatory framework (Cole, 1996; Engestrom, 1999), I will demonstrate how designing for knowledge building practice requires thinking about conceptual artifacts as objects, mediating artifacts and emergent outcomes of a knowledge building community’s (KBC) activity system over time. I will expand Engström’s idea that “learning becomes a venture of designing, implementing and internalizing the next developmental stage of the activity system itself” (p. 17) by presenting data from a 2-year longitudinal design experiment in health care. The graphic below (Figure I) describes the KBC activity system under investigation at the beginning of the project. This presentation will demonstrate how emergent conceptual artifacts (outcomes) when fed back into the activity system as objects or mediating artifacts, served multiple purposes over time, generating in some instances new and improved conceptual artifacts. Finally this presentation explores the opportunities and limitations of focusing on World 3 (Popper, 1972) knowledge in practice settings like hospitals. The roles of Worlds 1 and 2 knowledge (Popper, 1972), especially as they relate to professional practices in health care, will be considered.