UNIT-ONE Perspectives of knowledge and Education

Introduction

Knowledge: Meaning Knowledge is always concerned about knowing something. This

something could be natural objects, man-made things, events, processes, persons, their
activities, their relationships and many others. All of these and many other ‘objects’ of
knowledge may, collectively, be called as phenomena.

Therefore, knowledge always refers to comprehension of some or the other phenomenon.

Knowledge is sum of human understanding of the world, be it physical, biological, social,
mental and spiritual. In simple but generalised way, knowledge is sum of human
understanding of material and mental reality – given and constructed. The acquisition of
knowledge, or the build-up of knowledge, is by its very nature always refers to a process or
the road from ignorance to knowledge, from not knowing things to knowing them.
Knowledge has different aspects, kinds and levels. Knowledge, in common sense
understanding, signifies all the human meanings, beliefs about matters of facts (things,
objects, events), about relationships between facts, and about principles, laws, theories that
are at work in the nature and society.

Knowledge is understanding about the relationships; the relationship of the knower with the
known. In other words, it is the relationship of the subject with the object. Knowledge is the
result of knower’s active engagement with the object of knowledge. Knowledge and its
intensity depend on the relationship between the knower and the known. Further, knowledge
is understood in terms of enlightenment. In the school context, knowledge is the sum of
conceptions, ideas, laws, and propositions established and tested as correct reflections of the
phenomenon.

Definition of Knowledge
The most accepted definition of knowledge is that it is a justified belief. In one of his dialogues,
Theaetetus, Plato examined three definitions of knowledge that were widely in circulation at that
time. The three definitions of the knowledge are (as given in Encyclopedia of Philosophy):

1. Knowledge is Perception or sensation;

2. Knowledge is True belief, and

3. Knowledge is True belief accompanied by a rational account of itself or ground. After thorough
examination, Plato defined knowledge as, ‘justified true belief’.

1. According to Plato’s definition, human knowledge, in order to be given the ‘status’ of

knowledge, should fulfill the condition of being a belief – true and justified.

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2.John Locke, the founding father of empiricism, and who defined ‘mind as tabula rasa’,
surprisingly defined knowledge as “the perception of the agreement or disagreement of two
ideas”.

For pragmatist Dewey (2010), knowledge denotes an ‘inference from evidence’.

The National Curriculum Framework–2005, while placing the experience of the knower at centre,
also defined knowledge.

According to it, “Knowledge can be conceived as experience organised through language into
patterns of thought (or structures of concepts), thus creating meaning, which in turn helps us to
understand the world we live in. It can also be conceived of as patterns of activity, or physical
dexterity with thought, contributing to acting in the world, and the creating and making of things.
Human beings over time have evolved many bodies of knowledge, which include a repertoire of
ways of thinking, of feeling and of doing things, and constructing more knowledge .”

Epistemological meaning of Knowledge

Epistemology is one of the branches of philosophy, which is concerned with the theory of
knowledge. Epistemology, deals with two fundamental problems of knowledge–origin of knowledge
and validation of knowledge. The discussion on origin of knowledge focuses on the relative roles of
knower and the known in the making of knowledge. In the process it generated wealth of knowledge
on both ways and forms of knowing and knowledge. In order to know the origin of knowledge, it is
required to focus on process of how do we come to know. Process of coming to know begins with
knower’s (the subject) engagement with to be known (the object). The knower’s engagement and
relationship begins with his/her contact with to be known. The contact takes place through senses in
a context – physical, biological, socio-cultural and others. In this context, the knower own initiatives
for seeking knowledge employing different ways assume significance.

CHARACTERISTICS OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge has following characteristics that explicates and brings forth its nature.

1.NON-MATERIAL AND ABSTRACT NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

The various definitions of knowledge, be it common sense meaning of knowledge that the
knowledge is shared understanding; be it justified belief, or verified belief, or agreement between
two ideas or knowledge is sum of concepts, ideas, principles, laws; point out that knowledge is non-
material and abstract in nature. In addition to this, knowledge has certain other characteristics, such
as it is social in nature, it is cumulative and perspectival, and is limited and limitless. Let us analyse
these characteristics of knowledge.

