The role of problematizing in online knowledge building

Ming Lai
The University of Hong Kong

This paper describes an international collaboration between two classes of grade five students through an online discussion platform with one group more experienced in online knowledge building activities than the other. Using the methods of problematizing move (Koschmann yet al., 2005) and level of social construction of knowledge (Gunawardena et al, 1997), the analyses suggest that the more experienced group is better at problematizing the discourse or discovering areas of disagreement in the discussion. With the joint-discussion with the more experienced group, the discourse of the students in the novice class changed from more information-centered towards advanced levels of knowledge building.

Keywords: collaborative learning, problematizing move, online discussion, online knowledge building