Knowledge Building Summer Institute 2026

RE-ENVISIONING EDUCATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE BUILDING-AI INNOVATION

Nanjing, China · March 24-27, 2026

 

Note: Indication of Interest

To help us manage administrative arrangements, we would appreciate a quick indication of interest from those planning to attend the event in person, especially participants travelling from outside China.

[By Dec 22: Indication of interest to submit - attendance onsite or online [https://forms.gle/oPP3BELBm5oSCpat7]

 

As education enters the era of generative artificial intelligence (AI) amid accelerating global, social, and technological change, educators worldwide face unprecedented challenges — not only in adapting classroom practices to AI‑driven designs and pedagogies, but also in redefining goals and re‑envisioning education and innovation. 

💡 KNOWLEDGE BUILDING

Knowledge Building, a seminal model in the learning sciences spanning more than four decades, has transformed research and practice in how people learn, create, and advance collective knowledge for the public good. Grounded in the core ideas of collective cognitive responsibility and sustained idea improvement, the Knowledge Building model has supported enduring research and innovation across countries, sectors, age groups, educational levels, and professional communities. In the AI era, Knowledge Building has become more significant than ever, offering a new lens on the epistemic roles of knowledge, learner agency, creativity, and infra-structuring. It is well-positioned to provide new goals, frameworks, principles, and pathways for human–AI co‑creation of knowledge and transformative practice to drive systemic change.

🌍 KNOWLEDGE BUILDING INTERNATIONAL

Knowledge Building International https://ikit.org/kbi/ is a global community of scholars, researchers, teachers, educators, engineers, and policymakers dedicated to collaboratively creating and advancing Knowledge Building innovation. We meet annually at the Knowledge Building Summer Institute (KBSI) to celebrate progress and advance the frontiers of our understanding and accomplishments.  The 2026 KBSI focuses on Knowledge Building as a meta-level framework that bridges theory, design, and practice for re-envisioning education. We aim to build synergistic efforts to address contemporary challenges—advancing Knowledge Building; integrating generative AI; supporting teacher innovation; driving curriculum change; designing analytics for concurrent, embedded, and transformative assessment; and enriching related designs (e.g., STEM, design-based thinking) for systemic innovation.

🧭 SUBTHEMES

We invite participants to engage in collective inquiry around these themes:

  1. Advancing and supporting foundational and systemic Knowledge Building in the AI era.

  2. Synergizing and using Knowledge Building to inform related research on generative AI and educational innovations (e.g., STEM, design thinking), expanding the ecosystems for systemic educational change. 

  3. Examining teacher innovative practices for AI-augmented knowledge building and advancing infrastructuring for systemic innovation

📌 KEY EVENTS

The 2026 KBSI will be held both onsite and online for international participants and local Chinese participants. KBSI will take place at the following on-site venues.

  • March 24-25, 2026: Nanjing Normal University, hosting invited talks, paper presentations, panel discussions, and researcher-teacher dialogues 

  • March 26-27, 2026:Nanjing Normal University Affiliated Hanjiang Experimental School,  which will open its  classrooms, including virtual visits to both international and local participants

🌟 HIGHLIGHT

A highlight of KBSI 2026 is visits to the hub school, where Knowledge Building permeates across all subjects and grade levels, including informal learning through a whole‑school approach.  The program will feature both on‑site and virtual classroom-school visits. There will be a focus on practitioners sharing their innovations and reflections, with researchers and graduate students analysing their work and synthesising research with practice. KBSI 2026 will also include teachers and students from other regions (Singapore and Hong Kong) joining the knowledge‑building AI classes.  

🎯 OUR SHARED VISION

With KBSI 2026 taking place in China—specifically at a hub school of innovation—the conference highlights research–design–practice synergy and cross‑community collaboration for systemic innovation.  Knowledge Forum, digital tools, AI technologies, and analytics will be used to support collective knowledge building throughout the event. KBSI 2026 is designed to provide a rich environment for collaborative knowledge creation and educational innovation. Together, we aim to advance Knowledge Building theory, pedagogy, and technology, leveraging generative AI to drive impact and innovation and re‑envision education. 

📣 CALL FOR PROPOSAL

KBSI 2026 submissions will focus on Knowledge Building and Generative AI. In addition, other Knowledge Building key topics are welcome, including analytics, teacher learning, innovation networks, and related learning and classroom inquiry models and designs that have synergy with Knowledge Building.

Submissions of symposia, papers, and posters should be written in English (Chinese or English presentation mode). Practitioner papers can be submitted in Chinese or English. 

You can upload your submission here:  https://forms.gle/Q9v8kvTsLFM8vK8s5

📝 1. Symposium

The symposium submission features a collection of related studies addressing a common theme (8 pages plus 1-2 pages of references).  The proposal should include: (a) Abstract (150 words),  (b) Introduction that frames the symposium, c) Summary of each of the presentations, and d) Information on how the symposium will be organized to invite engagement and participation.

