KBTN | Professional Development Network for Knowledge Building in Schools

Call for Papers

We invite papers to be presented in the ICCE 2008 workshop “Knowledge Building Research in Asia Pacific”. We encourage diverse perspectives and participation of researchers who have been involved in knowledge building research in the Asia Pacific region. Relevant topics for the papers include but are not limited to the following:

• Classroom studies of various aspects of knowledge building such as conceptual change, epistemic belief change, and motivation.
• Theoretical work such as papers that examine knowledge building in the context of Asian culture and educational reforms.
• Technical developments such as the use of .Web 2.0 technologies to support knowledge building, new web-based inquiry environments, and tools that help to make the dynamics of knowledge building visible.
• Data analysis methods including multi-level analysis, data mining, and theoretical work on design experimentation.
• The role of teacher education and professional development.
• Internationalization of knowledge building.
• Related models.

Important dates are:

• Call for papers: 1 July 2008
• Submission due: 15 August 2008
• Acceptance notification: 31 August 2008
• Final papers for the workshop proceeding: 15 September 2008

Proposals should follow the format of conference papers. Please use the template available at http://www.apsce.net/icce2008/cfp_author_guid.html

Full papers (8 pages) - All submissions should describe original and unpublished work. Research papers should describe results of systems development and/or empirical or theoretical analysis. A small number of "survey paper" and "theme papers" will also be accepted. These should synthesize and examine broad issues in the field.

Short papers (5 pages) - Authors are encouraged to submit reports on work-in-progress as short papers. Short paper presentatiosns provide an informal forum for introducing work in its early stages.

Please email your submission to Jan van Aalst at vanaalst@hkucc.hku.hk with subject heading “ICCE 2008 Knowledge Building Workshop”. Proposals will be blind-reviewed by two reviewers in the program committee. Workshop papers accepted may appear in separate ICCE 2008 workshop proceedings. For further questions and information, please contact Jan van Aalst.

 

For more information about the 16th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE), please click here.

Short biographies of the workshop organizers

Dr. Jan van Aalst is an associate professor in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computer education, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. He obtained his Ph.D. in science education from the University of Toronto and has worked on knowledge building for more than a decade. His research has focused on classroom studies of knowledge building, assessment of knowledge building, data analysis methods, and professional development. From 2002 to 2007, he was co-investigator on the large-scale project, “Beyond Best Practice: Research-Based Innovation in Learning and Knowledge Work.” Since moving to the University of Hong Kong he has been working on an ethnographic study of knowledge building in a physics classroom and a professional development network focusing on knowledge building. His research on knowledge building has been published in a variety of journals including The Journal of the Learning Sciences, International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, Learning Environment Research, and British Journal of Educational Technology. In 2005 he shared a Most Usable research prize from the NASA-funded Virtual Design Center with Eddy Lee and Carol Chan for his work on assessment of knowledge building.

Dr. Hyo-Jeong So is an assistant professor in the Learning Sciences & Technologies Academic Group and the Learning Sciences Lab at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). She obtained her Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. She has been involved in research studies on teachers’ epistemological beliefs about learning and technology, designing video cases about teaching with technology, and students’ scientific knowledge building through collaborative inquiry. For the past two years, she has been working with primary school teachers to design and implement science lessons based on knowledge building principles, and have examined how knowledge building environment affects learners’ scientific understanding and socio-emotional learning. Additionally, she has investigated how knowledge building tools such as Knowledge Forum can benefit lower-achieving learners while also being beneficial for higher-achieving learners. Her Knowledge Building research has been presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), and the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference, and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Workshop programme committee
Jan van Aalst, University of Hong Kong, (China)
Hyo-Jeong So, National Institute of Education (Singapore)
Kate Bielaczyc, National Institute of Education (Singapore)
Chee Kit Looi, National Institute of Education (Singapore)
Seng Chee Tan, National Institute of Education (Singapore)
Ching Sing Chai, National Institute of Education (Singapore)
Carol Chan, University of Hong Kong (China)
Nancy Law, University of Hong Kong (China)
Jun Oshima, Shizuoka University (Japan)
Sheryl Wu, National Yang-Ming University (Taiwan)
Fei-Ching Chen, National Central University (Taiwan)
Marlene Scardamalia, (Canada)
Carl Bereiter, (Canada)
Jianwei Zhang, State University of New York at Albany (USA)

The expected number of attendees and the planned length of the Workshop:

We expect 20-30 people to participate in this full-day workshop. In the morning session we will have two invited presentations by Professor Marlene Scardamalia (University of Toronto) and Professor Janet Kolodner (Georgia Tech.), followed by several long papers by researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. (The invited presentations may be by videoconference.) In the afternoon we will have a poster session followed by a panel discussion to set future directions. The workshop will be concluded with concrete steps on how to carry forward our discussion as a Knowledge Building community in Asia Pacific (and as a Special Interest Group on Knowledge Building in APSCE).