Chapter 3 A Review of Educational Innovation from a Knowledge-building Pedagogy Perspective

Knowledge-building (KB) pedagogy is a framework that promotes collective inquiry towards the continual resolution of knowledge problems that are relevant to a community (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993). Scardamalia (2002) proposes 12 principles to define KB pedagogy. The aim of this study is to provide a review that analyses the influences of these principles on empirical investigations on KB and the importance of technology in such investigations in order to understand the research trends on this pedagogy. The sample was selected from the most recent products published in the Web of Science database. The content analysis performed showed that researchers focussed mainly on the aspects related to a balanced distribution of knowledge and the improvement of ideas in a KB community. Results of this research suggest the addition of a sixth principle in KB pedagogy, that is, a technological principle. The latter highlights that KB is mediated by technology, which in turn facilitates communicating and sharing ideas within a community.