To Be or Not to Be… Knowledge Building?
By Dr. Cletis Allen, Educator
If you are a literature fan like me, you’ve heard the popular opening phrase from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” This well-known phrase from Shakespeare describes an internal contemplation with making a decision that can affect one’s course of life. We all grapple with this question in many phases of life. Starting the first day of school, many teachers grapple with this question as they are tasked with teaching knowledge and skills while creating equitable learning experiences for learners.
Learners enter schools as representatives of many cultures, identities, abilities, languages, and experiences. Teachers have a full playground of information from learners to cultivate a strong foundation of grade-level concepts and skills. What I have observed, and practiced in my teaching tenure, is building background knowledge is the most important and valued approach to content mastery. Teachers are strong decision-makers integrating the process of building background knowledge in their lessons. Across schools, teachers make it a priority to tap into the experiences of their learners to know what information they have acquired prior to entering their classroom, and they use this information to guide the steps of making connections to grade-level concepts and skills for learners. Building background knowledge is necessary for learners to know their knowledge and skills are valued as much as content knowledge and skills.
Background knowledge is pre-existing information needed to understand an idea, situation, or problem. The task of building background knowledge, in its authentic form, is a teacher-guided process of knowledge learning (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003). Teachers choose different strategies that access learners’ prior knowledge of a topic of problem. From here, the teacher decides how to connect students’ knowledge to new content knowledge. Many teachers may follow this instructional process of accessing and building background knowledge:
- Give a pretest to see which skills students do not know
- Create learner groupings based on unknown skills
- Choose tasks and activities that focus on practice and application of unknown skills, mainly in vocabulary acquisition
- Administer assessments to evaluate students’ mastery of unknown skills
Building background knowledge is important for learners to make connections with new information and prepare to make connections with future information. However, I believe teachers face two important challenges in their teaching: the distinction between background knowledge and Knowledge Building and the cultivation of learning spaces that value the process of building knowledge.
I can hear everyone saying, “Isn’t building background knowledge the same as knowledge building?” The short answer is NO!
Background knowledge and Knowledge Building (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003) are used interchangeably in the world of education (I’ve used these terms interchangeably, too), but they are different in process and application. Scardamalia and Bereiter describe Knowledge Building as the process of knowledge creation for societal improvement. Knowledge building is a life-long process that crosses ages, cultures, and locations. The process of Knowledge Building goes beyond the four walls of the school– it extends across many schools and organizations. In Knowledge Building, ideas belong to the public, which involves public inquiry, input, and change. Learners and teachers alike can ignite the inquiry of knowledge creation because it is useful for everyone.
How do you know if your instruction incorporates background knowledge building or Knowledge Building?
Here is a great opportunity to perform an instructional audit of your teaching. Take 2–3 of your best lessons and reflect on the following questions:
- Am I teaching pre-existing information or facilitating the creation of information?
- Is information purposeful in my classroom or valuable in the community and world?
- Is access to information limited to myself and learners or extends to people across multiple communities?
- Does knowledge creation belong to us or belong to the community?
If the results of your audit reveals your instruction leans more towards building background knowledge than Knowledge Building, you have the ability to shift your instruction to incorporate Knowledge Building opportunities in your lessons. Start with creating your classroom as a shared space for knowledge creation. Invite community members (virtual or in-person) to join in the exploration and creation of knowledge. Establish important norms that contribute to the collaboration and contribution of creating knowledge in the shared space. Use a classroom Parking Lot or journal to generate ideas of inquiry. Facilitate tasks and conversations that lead to modification or development of new ideas inside and beyond the shared space.
The course of Knowledge Building offers value at every moment of creation. Your perspective of teaching and learning shifts from one way of knowing to multiple ways of knowing. The creation of knowledge needs collaboration, critical thinking, and commitment to continual improvement. Your learners are able to imagine and reimagine ideas with consistent conversation and action with people in different communities. You create new perspectives and approaches to real-world situations and problems. Most importantly, Knowledge Building requires trust in yourself and the creators of knowledge.
I pose the question: To be or not be… knowledge building? You decide.
Dr. Cletis Allen is an Educational Thought Leader with over 12 years of experience in multiple roles in education, including elementary classroom educator, professional learning facilitator, curriculum auditor and writer, and governing board member for a local charter high school. With licensures in Reading, English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and K-5 Science, Dr. Allen is the owner of her elementary education consulting firm, CLETIS Education Consulting LLC. She works with large and small educational organizations to incorporate cross-curricular strategies from a Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction (CRLI) perspective across content areas. In addition, Dr. Allen supports educators, educational leaders, and professionals with cultivating CRLI and inclusive practices in their daily instruction within P-5 learning spaces. Outside of the education space, Queen Cle enjoys time with family and friends. She spends time reading, traveling, eating vegan food, and crocheting.
References
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2003). Knowledge Building. Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed., pp. 1370–1373). Macmillan Reference USA.
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