2.SOCIAL CHARACTER OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is a socially shared understanding. Thus, it is essentially a social product. It is built up

socially, as a product of the social activity of men and women. Knowledge is not the handiwork of
isolated individual mind; it is the result of collective pursuit of the society. Though contribution of

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individuals in knowledge generation is immense and the role individuals in accumulation of
knowledge, at any point of history, is tremendous, all the individuals do this historical act of
generating and accumulating the knowledge precisely by participating in social activity and
processes. Not only that, the knowledge stock, into which individuals are born, provides individuals
with a sense of understanding. Without this, no individual could have contributed to the knowledge.
Every individual acquires a great deal of knowledge from his own experience; but he would not do so
apart from his association with fellow humans. Therefore, the knowledge is acquired and built up
only in society, and its roots lies in the social activities of man. Hence, knowledge is essentially social
in character.

3.CUMULATIVE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is cumulative in nature because it is socially preserved and transmitted from one
generation to the future generations. It is not static, but always grows and develops in generations.
Indeed, as there is scope for newer and newer understanding of reality, knowledge of the reality
gets expanded. As human relations with world of objects and their utilities, ideas and their relevance
assumes newer dimensions over time, human understanding of the world of objects and the world
of ideas undergoes change and in the process adds new knowledge to the existing stock of
knowledge. In this way, incomplete understanding moves towards complete understanding of the
reality. Knowledge grows through a process of not only adding to but also perfecting and correcting
the already existing body of knowledge. In no field is knowledge ever perfect, final and complete.
Knowledge is necessarily cumulative; knowledge once constructed does not perish; because,
knowledge, unlike material things that perish after some time, is non-material in nature. Therefore,
accumulation is inevitable.

4.KNOWLEDGE IS PERSPECTIVAL

Knowledge does not simply ‘explain’ the objective reality hanging ‘out there’; it constructs the reality
within the limits set by experience. It is not simply explanatory in character; rather, it is
interpretative in character and nature. It is interpreted in a social context. This inherent character of
interpretiveness of knowledge makes it perspectival rather than simply perceptual. Knowledge
develops perspectives among knowers.

5.KNOWLEDGE IS BOTH LIMITED AND LIMITLESS

The cumulative character of knowledge also informs us both limit and limitless nature of knowledge.
At any particular stage in the development of humanity, knowledge comes up against limits set by
the limited character of available experience and by the existing means in obtaining knowledge.
Therefore, knowledge is always limited, and is at the same time limitless. In other words, the known
is always bounded by the unknown but not the unknowable.

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6.KNOWLEDGE HAS THREE ASPECTS

the knowledge
seeker(the
conciousness of
participant)

the process of
knowledge
the known(field
(which connect
of study )
knower aand
know)

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Philosophers (PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE) were classified the types knowledge in to the

three major types that are personal, procedural and propositional knowledge.

1. Personal Knowledge The first kind of knowledge is personal knowledge, or knowledge by

acquaintance. This is the kind of knowledge that we are claiming to have when we say things like “I
know Incidental music.” The first type of knowledge is personal knowledge, or knowledge by
acquaintance. Knowledge in this sense is to do with being familiar with something. Personal
knowledge does, possibly, involve possessing at least some propositional knowledge. What
isimportant is that personal knowledge involves more than knowledge of propositions.

2. Procedural Knowledge The second kind of knowledge is procedural knowledge, or

knowledge how to do something. People, who claim to know how to juggle, or how to drive, are not
simply claiming that they understand the theory involved in those activities. Rather, they are
claiming that actually possess the skills involved, that they are able to do these things. Procedural
knowledge clearly differs from propositional knowledge. It is possible to know all of the theory
behind driving a car (i.e. to have all of the relevant propositional knowledge) without actually
knowing how to drive a car (i.e. without having the procedural knowledge). You may know which

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pedal is the accelerator and which is the brake. You may know where the handbrake is and what it
does. You may know where your blind spots are when you need to check them. But until you get
behind the wheel and learn how to apply all this theory, you do not know how to drive. Knowing
how to drive involves possessing a skill, being able to do something, which is very different to merely
knowing a collection of facts.

