Abstracting processes, from individuals’ constructing of knowledge to a group’s ‘shared knowledge

A model for processes of abstraction, based on epistemic actions, has been proposed elsewhere. Here we apply this model to processes in which groups of individual students construct shared knowledge and consolidate it. The data emphasise the interactive flow of knowledge from one student to the others in the group, until they reach a shared knowledge — a common basis of knowledge which allows them to continue the construction of further knowledge in the same topic together. The relationships between the construction of knowledge by individuals and the “shared knowledge ” of an ensemble is a fascinating issue, both from cognitive and socio-cultural points of views. An ensemble is defined as “the smallest group of individuals who directly interact with one another during developmental processes related to a specific context ” (Granot, 1998, p. 42). The existence of an ensemble emerges from situations in which individuals contribute to the same activity. Typical ensembles in classrooms include dyads, small groups, and entire classes. In each case the teacher may or may not be included in the ensemble