Collaboration and Knowledge Integration

• Elizabeth Gerard , University of California Berkeley
• Erika Tate , University of California Berkeley
• Jennifer Chiu , University of California Berkeley
• Stephanie Corliss , University of California Berkeley
• Marcia C. Linn , University of California Berkeley

We draw on three examples from the Technology Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) project to show how collaborative activities designed following knowledge integration patterns contribute to science learning. By knowledge integration we refer to learners sorting out their many, often contradictory, ideas to develop coherent understanding. Research on instruction suggests four interrelated processes that jointly lead to integrated understanding: eliciting current ideas, adding new ideas, evaluating ideas, and sorting out ideas. These processes characterize design patterns that promote knowledge integration. We describe how knowledge integration patterns informed the design of collaborative activities for Chemical Reactions and report on the value of heterogeneity in small groups. We describe how teachers learned from each other while refining an on-line teacher’s guide for Asthma. We describe how teachers engaged in collaborative customization of the Plate Tectonics unit and show that the revised unit resulted in improved student learning.
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