Do you have a set of textbooks in all of your classes?

N0 = 0 YES = 22

How important is this to you?

Do you have a set of textbooks in all your classes that you can take home?

N0 = 5 YES = 17 Most = 1

How important is this to you?

Did you receive your textbooks during the first week of school?

N0 = 6 YES = 14 Some = 1

How important is this to you?

Are there working computers in all of your classes with available printers?

N0 = 2 YES = 20

How important is this to you?

Do you have a library at your school?

N0 = 0 YES = 21

How important is this to you?

Has one of your classes visited the school library in the last month?

N0 = 2 YES = 20

How important is this to you?

Are there a variety of languages and cultures represented in the books at your school library?

N0 = 0 YES = 21 Some = 1

How important is this to you?

Are there dictionaries and thesauruses in good condition in your English and History classes?

N0 = 0 YES = 22

How important is this to you?

Do you know the California curriculum standards for your grade (and subject)?

Are the standards posted in the classrooms at your school?

Has anyone explained to you what the standards mean?

Do you understand the standards?

In the late 1970’s, Jean Anyon of Rutgers University conducted research with children in several New Jersey schools to find out what they believed about knowledge. [http://tcla.gseis.ucla.edu/reportcard/tools/pdf/anyon.pdf] She surveyed students in schools that were identified as “Working Class”, “Middle Class “and “Affluent Professional.” Not surprisingly, students from different schools responded in different ways to the questions, “What is Knowledge?” “Where does Knowledge Come from?” and “Could you make knowledge, and if so how?” The differences ranged from “My teachers give me knowledge” at the “Working Class” school to “knowledge comes from my head” at the “Affluent Professional” school. Interestingly, there was little variation within the schools.

I was curious how students at my own diverse Title I elementary school would respond to Anyon’s questions. Will Rogers Learning Community is in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, and even though it is located in a middle- and upper-middle class neighborhood, it also serves the city’s poorest neighborhood. Families of our 650 K-5 students are working class, middle class, and affluent. I wondered if our school might gain some insights into our practice if we had a better understanding of what the children believed about learning.

Based on Anyon’s article it would seem that students from different economic backgrounds would have different theories and understandings about knowledge. I asked Anyon’s questions to an economically diverse fifth grade class in which most of the students have been at our school since kindergarten and found that the students had very similar views. The students’ initial responses ranged from, “knowledge is stuff you know” to “knowledge is knowing what NOT to do” to “knowledge is something you learn from a place and then keep in your mind to remember when you get older.”

When we moved on to “Where does knowledge come from?” students got very excited! They said that knowledge comes from: “school,” “books,” “technology,” “my own head,” “what you see in the world around you,” and “everyone whom I talk to.” One student volunteered that knowledge comes from “mistakes…because you learn from them.”

Finally, the students’ most enthusiastic response came when I asked: “So could you make knowledge? And if you could, how would you do it?” Overwhelmingly the class responded that everyone could DEFINITELY create knowledge. One student responded: “You can make knowledge by sharing experiences with other people….you know, like I do in class.” Another student nodded, then said, “Yeah, but I’ve made knowledge when I didn’t plan on it! I like to make stuff and then when I made something, I learned from it…that’s making knowledge, right?” Students quickly responded “Yeah, uh huh, yeah!” These students were grounded in the concept that knowledge creation is their right, and it can be made from anything that they feel comes in contact with their own lives and experiences.

Throughout this discussion period, students were very respectful of one another’s talking time. They did not interfere with one another’s responses and they in fact seemed very in tune with one another when answering. Students agreed, disagreed and even challenged one another to “clarify what you mean.” Their discussion about knowledge thus took on the feel of a community of inquiry--with each new claim considered as a rigorous thought, requiring a reason or defense behind it.

The time I spent with these fifth grade students indicated to me that students in our school have learned a certain way of engaging knowledge. They are willing to explore different options and other peoples opinions. They challenge statements, and in the end go with an idea that makes sense. All classrooms, regardless of students’ socio-economic status, should support the development of these habits of knowledge. Students have the distinct right to believe in things, challenge those beliefs, and either change or become more committed to their ideas based on statements and facts. The fifth graders in our learning community are engaging in that process, and should continue to do so far into their futures.