Belief Mode and Design ModeBoth are Important but Design

Mode is the Mode of Idea Improvement

Belief mode: Arguing, gathering and weighing evidence, accepting, rejecting, choosing

Design mode: Building new ideas out of existing ideas, theorizing, explaining, finding weaknesses and repairing them, sometimes changing to a radically different idea and building on it

Science Education in Belief Mode

WISE (Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment) project provides well-designed examples.

From the WISE homepage: “WISE is a simple yet powerful learning environment where students examine real world evidence and analyze current scientific controversies.”

Some WISE projects engage students in developing and improving their own explanations of natural phenomena, but others center on debate and offer relatively pure examples of belief mode.

A WISE Project in Belief ModeTwo hypotheses about light are presented:

Light goes on forever until it is absorbed

Light dies out as it gets farther from the source

Many different kinds of evidence--visual, verbal, and qualitative--are presented

It is up to the students to evaluate the evidence in order to decide between hypotheses.

Bicyclists at NightRider wearing white is more

visible than rider wearing black

Searchlight PhotoShowing high light intensity at

source, becoming less as it goes farther away

Galaxies in the Young UniverseOrdinary camera on left, Hubble photo on right, enlargement in

corner

Project-Based Learning in Belief Mode: Debating Two Hypotheses About Light

Students examine each piece of evidence with regard to relevance, methods, and credibility of the source.

Sort evidence into 3 categories: supporting “Light Goes on Forever,” supporting “Light Dies Out,” and “irrelevant.”

Debate. Teams select the strongest evidence supporting their hypothesis, and also select counter-evidence for which they prepare replies.

Student Activities

Project-Based Learning in Belief Mode: Debating Two Hypotheses

About LightCritique

Students draw their own conclusions from evidence.

They process much interesting scientific information.

But fundamental questions are glossed over: What is light?

What causes light?

What happens to light when it is absorbed?

How do we see?

The Most Serious Weakness of Project-Based Learning in Belief Mode: No Insight into How Scientific Ideas,

Hypotheses, and Theories are Created

How did anyone get the idea that “Light goes on forever”?

Could any evidence actually prove that light goes on forever unless it is absorbed?

Then why do most scientists believe it?

Answer: They don’t believe it as an isolated hypothesis. They have confidence in a theory that implies light goes on forever unless it is absorbed.

Science Learning in Design Mode

Example from a Grade 4Knowledge Building Classroom

Part of a long, student-directed inquiry into questions about light

Science Learning in Design Mode

Example from a Grade 4Knowledge Building Classroom

Part of a long, student-directed inquiry into questions about light

Bicyclists at Night

Our Problems why the colours of a rainbow are always in a specific order

We have figured out an answer… Different light frequencies make different colours. Red has the longest wavelength and travels the fastest. Violet has the shortest… Red always gets its place first in the rainbow because it travels faster…. Violet is always last because it travels slower than all the other colours. The colours in between come in order from the longest frequencies to the shortest…

Experiments in the Database

Class Portfolio Views

The difference between Knowledge Building and the activity method is in the goals

The difference between Knowledge Building and the activity method is in the goals

The distinctions contrast learning with knowledge building and contrast two modes of thought, which we call Belief mode and Design mode. Unlike most of the dichotomies that fuel educational debate, these are not good/bad distinctions. Learning and knowledge building are both good and important. Belief mode and design mode are both essential modes of thought. But the differences are also important, and are essential for understanding what is at issue in education for knowledge creation.

The distinctions contrast learning with knowledge building and contrast two modes of thought, which we call Belief mode and Design mode. Unlike most of the dichotomies that fuel educational debate, these are not good/bad distinctions. Learning and knowledge building are both good and important. Belief mode and design mode are both essential modes of thought. But the differences are also important, and are essential for understanding what is at issue in education for knowledge creation.

Thinking of knowledge creation as invention also dispels relativism

Thinking of knowledge creation as invention also dispels relativism

To survive in the world, even to count as an invention, an invention has to work. It has to perform its intended job. When two inventions are intended to do the same job, relativism goes out the window and we look for the invention that does the job better. Considered as inventions, theories have to work, too. The job of a theory is to explain and predict. Although comparing how well two theories do their job may be problematic, it is certainly not true in general that one theory is as good as another, that whose theory wins out is simply a matter of political power.

To survive in the world, even to count as an invention, an invention has to work. It has to perform its intended job. When two inventions are intended to do the same job, relativism goes out the window and we look for the invention that does the job better. Considered as inventions, theories have to work, too. The job of a theory is to explain and predict. Although comparing how well two theories do their job may be problematic, it is certainly not true in general that one theory is as good as another, that whose theory wins out is simply a matter of political power.

Epistemic InventionEpistemic Invention

Comparing two washing machines can be equally problematic. It may well turn out that one machine does a better job with certain kinds of clothes-washing tasks while the other does a better job with other kinds. A similar dilemma can arise when comparing two theories. This does not mean that the washing machines or the theories are equal; it only means that the choice is not as clear-cut as it might be in other cases where one machine or theory surpasses another on all counts.

Comparing two washing machines can be equally problematic. It may well turn out that one machine does a better job with certain kinds of clothes-washing tasks while the other does a better job with other kinds. A similar dilemma can arise when comparing two theories. This does not mean that the washing machines or the theories are equal; it only means that the choice is not as clear-cut as it might be in other cases where one machine or theory surpasses another on all counts.

Beyond Learning to Knowledge BuildingBeyond Learning to Knowledge Building

•Beyond an effort to keep abreast of advancing knowledge to contributing to its advancement

•Beyond cultural replication and lifelong learning to lifelong innovation

•Beyond an effort to keep abreast of advancing knowledge to contributing to its advancement

•Beyond cultural replication and lifelong learning to lifelong innovation

Guided Discovery is Essentially Belief Mode Activity: Hypothesis

Testing

Knowledge Creation is Working with Ideas in Design Mode: Theory Development and Explanatory Coherence

Guided Discovery is Essentially Belief Mode Activity: Hypothesis

Testing

Knowledge Creation is Working with Ideas in Design Mode: Theory Development and Explanatory Coherence

Pedagogical Shift of Greatest Consequence: From Guided Discovery to

Knowledge Creation

Knowledge Work Must be Conducted in Design Mode As

Well As Belief Mode

Knowledge Work Must be Conducted in Design Mode As

Well As Belief Mode

Design mode and belief mode are distinguished mainly by the kinds of

questions asked

Design mode and belief mode are distinguished mainly by the kinds of

questions asked

Belief Mode Belief Mode

• What does this statement mean? (comprehension)

• Is it true?

• Is it logical?

• What’s the evidence?

• What are the arguments for and against?

• What does this statement mean? (comprehension)

• Is it true?

• Is it logical?

• What’s the evidence?

• What are the arguments for and against?

• What is this idea good for?

• What does it do and fail to do?

• Does it have a future?

• How could this idea be improved?

• What is this idea good for?

• What does it do and fail to do?

• Does it have a future?

• How could this idea be improved?

Design ModeDesign Mode