📝 2. Research Papers

Research papers can be submitted as long papers (8 pages plus 1-2 pages of references) or short papers (4 pages plus 1 page of references). Papers should present conceptual or empirical work at an advanced stage of development. Long papers are intended for work that requires a more extensive explanation of background, methodology, data, analysis, and implications. Short papers are suitable for reporting work in progress and ones that can be presented more concisely. The proposal should include : 

  • Abstract (150 words for long papers; 120 words for short papers)

  • Problem, challenge, and innovation

  • Perspectives and related research 

  • Methods and designs

  • Findings

  • Discussion, implications, and emerging questions.

📝 3. Posters

You may submit a poster that reports on early-stage or ongoing work (1-2 pages, 600-800 words, including an abstract of approximately 60 words).  You may use some of the research‑paper headings, but you can also focus on design elements and preliminary work. Posters may also present the design of AI and/or analytics tools and technologies for knowledge building.  

📝 4. Practitioner Papers and Video Stories

📘 A) Paper: Practitioner submissions may be long (8 pages) or short papers (4 pages) (in English or Chinese).  These papers provide a venue for teachers to share innovative designs and practices in knowledge building. You are encouraged to share your innovation using generative AI, but other areas are welcome as well. In preparing your submission, you may consider the following:

Abstract (150 words for long papers; 120 words for short papers)

  • Problem, challenge, and innovation

  • Context, designs, and principles 

  • Classroom implementation: principle-based, idea-centred approach;

  • Evidence and analysis of students’ knowledge building   

  • Reflection: lessons learned, challenges, next steps, and emerging questions

  • Others (e.g., systemic knowledge building; teacher-researcher collaboration)

🎬 B) Video Story: Practitioners are invited to submit a 1–2 page proposal (approximately 600–800 words) for an annotated, curated video‑based story (10–15 minutes, combining narrated slides and classroom clips) that highlights innovative Knowledge Building practices. The video story should capture key moments from either a single lesson or a unit of study, illustrating how Knowledge Building unfolds in classrooms. Submissions may focus on innovations involving generative AI, though other areas are equally welcome. The purpose of the video story is to provide a deeper, more nuanced view of Knowledge Building in action—showcasing student ideas, teacher moves, technology and analytics use, and collaborative knowledge advances, etc. These video‑based narratives will serve as valuable artefacts for the community, supporting teacher learning and highlighting teachers as inventors and innovators.  In preparing your submission, you may consider the following:

Abstract (around 60 words) 

  • Title/topic/theme of lesson 

  • Context (subjects, student, and teacher background) 

  • Knowledge Building challenge/ big idea

  • Rationale of design: KB principles/pedagogy/technology 

  • Implementation and selection of clips (salient features: principle-based approach; scaffolding, technology; KB talk; analytics and different features) 

  • Interesting incidents and stories of student knowledge building

  • Reflection: lessons learned, challenges, next steps, and emerging questions

  • Others (e.g., systemic knowledge building; teacher-researcher collaboration)

📝 Other Formats

You are welcome to propose alternative formats, such as demonstrations, workshops, or design hackathons, that do not fit the categories above. Please submit a draft of your idea as soon as possible to the program committee: Carol Chan (ckkchan@hku.hk), Teo Chew Lee (chewlee.teo@nie.edu.sg), and Tan Seng Chee (sengchee.tan@nie.edu.sg). If you have any questions about the KBSI2026 submission, please contact guangji.yuan@nie.sdu.sg.

✅ REVIEW PROCEDURE

We follow the Knowledge Building principle that every idea is improvable. 

  • Two reviewers will be assigned to each paper. As part of a KB community, we are taking collective responsibility for advancing knowledge for the public good. The authors’ affiliations and reviewers’ identities will be revealed. 

  • After receiving reviewer feedback, please revise your work to address the concerns and issues. 

  • The revised papers and PowerPoint summary (10-15 slides), as well as e-posters and video stories, should be uploaded to the “KBSI 2026 Collective Knowledge Advance” View, with subviews organized by topic on Knowledge Forum.  In this view, authors are encouraged to read one another's work, build on it, draw connections, and create rise-above ideas.

🗓️ IMPORTANT DATES

Dec 17:  Call for KBSI 2026 Symposium, Papers, and Posters

Dec 22: Indication of interest to submit - attendance onsite or online [https://forms.gle/oPP3BELBm5oSCpat7]

Jan 18:  Submission Deadline for papers, posters, and symposiums 

Jan 30:  Submission Deadline for practitioner papers and video stories

Feb 27: Announcement and Feedback from Reviewers on papers/symposiums/posters

Feb 28: Announcement and Feedback from Reviewers on practitioner papers/video stories 

March 3:  Registration for KBSI 2026 (presenters and participants need to be KBI members) 

March 15: Presenters upload materials to Knowledge Forum: (a) accepted papers illustrated with PowerPoint presentations (10-15 slides), digital posters, and video stories.

March 16-24: Knowledge Forum opened for pre-conference interactions and knowledge building.