Developing A Rapid Collaborative Knowledge Building Model To Encounter Emerging Situations Based On Grounded Theory

The purpose of this study was to develop a rapid collaborative knowledge building model to encounter emerging situations according to Scardamalia, Bereiter, & Stahl perspectives. Forty mechanical engineering students voluntarily participated in a time overcoming race designed by Yazd university's mechanical engineering professors. Students encountered an emergent problem on the day of the competition (which involved building a boat to carry at least one kilogram in the shortest possible time, and over the course of the long haul). Specific equipment and limited time were provided equally to all teams to examine the process of rapid collaborative knowledge building. After the competition (5 hours) and the results were announced, the 3 groups were named as successful and the other groups were named as unsuccessful. The qualitative method of grounded theory was used. Quantitative data were collected by from focus group interviews (open, axial and selective coding), observations and scientific resources (scientific documents). Grounded theory was developed based on data triangulation. The results showed that rapid collaborative knowledge building is concerned on the factors: communication, team organization, use the tools, planning & idea storming, achievement motivation, positive perfectionism & time management.