Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A knowledge-practice perspective on technology-mediated learning

  • Published:
International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the relations between Carl Bereiter’s and Marlene Scardamalia’s knowledge-building approach and social practices. It is argued that technology enhances learning through transformed social practices. In order to truly contribute to educational transformation, pedagogical approaches have to be embedded in locally cultivated “knowledge practices” that channel the participants’ intellectual efforts in a way that elicits collective advancement of knowledge. Consequently, knowledge advancement is not just about putting students’ ideas into the centre but depends on corresponding transformation of social practices of working with knowledge. Creation of cultures which advance knowledge presupposes sustained efforts of teacher-practitioners, collaborating with students and researchers, aimed at iteratively transforming prevailing knowledge practices toward more innovative ones.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baird, D. (2004). Thing knowledge: A philosophy of scientific instruments. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Béguin, P., & Rabardel, P. (2000). Designing for instrument-mediated activity. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 12, 173–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter, C. (2002). Education and mind in the knowledge age. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1987a). The psychology of written composition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1987b). An attainable version of high literacy: Approaches to teaching higher-order skills in reading and writing. Curriculum Inquiry, 17, 9–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1993). Surpassing ourselves. An inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Chicago: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (2003). Learning to work creatively with knowledge. In E. De Corte, L. Verschaffel, N. Entwistle, & J. van Merriënboer (Eds.), Powerful learning environments: Unraveling basic components and dimensions (pp. 55–68). (Advances in Learning and Instruction Series). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.

  • Bielaczyc, K. (2006). Designing social infrastructure: Critical issues in creating learning environments with technology. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15, 301–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohman, J. (1999). Practical reason and cultural constraint: Agency in Bourdieu’s theory of practice. In R. Shusterman (Ed.), Bourdieu: A critical reader (pp. 129–152). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. (2003). Natural-born cyborgs: Minds, technologies, and the future of human intelligence. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cussins, A. (1992). Content, embodiment, and objectivity: The theory of cognitive trials. Mind, 101, 651–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, D. (2001). Subjective, intersubjective, objective. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, T., & van Joolingen, W. R. (1998). Scientific discovery learning with computer simulations of conceptual domain. Review of Educational Research, 68, 179–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Y. Engeström, R. Miettinen, & R.-L. Punamäki (Eds.), Perspectives on activity theory (pp. 19–38). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (2006). Development, movement, and agency: Breaking away into mycorrhizae activities. In K. Yamazumi (Ed.), Building activity theory in practice: toward the next generation (pp. 1–43). Kansai University: Technical reports 1.

  • Engeström, Y. (2007). Putting Vygotsky to work: The Change Laboratory as an application of double stimulation. In H. Daniels, M. Cole, & J. Wertsch (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky (pp. 363–382). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y. (in press). From learning environments and implementation to activity systems and expansive learning, Interacting with Computers.

  • Engeström, Y., & Blackler, F. (2005b). On the life of object. Organization, 12, 307–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y., Virkkunen, J., Helle, M., Pihlaja, J., & Poikela, R. (1996). The Change Laboratory as a tool for transforming work. Lifelong Learning in Europe, 2, 10–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y., Engeström, R., & Suntio, A. (2002). Can a school community learn to master its own future? An activity theoretical study of expansive learning among middle school teachers. In G. Wells, & G. Claxton (Eds.), Learning for life in the 21st Century. Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education (pp. 211–224). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström, Y., Puonti, L., & Seppänen, L. (2003). Spatial and temporal expansion of the object as a challenge for reorganizing work. In D. Nicolini, S. Gherardi, & D. Yanow (Eds.), Knowing in organizations: A practice-based approach (pp. 151–186). London: Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, H. (1981). Darwin on man: A psychological study of scientific creativity (2nd ed.) Chicago: The Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K. (1998). Epistemology of inquiry and computer-supported collaborative learning. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Toronto.

  • Hakkarainen, K. (2003a). Can cognitive explanations be eliminated? Science & Education, 12, 671–689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K. (2003b). Emergence of progressive-inquiry culture in computer-supported collaborative learning. Learning Environments Research, 6, 199–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K. (2003c). Progressive inquiry in computer-supported biology classroom. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(10), 1072–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Pursuit of explanation within a computer-supported classroom. International Journal of Science Education, 24, 979–996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K. (2008). Toward a trialogical approach to learning: Personal reflections. LLine – Lifelong Learning in Europe, 13, 22–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., & Sintonen, M. (2002). Interrogative model of inquiry and computer-supported collaborative learning. Science & Education, 11, 25–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Lonka, K., & Lipponen, L. (1999). Progressive inquiry: Overcoming constraints of human intelligent activity (in Finnish). Helsinki: WSOY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Lipponen, L., & Järvelä, S. (2002). Epistemology of inquiry and computer-supported collaborative learning. In T. Koschmann, N. Miyake, & R. Hall (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 129–156). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Lonka, K., & Paavola, S. (2004a). Networked intelligence: How artifacts and communities expand intellectual resources. A paper presented at the Scandinavian Summer Cruise at the Baltic Sea (theme: Motivation, Learning and Knowledge Building in the 21st Century), June 18–21, 2004 (Organized by Karoliniska Institutet, EARLI SIG Higher Education, and IKIT). Available at: http://www.lime.ki.se/uploads/images/517/Hakkarainen_Lonka_Paavola.pdf.

