Student-generated questions and ideas about our universe are the start of a rich and highly
motivating learning environment. Using their curiosity-driven questions and ideas, students form
Knowledge Building groups or ‘communities’ where they plan, set goals, design questions for
research, and assess the progress of their work, tasks that were once under the control of the
teacher. With the understanding that all knowledge and ideas are treated as improvable, students
work collaboratively at their level of competency to share their knowledge, ideas and understandings
gained from authoritative sources and laboratory activities. Over time, students work collectively
to improve the knowledge and ideas of others that result in advances in understanding that benefit
not only the individual but the community as a whole. Learning outcomes reported in this paper
demonstrate that a Knowledge Building environment applied to introductory cosmology produced similar
gains in knowledge…