 Keynote speaker: Prof. Katerine Bielaczyc Chair: Prof. Yael Kali Cultivating a "Community of Learners" Approach in Classrooms Prof. Katerine Bielaczyc Director, Hiatt Center for Urban Education, Clark University Background to the talk: Communities of Learners (CoL) models of education are intended to foster deep disciplinary understanding and socialize students into the world of work with knowledge (Bereiter, 2002). Through working collectively to carry out investigations and reflect on their knowledge building processes, learners develop the agency and social capacities necessary for creatively working with knowledge. CoL models require teachers and students to engage in new modes of inquiry that tend to be very different from the ways in which learning and teaching occur in more traditional settings. My research focuses on how to support teachers and students in the change processes that they must move through? In this talk, I will provide an overview of what has been learned in the educational community and in my own work with teachers concerning how to cultivate classroom learning communities. I will discuss both key theoretical underpinnings (design principles, epistemology and an understanding of how students learn) along with critical design elements that provide transformational leverage in enacting CoL’s. Biography:
Dr. Bielaczyc received a B.Sc. Honours in computer science from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and a Master's and Ph.D. in education from The University of California at Berkeley. She has been at Clark University since 2012.
Dr. Bielaczyc's research involves collaborating with students, teachers, and school communities to investigate new approaches to teaching and learning. Her work focuses on developing both technological and social infrastructures to support participants in working together as a knowledge building community to create knowledge regarding personal, pedagogical, and systemic transformation. Before joining Clark, she was Deputy Head of the Learning Sciences Lab at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, Assistant Professor at Harvard University jointly in Teacher Education and Technology in Education, a Senior Scientist at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, and Director of the Learning Communities Research Group at Boston College. Dr. Bielaczyc has also collaborated on educational projects in Europe and South America. Suggested Reading (can be downloaded below):
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