Reflection on previous year:

• Students changed from answering the teacher’s questions to answering each other’s questions.
• Students were able to formulate their own criteria of a good discussion.

Highlights of design:

• Hidy used different resources and activities (e.g. field studies, video clips, simulation program) to facilitate the discussion and to improve ideas and deepen understanding.
• Hidy used question prompts to help students reflect on their learning process.
  
  

Learning outcomes:

• Increase in number of notes created by students
• Decrease in the percent of notes read by students
• Increase in percent of notes linked
• Increase in number of note revisions (Some students made a high number of revisions to their notes.)
• Increase in number of scaffolds used
• Increase in depth of discussion thread
• Decrease in average number of notes per thread
  
  

In the third year, Hidy’s students managed to generate questions for inquiry and formulate their own criteria of a good discussion. Also, unlike the first two years, the students changed from only answering the teacher’s questions to answering each other’s questions. In the fourth year, Hidy transformed her knowledge building pedagogical design used with secondary school students to be used with primary school students. She selected the topic “Global Warming and The Revelation of Tai Mo Shan” for her class of Primary 6 students. Through knowledge building, she aimed to improve the students’ reasoning skills through inquiry-based learning and to further develop their meta-cognitive skills through reflection.