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Classroom Learning Communities

Krechevsky and Stork (2000) stress the importance of learning from other people, as opposed to individual learning, but lament that 'many of our cultural images of teachers, parents, children and schools themselves stand in the way of realising such communities of democratic participation' (pp. 57-58). For example, working collaboratively in groups is not the same as sitting in groups and working individually, a common grassroots interpretation of group work (Johnson & Johnson, 1995; Styles & Beck, 2000). Work by Brown and Campione (1996) highlighted strategies to facilitate educators' efforts to take active moves away from a transmissionist 'teacher to student' view of learning towards guided discovery; reciprocal teaching; individual responsibility coupled with communal sharing; a community of discourse; multiple zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978); and seeding, migration and appropriation of ideas.

There is a clear relationship between calls for establishing a community of learners and the value of discussion for learning, as learning in communities of learners is founded not only upon the need to develop social skills (collaboration and cooperation) and social belonging, but also upon the view that the social interaction between learners directly influences the individual cognitive activity that occurs, which in turn accounts for learning (King, 1990; King, 1999; King, 2002; Krechevsky & Stork, 2000; Nelson-Le Gall & Resnick, 1998; Nuthall, 1997; Palinscar, 1998; Resnick et al., 1993). For example, Nelson-Le Gall and Resnick (1998) interpreted intelligence as a social construct, 'a set of social practices by which individuals adapt and tune their behaviour to immediate contexts of performance' (p. 41). Socially constructed intelligence provides a major philosophical foundation for the Reggio Emilia schools described by Krechevsky and Stork (2000).

Learning in groups enables individuals to construct new knowledge by creating new relationships using the learning strategies and outcomes of others. It encourages children and adults to confront and accept points of view different from their own. By working together, adults and children attain not just group understanding, but deep individual understanding. (p. 62)

Scardamalia and Bereiter (Bereiter et al., 1997; Scardamalia et al., 1994) described the CSILE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments) intervention study, where a community of learners could be extended beyond the bounds of the classroom walls using computer technology for facilitating asynchronous questions, suggestions and answers between students and experts. Whereas traditional views of curriculum have been that knowledge is acquired in school and applied outside of school, the 'communities of learners' approach redefines the curriculum so that students and teachers work together as scientists, mathematicians, historians and so on in their own community, solving authentic problems and adding to the bank of world knowledge (Ball & Bass, 2000; Brown & Campione, 1996; Hiebert et al., 1996; Roth, 2003; Scardamalia et al., 1994). The importance of this is demonstrated by Nuthall and Alton-Lees' (Nuthall, 2000a; Nuthall, 2000b) longitudinal investigation into how students remember. Nuthall calls for a shift in curriculum focus.

The curriculum becomes the roles that the teacher and the students play as they engage in classroom activities and create the unique system of roles, rules and expectations that constitute the culture of their classroom. The behaviour structure of tasks, including the students' feelings of efficacy, interactive experiences (and) evolving status, become(s) the structures within which curriculum knowledge and skills are embedded. Issues of participation and inclusion become cognitive issues.

This underscores the importance of seeing curriculum as 'communities of practice' (cf. Brown & Palinscar, 1989; Rogoff, Matusov, & White, 1996). Turning a classroom into a learning community is not just about improving achievement and learning skills, but about furnishing the minds of students and teachers. (Nuthall, 2000b, p. 134)

References
Ball, D. L. & Bass, H. (2000). 'Making believe: The collective construction of public mathematical knowledge in the elementary classroom.' In D. C. Phillips (Ed.), Constructivism in education: Opinions and second opinions on controversial issues (Vol. 1, pp. 193-224). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bereiter, C., Scardamalia, M., Cassells, C., & Hewitt, J. (1997). 'Postmodernism, knowledge building and elementary science.' The Elementary School Journal, 97(4), 329-341.

Brown, A. L. & Campione, J. C. (1996). 'Guided discovery in a community of learners.' In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 229-270). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Brown, A. L. & Palinscar, A. S. (1989). 'Guided cooperative learning and individual knowledge acquisition.' In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 393-451). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Hiebert, J., Carpenter, T., Fennema, E., Fuson, K., Human, P., Murray, H., Olivier, A., & Wearne, D. (1996). 'Problem solving as a basis for reform in curriculum and instruction: The case of mathematics.' Educational Researcher, 25(4), 12-21.

Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (1995). 'Goal structures.' In L. W. Anderson (Ed.), International encyclopedia of teaching and teacher education (pp. 349-352). Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon.

King, A. (1990). 'Enhancing peer interaction and learning in the classroom through reciprocal questioning.' American Educational Research Journal, 27(4), 664-687.

King, A. (1999). 'Discourse patterns for mediating peer learning.' In A. M. O'Donnell & A. King (Eds.), Cognitive perspectives on peer learning (pp. 87-115). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

King, A. (2002). 'Structuring peer interaction to promote high-level cognitive processing.' Theory Into Practice, 41(1), 33-46.

Krechevsky, M. & Stork, J. (2000). 'Challenging educational assumptions: Lessons from an Italian-American collaboration.' Cambridge Journal of Education, 30, 57-74.

Nelson-Le Gall, S. & Resnick, L. (1998). 'Help seeking, achievement motivation and the social practice of intelligence in school.' In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 39-60). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Nuthall, G. (1997). 'Understanding student thinking and learning in the classroom.' In B. J. Biddle, T. L. Good, & I. Goodson (Eds.), International handbook of teachers and teaching (Vol. 2, pp. 681-768). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Nuthall, G. (2000a). 'The anatomy of memory in the classroom: Understanding how students acquire memory processes from classroom activities in science and social studies units.' American Educational Research Journal, 37, 247-304.

Nuthall, G. (2000b). 'The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social studies units.' Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), 83-139.

Palinscar, A. S. (1998). 'Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning.' Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 345-375.

Resnick, L. B., Salmon, M., Zeitz, C. M., Wathen, S. H., & Holowchak, M. (1993). 'Reasoning in conversation.' Cognition and Instruction, 11(3 & 4), 347-364.

Rogoff, B., Matusov, E., & White, C. (1996). 'Participation in a community of learners.' In D. R. Olson & N. Torrance (Eds.), Education and human development (pp. 388-414). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Roth, W.-M. (2003). Contradictions in learning communities. Paper presented at the 10th biennial conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (keynote address), Padova, Italy, August.

Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C., & Lamon, M. (1994). 'The CSILE project: Trying to bring the classroom into World 3.' In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 201-228). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Styles, M. & Beck, J. (2000). 'The curriculum of the future.' Cambridge Journal of Education, 30, 5-15.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.