ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine how a small group of learners (aged 17) go beyond the limits of their previous and existing knowledge and how they engage in processes of collective knowledge creation. In this case, they seek to make sense of a tragic incident: the hostage situation and ensuing battle between Chechen rebels and Russian soldiers at School No. 1, in Beslan, where 344 people, 186 school children among them, died (September 2004). As Paavola and Hakkarainen (2005) point out, there is little or fragmentary empirical evidence of young learners engaging in knowledge creation. Our aim is therefore to contribute to this field of required research by examining the relations between knowledge-creation activity and its object. The rationale is that knowledge creation is seen as vital in responding to the challenges of the knowledge society and in increasing the overall intellectual capital of schools (Hargreaves, 2003; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006). Also, the notion of knowledge creation has recently been introduced as a third, main metaphor of learning (Hakkarainen, Palonen, Paavola, & Lehtinen, 2004; Paavola & Hakkarainen, 2005), the other two being the acquisition metaphor and the participation metaphor (Sfard, 1998).
