Wisdom in Elementary School

The Knowledge Age brings with it the need for a new form of educational wisdom—wisdom about knowledge. It is generally believed that it takes a long time to achieve wisdom. If that is true, the best schools can do is start students on a long progression—but a progression toward what? What represents a good or bad start on wisdom? Knowledge-Age wisdom requires deep understanding about knowledge itself, and the means by which it is created and continually improved. To what extent are students in elementary school years able to take charge of knowledge advancement? Can they understand the socio-cultural-cognitive processes by which knowledge is advanced, and take responsibility not just for their own knowledge advancement but also for that of their community as a whole? For wisdom about knowledge to develop, classroom interactions need to better approximate how knowledge is created and how groups at the forefront of knowledge creation in our society organize themselves (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003). Toward this end, researchers at the Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology (IKIT) and teachers at affiliated elementary schools have for the past two decades been working to ensure such processes are integral to the day-to-day operations of the classroom. Participants in Knowledge Building Communities (KBCs) take collective responsibility for the advancement of community knowledge. KBCs are designed to increase the ability of students to create and work with knowledge in the same manner as those who work with ideas in research teams and knowledge-creating organizations. Although turning agency for knowledge work over to students is difficult (Moreau, 2001); teachers report that the shift is possible and well worth the effort (Messina, 2003; Moreau, 2001; Caswell, 1998; Reeve, 1998). The pedagogical shift