Knowledge Base Construction as a Pedagogical Activity

Abstract

This study examined cognitive processes and outcomes associated with student knowledge base development. Sixty-nine grade eight students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a knowledge base development (KBD) group, a problem-solving software group, and a control group. Those in the KBD group received relevant instruction and then worked in small teams to develop very simple expert systems for weather prediction for about sixteen hours. Students in the software group engaged in problem-solving activities using The Factory and Super Factory; control group students completed weather instrument projects. MANOVA results for several measures of cognitive skill gain and transfer found no differences between groups. But for those students who scored higher than the grand median on a standardized pretest of abstract reasoning, there were significant main effects favoring the KBD group on a formal reasoning test and a transfer task. A qualitative analysis of students' cognitive task strategies is presented.