3.Propositional Knowledge The third kind of knowledge, the kind that philosophers concern
about most, is propositional knowledge, or knowledge of facts. When we say things like “I know
that the internal angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees” or “I know that it was you that ate
my sandwich”, we are claiming to have propositional knowledge. Although there are several
different types of knowledge, the primary concern of epistemology is propositional knowledge. This
is knowledge of facts; knowledge that such and such is the case. The difference between the three
types of knowledge is not as sharp as it might at first appear. Personal knowledge does seem to
involve knowledge of at least some propositions. Simply having met someone is not enough to know
them (in the personal knowledge sense); you also have to know a few things about them (in the
propositional knowledge sense). Procedural knowledge also seems to involve some propositional
knowledge. If you know how to drive a car (in the procedural knowledge sense) then you
presumably knows certain facts about driving (e.g. which way the car will go if you turn the steering
wheel to the left). What is important is that propositional knowledge is not enough to give you
either personal knowledge or procedural knowledge. Personal knowledge involves acquiring
propositional knowledge in a certain way, and procedural knowledge may entail propositional
knowledge, but the same propositional knowledge certainly does not entail procedural knowledge.

WHAT IS EDUCATION?

You are, by now, familiar with the term ‘education’, ‘educated person’ ‘educating’ and so on. You
must have also used these terms on several occasions in conversation with others. What do we
mean by education? Does ‘teaching’ or ‘instructing’ become education? Or is it learning in an
institution? Does developing the child into good human being known as education? Is it possible to
have one meaning of education? There are many more such questions that come to our mind when
we attempt to understand the concept of education. The term ‘education’ has been interpreted
by different people in different ways. Some people refer to it as formal schooling or to lifelong
learning. Some others refer to it as acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Some say that
education is nothing, but training of people’s mind in a particular direction to bring about desired
changes. If you ask a statesman, an artisan, a teacher, a parent, a philosopher and a student about
what education means to them, you would be surprised to know the multiple interpretations and
views people have about education. This only shows that education doesn’t have one precise
universally accepted definition. It has various meanings with various functions. Analysis of these
meanings would help us to understand what education really is. To begin with, let us look into how
the term ‘education’ has evolved and some of the views of great thinkers that exemplifies the
concept and meaning of education

ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING

ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING OF EDUCATION

Etymologically, the word ‘Education’ has been derived from different Latin words.

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a) ‘educare’ which means ‘to bring out’ or ‘to nourish’.
b) ‘educere’ which means ‘to lead out’ or ‘to draw out’.
c) ‘educatum’ which means ‘act of teaching’ or ‘training’.
d) ‘educatus’ which means ‘to bring up, rear, educate’.
e) ‘ēducātiō’ which means “a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing.”
The meanings of these root words lead us to believe that education aims to provide a
nourishing environment that would facilitate or bring out and develop the potentialities in
an individual.

Definitions of Education:

1. Gandhi: "By education, I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the Child and man
body, mind and spirit."

2. Vivekanand: “Education is the manifestation of the divine perfection, already existing in

man."

3. Heinrich Pestalozzi: "Education is natural harmonious and progressive development

of man's innate powers".

4. John Dewey – “Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of

experiences.”

Characteristics of Education
a) Education is a life-long process.—Education never stops till ones grave. Everyday, from
everyone, we are learning. Shri. Ramakrishna Paramhansa used to say, “As long as I live, so long do I
learn.”

b) Education brings about integrated development.—- Education is not only going to school and
classroom but also the act of combining character building and living with all sect of people.

c) Education is a tri-polar process.—– These three things are dependent on each other to
complete a cycle of Education.

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d) Education is the need of today.—-Without education, nobody improves ones thought. Education
teaches us to be flexible, open-minded and above all rational.

e) Education preserves the culture & transmits from one generation to another.—-Learning from
our grandparents, Learning from books, Learning from folk-lore, Learning from festivals &
celebration make the culture alive and communicate from generation to generation.

f) Education brings changes in the behaviour.—- Going to schools, colleges and living with teachers
bring the change in oneself.

g) Education is the development of mental faculties.—–Education is concentration, expansion of

one’s intellect and strengthening the power of mind.

h) Education brings out the latent talent within individual.—–Every individual has its talent inside.
To bring out the originality of a person is education.

i) Education has a specific goal of improving one’s capabilities, capacities and performances.—
Goal of Education is to bring out the inner talent and capacities of a person.