  • Hakkarainen, K., Paavola, S., & Lipponen, L. (2004b). From communities of practice to innovative knowledge communities. LLine – Lifelong Learning in Europe, 9(2), 74–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Palonen, T., Paavola, S., & Lehtinen, E. (2004c). Communities of networked expertise: Professional and educational perspectives. Advances in Learning and Instruction Series. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Muukkonen, H., Markkanen, H., & the KP-Lab Research Community (2006). Design principles for the Knowledge-Practices Laboratory (KP-Lab) project. In S. Barab, K. Hay, & D. Hickey (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2006 (pp. 934–935). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Bollström-Huttunen, M., & Hoffman, R. (2008). Teacher-researcher dialogue and expansive transformation of pedagogical practices. Digital Kompetanse (Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy), 3, 156–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Lallimo, J., Toikka, S. & White, H. (2009). Cultivating collective expertise within innovative knowledge-practice networks. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning in social practices. ICT and new artifacts—transformation of social and cultural practices. EARLI series: Advances in Learning. Pergamon (in press).

  • Hedegaard, M., & Chaiklin, S. (2005). Radical-local teaching and learning. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hektner, J., Schmidt, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2007). Experience sampling method: Measuring the quality of everyday life. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt, J. (1996). Progress toward a knowledge building community. Ph.D. thesis. Department of Education, University of Toronto.

  • Hintikka, J. (1999). Inquiry as inquiry: A logic of scientific discovery. Selected papers of Jaakko Hintikka (vol. 5). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppe, U. (2007). Educational information technologies and collaborative learning. In U. Hoppe, H. Ogata, & A. Soller (Eds.), The role of technology in CSCL: Studies in technology enhance collaborative learning (pp. 1–12). Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Volume 9. New York: Springer.

  • Kangas, K., Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P., & Hakkarainen, K. (2007). The Artifact Project - History, Science, and Design Inquiry in Technology Enhanced Learning at Elementary Level. Special Issue of Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 2, 213–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knorr-Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic cultures: How the sciences make knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knorr-Cetina, K. (2001). Objectual practices. In T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina, & E. Von Savigny (Eds.), The practice turn in contemporary theory (pp. 175–188). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolodner, J. (2002). Facilitating the learning of design practices: Lesson learned from an inquiry in science education. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 39(3), 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1993). We have never been modern. Hartfordshire, England: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1986, originally published 1979). Laboratory life: The construction of scientific facts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law, J., & Singleton, V. (2005). Object lessons. Organization, 12, 331–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipponen, L., & Hakkarainen, K. (1997). Developing culture of inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning. In R. Hall, N. Miyake, & N. Enyedy (Eds.): In R. Hall, N. Miyake & N. Enyedy (Eds.), Proceedings of CSCL '97: The Second International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (pp. 164–168). Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Available at: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/cscl/papers/lasse.pdf

  • Miettinen, R., & Virkkunen, J. (2006). Learning in and for working and the joint construction of mediational artefacts: An activity theoretical view. In E. Antonacopoulou, P. Jarvis, V. Andersen, B. Elkjaer, & S. Høyrup (Eds.), Learning, working, & living: Mapping the terrain of working life learning (pp. 154–167). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muukkonen, H., Hakkarainen, K., Inkinen, M., Lonka, K., Salmela-Aro, K. (2008). CASS-methods and tools for investigating higher education knowledge practices. In G. Kanselaar, V. Jonker, P. Kirschner, & F. Prins (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference for the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Volume 2 (pp. 107–115). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

  • Nespor, J. (1997). Tangled up in school: politics, bodies, and signs in the educational process. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolini, D., Gherardi, S., & Yanow, D. (2004). Introduction: Toward a practice-based view of knowledge and learning in organization. In D. Nicolini, S. Gherardi, & D. Yanow (Eds.), Knowing in organization: A practice-based approach (pp. 3–31). London: M. E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. R. (2003). Psychological theory and educational reform: How school remakes mind and society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. (2007). Jerome Bruner: The cognitive revolution in educational theory. Continuum Library of Educational Thought, Volume (vol. 3). New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paavola, S., & Hakkarainen, K. (2004). “Trialogical” processes of mediation through conceptual artefacts. A paper presented at the Scandinavian Summer Cruise at the Baltic Sea (theme: Motivation, Learning and Knowledge Building in the 21st Century), June 18–21, 2004. Available at: http://www.lime.ki.se/uploads/images/537/Baltic2004_Paavola _Hakkarainen.pdf.

