Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations
Item
Title
Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations
Abstract/Description
Although knowledge has been linked to productivity within and between organizations, little is known about how knowledge flows into schools and then diffuses from teacher to teacher within schools. Here, the authors hypothesize that the value of different sources of knowledge depends on a teacher’s current level of implementation. The authors test their theory using longitudinal network data from 470 teachers in 13 schools. From models of change (i.e., first differences) in teachers’ use of computers over a one-year period, the authors infer that the more a teacher at the lowest initial levels of implementing an innovation is exposed to professional development focused on student learning, the more she increases her level of implementation (focus); the more a teacher at an intermediate initial level of implementation has opportunities to experiment and explore, the more she sustains her level of implementation (fiddle); and the more a teacher at a high initial level of implementation accesses the knowledge of others, the more she increases her level of implementation (friends). Concerning the potential for selection bias, the authors quantify how large the impacts (Frank 2000) of confounding variables must be to invalidate their inferences. In the discussion, the authors emphasize the changing nature of knowledge through the diffusion process.
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Volume
84
Issue
2
Pages
137-156
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
Published Text
Scholarship genre
Empirical
Open access/full-text available
Yes
Peer reviewed
Yes
ISSN
0038-0407
Citation
Frank, K. A., Zhao, Y., Penuel, W. R., Ellefson, N., & Porter, S. (2011). Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations. Sociology of Education, 84(2), 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711401812
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