Culture as a tool: facilitating knowledge construction in the context of a learning community

Abstract

Knowledge construction is regarded as an effective learning model in practice. When more and more learning communities are organized to promote knowledge construction, it is necessary to know how to use different tools to support knowledge construction in the learning community context. In the literature, few researchers discuss how to construct knowledge with such tools in the contexts of learning communities. The purpose of this project is to explore how culture as a tool supports knowledge construction in the context of the Zhabei Learning Community in Shanghai, China. Social constructionism and the cultural diamond are employed as devices to frame the study. Some of the conclusions are influenced by postmodernism. Data from five learning cells indicate that culture is a bridge that connects multiple knowledge creators together; culture is a prop which transfers knowledge to a variety of receivers; culture is a lubricant nurturing an open learning environment; and culture is used as a toolkit to compose the new knowledge product.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dr Sharan Merriam, Dr Melissa Freeman and all others who kindly participated in reviewing the manuscript and providing helpful suggestions. The author also thanks Dr Leland Haraszti for his detailed editing of this paper.

Notes

1. Zhabei is one of 18 administrative districts in Shanghai, China.

2. Learning cells: social units such as salons, clubs, teams and families that offer learning activities to adults.

3. Ground calligraphy is a new type of calligraphy. Compared with traditional calligraphy, ground calligraphy is easier to write. Normally, the calligrapher writes the calligraphic symbols on paper using ink and a normal‐sized paintbrush. Ground calligraphy is different in that when calligraphers write on the ground in public squares or in public parks, only water is used along with a giant paintbrush approximately 1 m long. Thus, the artist and the audience are able to enjoy the aesthetic shapes of the letters, without polluting the environment, since the water evaporates, leaving no permanent mark on the ground (see Figure 4 for an example of ground calligraphy).

4. The list of the ‘Hundred Names’ was compiled in the Song Dynasty by a scholar. He put the most commonly used family names in China on this list. Originally, 411 family names were listed, according to the frequency of the family names used by the numbers of the population and the rhythm of their pronunciation. These most popular names were compiled according to their pronunciation into a reading primer for school children. The first four family names in this book, for example, are ‘Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li’ (Zhang and Shen, 2006).

5. An informal poem, usually witty, without strict rhythms.