ABSTRACT
For the past ten years, a grade six teacher at Huron Public School in Toronto, Canada has been working with researchers on the Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE) project to transform the way that students work and learn in his classroom. Over that period, he has gradually abandoned many of the task-centered practices common to Canadian schooling (e.g., project-based work, class assignments) in favor of new practices that focus on understanding. Large portions of each school day are now dedicated to the kind of progressive problem solving that one usually associates with scientific research teams. With minimal teacher guidance, students collaboratively pose problems of understanding, invent and debate theories, engage in research, and generally strive to make intellectual progress in key curricular areas. In short, the teacher has fashioned a culture of classroom practice that is grounded in intentional learning and collaborative inquiry. Scardamalia and Bereiter (1994) refer to this educational model as a Knowledge Building Community.
