Abstract
This study aimed to help students collectively construct knowledge regarding energy saving, using an innovative pedagogical approach called knowledge building. Participants in this case study were 5th-grade students in Taiwan. They worked in Knowledge Forum-a knowledge building environment-for a complete school year. The analysis indicated that knowledge building did make students become more collaborative; as a result, they were able to engage deeply in the process of ideas generation, idea interaction, and idea improvement, rather than to engage in superficial social talk. In addition, it was found that students were able to discuss and form rich concepts of energy saving; they were not only able to share ideas, but to deepen their ideas relevant to energy-saving; it was found that there were significantly more concepts co-constructed in class than concepts covered in some official curriculum materials. In sum, knowledge building seemed to be useful for students to create collaborative knowledge in science learning. Some implications regarding teaching and collaborative learning were discussed.