  • Paavola, S., & Hakkarainen, K. (2005a). The knowledge creation metaphor – An emergent epistemological approach to learning. Science & Education, 14, 537–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paavola, S., & Hakkarainen, K. (2005b). Three abductive solutions to the learning paradox—instinct, inference, and distributed cognition. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 24, 235–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., & Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Modeling innovative knowledge communities: A knowledge-creation approach to learning. Review of Educational Research, 74, 557–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perez, C. (2002). Technological revolution and financial capital: The dynamics of bubbles and golden age. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, A. (1995). The mangle of practice: Time, agency, and science. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper, K. (1972). Objective knowledge: An evolutionary approach. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, H. T., & Gable, S. L. (2000). Event sampling and other methods for studying daily experience. In H. T. Reis, & C. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 190–222). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rheinberger, H. J. (1997). Toward a history of epistemic things: Synthesizing proteins in the test tube. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, W.-M. (2002). Being and becoming in classroom. New York: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, W.-M., & Barton, A. C. (2004). Rethinking scientific literacy. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M. (1999). Moving ideas to the center. In L. Harasim (Ed.), Wisdom & Wizardry: Celebrating the pioneers of online education (pp. 14–15). Vancouver, BC: Telelearning Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp. 67–98). Chicago: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1991). Higher levels of agency for children in knowledge building: A challenge for the design of new knowledge media. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 1, 37–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1994). Computer support for knowledge-building communities. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3, 265–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1999). Schools as knowledge-building organizations. In D. Keating, & C. Hertzman (Eds.), Today’s children, tomorrow’s society: The development of health and wealth of nations (pp. 274–289). New York: Guildford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and technology. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 97–115). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. (2001). Introduction: Practice theory. In T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetinas, & E. von Savigny (Eds.), The practice turn in contemporary theory (pp. 1–14). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. (2002). The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P., Engeström, R., Kangas, K., Bollström-Huttunen, M., & Hakkarainen, K. (2004). The Artifact Project: Hybrid Knowledge Building in a Networked Learning Environment. A paper presented at the Summer Institute of the Institution of Knowledge Innovation and Technology (IKIT), 10–14 of August, 2004, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada.

  • Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P., Viilo M., & Hakkarainen K. (2009). Learning by Collaborative Designing: Technology-enhanced Knowledge Practices. International Journal of Design and Technology Education (in press).

  • Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skagestad, P. (1993). Thinking with machines: Intelligence Augmentation, Evolutionary Epistemology, and Semiotic. The Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, 16(2), 157–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterelny, K. (2004). Externalism, epistemic artifacts, and the extended mind. In R. Schantz (Ed.), The externalist challenge (pp. 239–254). New York, NY: Walter de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuomi, I. (2002). Networks of innovation: Change and meaning in the age of the Internet. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vérillon, P. & Rabardel, P. (1995). Cognition and artifacts: A contribution to the study of thought in relation to instrumented activity. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10(1).

  • Virkkunen, J. (2006). Dilemmas of building shared transformative agency. @ctivites, 3, 43–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Virkkunen, J., & Ahonen, H. (2007). Learning in transformation: A new instrument for renewing learning practices (in Finnish). Vantaa: Infor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotski, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The present investigation emerged in the context of research and development of the Knowledge-Practices Laboratory (www.kp-lab.org, FP6-2004-IST-4, an integrated project 27490, 2006-2011) funded by the Information Society Technologies (IST) program of the European Community. A research grant provided by the Research Council of Culture and Society of the Academy of Finland for “Collective intelligence: How shared ‘trialogical’ knowledge practices augment human cognitive capabilities” (2008–2010, number 121207, PI Hakkarainen) also supported writing of the article. I would like to thank Carl Bereiter, Ritva Engeström, Yrjö Engeström, Kirsti Lonka, Reijo Miettinen, Sami Paavola, Marlene Scardamalia, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Jaakko Virkkunen, and Hal White for valuable comments concerning the issues addressed in the present article. The arguments and opinions provided are my own and do not necessarily correspond to those of the KP-Lab consortium or the funding agencies mentioned above.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE), Department of Education, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 20R, SF-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland

    Kai Hakkarainen

Authors
  1. Kai Hakkarainen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kai Hakkarainen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hakkarainen, K. A knowledge-practice perspective on technology-mediated learning. Computer Supported Learning 4, 213–231 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-009-9064-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-009-9064-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation