From traditional to constructivist epistemologies: a proposed theoretical framework based on activity theory for learning communities.

This article is concerned with how learning communities are transformed as they evolve from traditional learning epistemologies towards constructivist orientations and pedagogies. Adopting activity theory as a framework, the article discusses how transformations take place through a two-way process of appropriation (learning from one another as a two-way interaction process) at both the social-collective and individual-learner levels of interaction and cognition. We distinguish transformations at two levels: context and process, acknowledging overlaps between the two. Context transformations involve the macro-level activity system, whereas process transformations are concerned with in-situ micro-level changes. Through the concept of activity systems, we hope to illustrate how evolving transformations are captured from a historical frame of reference. The article also discusses technologies as enablers within a proposed framework in support of such epistemological transformations.

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Recently, many sources of literature suggest the usefulness of communities for the service of learning (Barab, MaKinster, & Scheckler, 2004). Researchers in the area of Communities of Learners (CoL) (Bielaczyc & Collins, 1999) have also shown in many interesting ways--through qualitative and quantitative data--how students (K-12) engage in authentic tasks as a community. In this article, we aim to draw out issues relating to the transformatory and evolutionary processes underlying the formation of learning communities. We illustrate a case example of how transformatory processes, from traditional to constructivist-oriented epistemologies, evolved through a school in Singapore. Activity theory and socio-cultural theories are adopted to illustrate the evolutionary transformations in a historical frame of analysis. Finally, we discuss issues on how transformations can take place from traditional to constructivist epistemologies in relation to collective and individual perspectives.

As a preamble, we describe the background context to the study of learning communities. We had initially adopted the concept of learning communities as described in the literature and applied the benefits of computer-supported collaborative learning environments (in the support of learning communities) towards constructivist forms of pedagogy. However, we failed in our initial attempts in encouraging students to engage in constructivist learning. We had initially thought that by engaging them with appropriate learning technologies in a communal context, students would naturally construct knowledge. Thus, our focus on the research shifted from that of observing knowledge construction through virtual communities to that of facilitating a transformation towards constructivist epistemologies in such environments. This shift in focus arose as we gradually saw a transformatory and evolutionary process taking place as we persisted in our efforts in facilitating learning communities.

Although the backdrop of this article discusses a research project implemented in a Singaporean school, the aim of this article is to illustrate the need to emerge and evolve a transformation rather than make the assumption that constructivist thinking will occur because a technology with particular affordances designed with that epistemology is adopted. It is not the intent of this article to report research data capturing context and process transformations. Instead the article highlights activity theory as a useful tool for capturing evolving transformations where techniques such as computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) can be used as enablers within the transformational processes. In the work described in this article we have used "Knowledge Forum" as a CSCL environment

LITERATURE REVIEW

Although communities have existed for centuries, researchers and educators have, in the last decade, begun to recognise the potentials of learning communities to schooling. Many research studies are now focusing on the effective design of learning communities, and the recognition that such designs can only, to a limited degree, be "designed" or planned (a priori). Some researchers now agree that communities emerge from within the community and that the dynamic structures of "living" communities are deeply concerned with issues of sociability rather than technicality or usability (Barab et al., 2004). Moreover, tensions arise in the design of communities because designers' conceptions of how communities should work may often times interfere with the evolving and dynamic nature of how things work among the members. The in-situ nature is congruent to the philosophy of situated cognition (Hung, 2003). Recent works also focus on the nature of knowledge, for example, how scientists form and create knowledge, and social structures and relationships between people become a central feature in the ownership and crafting of knowledge (Roth, 2002; Wenger, 1998).