“…One distinctive characteristic of students in knowledge building classrooms reflects epistemological awareness. When asked about the effects of learning, students in regular classrooms tend to say that the more they learn and understand, the less there remains to be learned and understood (a believe that accords well with the fixed curriculum that directs their work). Students in knowledge building classrooms, however, tend strongly toward the opposite view, as expressed by one fourth-grade student: “By researching it [a particular knowledge problem] you can find other things that you want to research about. And so you realize that there is more and more and more things that you don’t know…so, first you know this much [gestures a small circle] and you know there is this much [gestures a large circle] that you don’t know. Then you know this much [gestures a larger circle] but you know there is this much [gestures an even larger circle] that you don’t know, and so on and so on.”
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