Activating teachers' epistemic agency to implement knowledge building in classroom: A case analysis of the "Classi in rete" project

Abstract

In this study we examined whether a training oriented to activate Epistemic Agency (Scardamalia, 2002) of teachers can allow them to take the Knowledge Building (KB) perspective and to realise the appropriation of the use of the Knowledge Forum (KF) environment. During the project "Classi in rete", promoted by INDIRE, 22 teachers from primary and lower secondary Abruzzi small schools participated in an online discussion in KF, focused on problems in implementing the KB model. Data has been analyzed through content analysis of the KF notes and using analytics tools of KF. Results showed the teachers' assumption of KB perspective by the prevalent exploratory nature of the problems identified, by the focus both on technological and teaching aspects and by the work to find different solutions about a particular challenging problem. The appropriation of KF is shown by the increase, during the training, of reading and writing activity and by the correlations among reading, writing, and improving notes activity. Implications for teachers' training are discussed.