j) Education is a continuous reconstruction process.—Education is the alteration or remaking of

ones own short comings.

k) Education teaches the art of reasoning and analyzing.—-Students ,nowadays want ready made
notes,power point presentation etc which give them easy information to acquire a degree. They fail
to reason out of their own short comings. They have forgotten critical thinking. True education is—
when one can give reasoning to any learning or thought and analyze properly.

l) Education is the nurturing process of personality.—–Personality comes from within. Though

physical traits are important,yet behaviour patterns, cognition and emotion are having a great
significance in ones life.Education nurtures the inner process.

m) Education should be related to life, not bookish or irrelevant.—Educational degree is important

in life but it is irrelevant if not used in appropriate time and place.

n) Education should be job-oriented & skilled based.—-There are drop-outs from school due to a
loaded curriculum. Some students have intelligence for a particular skill but it is not given
importance by the school authority due to the system of education. True education —which can
make the person stand on its own feet with the training of his inner skill.

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 Difference Between Information and Knowledge

It is easy
to get confused about information and knowledge. People often use
the terms interchangeably, without knowing the fact that there are
slight and subtle differences between information and knowledge.
These two are important concepts of knowledge management
system, wherein the former means processed data about someone
or something, while the latter refers to useful information gained
through learning and experience. So, take a look at the given article
which might help you to understand the terms further. ontent:
Information Vs Knowledge
1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR
INFORMATION
COMPARISON

Meaning When the facts obtained are systematically presented in a give

known as information.

What is it? Refined data

Combination of Data and context

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 BASIS FOR
INFORMATION
COMPARISON

Processing Improves representation

Outcome Comprehension

Transfer Easily transferable

Reproducibility Can be reproduced.

Prediction Information alone is not sufficient to make predictions

One in other All information need not be knowledge.

Difference Between Information and Knowledge

December 7, 2016 By Surbhi S Leave a Comment

It is easy to
get confused about information and knowledge. People often use the terms
interchangeably, without knowing the fact that there are slight and subtle
differences between information and knowledge. These two are important
concepts of knowledge management system, wherein the former means

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processed data about someone or something, while the latter refers to useful
information gained through learning and experience. So, take a look at the
given article which might help you to understand the terms further.

Content: Information Vs Knowledge

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart
BASIS FOR COMPARISON INFORMATION

Meaning When the facts obtained are systematically presented in a given context it is known as

What is it? Refined data

Combination of Data and context

Processing Improves representation

Outcome Comprehension

Transfer Easily transferable

Reproducibility Can be reproduced.

Prediction Information alone is not sufficient to make predictions

One in other All information need not be knowledge.

Definition of Information

The term ‘information’ is described as the structured, organised and processed data, presented
within context, which makes it relevant and useful to the person who wants it. Data means raw facts

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and figures concerning people, places, or any other thing, which is expressed in the form of
numbers, letters or symbols.

Information is the data which is transformed and classified into an intelligible form, which can be
used in the process of decision making. In short, when data turn out to be meaningful after
conversion, it is known as information. It is something that informs, in essence, it gives an answer to
a particular question.

The main characteristics of information are accuracy, relevance, completeness and availability. It can
be communicated in the form of content of a message or through observation and can be obtained
from various sources such as newspaper, television, internet, people, books, and so on.

Definition of Knowledge

Knowledge means the familiarity and awareness of a person, place, events, ideas, issues,
ways of doing things or anything else, which is gathered through learning, perceiving or
discovering. It is the state of knowing something with cognizance through the understanding
of concepts, study and experience.

In a nutshell, knowledge connotes the confident theoretical or practical understanding of an

entity along with the capability of using it for a specific purpose. Combination of
information, experience and intuition leads to knowledge which has the potential to draw
inferences and develop insights, based on our experience and thus it can assist in decision
making and taking actions.

Key Differences Between Information and Knowledge

The points given below are important, so far as the difference between information and
knowledge is concerned:

1.Information denotes the organised data about someone or something obtained through
various sources such as newspaper, internet, television, discussions, etc. Knowledge refers
to the awareness or understanding on the subject acquired from education or experience of
a person.

2.Information is nothing but the refined form of data, which is helpful to understand the
meaning. On the other hand, knowledge is the relevant and objective information that helps
in drawing conclusions.

