Knowledge Building/Knowledge Forum: The Transformation of Classroom Discourse - New Science of Learning - page 484

accountability to the learning community, in which participants listen to and build
their contributions in response to those of others; two, accountability to accepted
standards of reasoning, talk that emphasizes logical connections and the draw-
ing of reasonable conclusions; and, three, accountability to knowledge, talk that
is based explicitly on facts, written texts, or other public information. These kinds
of accountable talk share similarities with knowledge-building principles: the first,
accountability to the community, is akin to collective cognitive responsibility: team
members produce ideas of value to others and share responsibility for the over-
all advancement of knowledge in the community; the second kind of accountable
talk is like knowledge-building discourse in that the knowledge itself is refined and
transformed through the discursive practices of the community; and the third is akin
to constructive use of authoritative sources: To know a discipline is to be in touch
with the present state and growing edge of knowledge in the field. Taken together,
research from the last 30 years (Cazden, 1988), to research on the effects of account-
able talk (Wolf, Crosson, & Resnick, 2006) and knowledge building along with
research from the learning sciences (Graesser, Gernsbacher, & Goldman, 2003),
as well as the present results are persuasive in arguing for a more collaborative
classroom discourse aimed at progressive inquiry.
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