3.Data compiled in the meaningful context provides information. Conversely, when

information is combined with experience and intuition, it results in knowledge.

4.Processing improves the representation, thus ensures easy interpretation of the

information. As against this, processing results in increased consciousness, thus enhances
subject knowledge.

5.Information brings on comprehension of the facts and figures. Unlike, knowledge which
leads to the understanding of the subject.

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6.The transfer of information is easy through different means, i.e. verbal or non-verbal
signals. Conversely, the transfer of knowledge is a bit difficult, because it requires learning
on the part of the receiver.

7.Information can be reproduced in low cost. However, exactly similar reproduction of

knowledge is not possible because it is based on experiential or individual values,
perceptions, etc.

8.Information alone is not sufficient to make generalisation or predictions about someone

or something. On the contrary, knowledge has the ability to predict or make inferences.

Every information is not necessarily a knowledge, but all knowledge is an information.

Conclusion
To sum up, we can say that, information are the building blocks, but knowledge is the
building. Processing of data results in information, which when further manipulated or
processed becomes knowledge.

Suppose a person possess plethora of information about a particular subject, but

this does not mean that he/she can make a judgement or draw inferences on the
basis of the available information because to make a sound judgement, one should
have ample experience and familiarity with the subject, which is possible through
knowledge

Difference between teaching and training

Teaching vs Training

Difference between teaching and training is that teaching is a process of imparting

knowledge and skills by a teacher to a learner, which involve activities like educating
or instructing while training is a learning process that involves the acquisition of
knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts and rules. Both teaching and training is
related with building the competencies of an individual. Mostly, teaching is practiced
in schools while training is practiced in workplaces. This article does a small analysis
about these two concepts, teaching and training.

What is Teaching?

Teaching is a process of educating a person with theoretical concepts and is a kind

of a knowledge transfer between a teacher and a student.The role of the teacher is
to act as a facilitator of learning by leading discussions, providing opportunities to
ask open-ended questions, guiding the processes and tasks and enabling the active
participation of learners and to engage with ideas. Teachers are occupied in schools
with the main purpose of educating the children to grow as good citizens in the
world. Children today are the future leaders of the society. Therefore, teaching can
be considered as an important concept.

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What is Training?
Training is a technique frequently used in organizations to build a person’s skills,
knowledge and attitudes in order to meet the accepted standards by a specific
industry. Even though, the person has attained the highest academic qualifications,
every person who join the organizations as an employee has to undergo training for
a specific period .

Training can be offered as on the job training or off the job training. Depending on
the job position it may vary. On the job training refers to the training offered to the
employees while they are performing job activities. Most often this type of training is
offered to the employees who have a similar work experience in some other
workplace. Off the job training is offered to these employees initially to build their
competencies to match with the job requirements. Then, those who complete their
training period/probation period are appointed as permanent employees in the
company. This type of off the job training is offered to the freshers who newly join the
organization after their graduation or high school.

What is the difference between Teaching and

Training?
• Teaching is related to theoretical concepts while training is the practical application
of knowledge.

• Training has a more specific focus than teaching.

• Teaching seeks to impart new knowledge while training equips the already
knowledgeable with tools and techniques to develop a specific skill set.

• One of the objectives of teaching is to enrich the minds of the listeners while the
main objective of training is to mold habits or performance of the individuals.

• Teaching is, usually, within the context of the academic world, while training is
associated with the commercial world.

• Usually, teachers give feedback to their students, while trainers receive feedback
from the trainees.

• In order to build up as a competent professional,a person need to have a go od

understanding about the theoretical concepts as well as he/she need to have the
practical exposure. Therefore, teaching and training are equally important concepts.

Course II- Knowledge and Curriculum

Question Bank

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 Unit 1 1.

1. What is knowledge? Explain the main characteristics of knowledge?

2. ‘Personal, procedural and propositional knowledge are vital to all individuals’. Explain the
statement with relevant examples.

3. Illustrate with suitable examples: personal, procedural and propositional knowledge.

4. What is education? Elucidate the characteristics of education.

5. ‘Information is a prerequisite to knowledge’. Justify

6. ‘Mere information may be useless. It must be translated to knowledge.’ Justify

7. Compare and Contrast: Information and Knowledge.

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