the nature of knowledge and knowledge creation

The Nature of Knowledgeand Knowledge Creation

Joseph D. NovakCornell University, Professor Emeritus

Senior Research ScientistInstitute for Human and Machine

Cognition

jnovak@ihmc.us

Beijing Normal University Professor’s Program

August 12-17

Cleveland, Ohio

Joseph D. NovakCornell University, Professor Emeritus

Senior Research ScientistInstitute for Human and Machine

Cognition

jnovak@ihmc.us

Beijing Normal University Professor’s Program

August 12-17

Cleveland, Ohio

Epistemology: The study of knowledge and knowledge creation

Most of the 19th and 20th Centuries:Dominated by Positivism and Logical Positivism:

Truth, once established, is eternal.

Developed in later half of 20th Century:Constructivism: Knowledge evolves over time.

Knowledge is built up from organized concepts and propositions

A Theory of Knowledge

Concept:

A perceived regularity or pattern in events or objects, or records of events or objects, designated by a label

A Theory of Knowledge

Proposition:

Two or more concepts combined to form a statement about something: a unit of meaning

A Theory of Knowledge

Some patters or regularities That can be observed

Boiling PointFreezing point

Celsius thermometerFahrenheit thermometer

Not observed:Heat

Molecular motion

D. Bib Gowin, 1979

The Vee Heuristic was invented by D. Bob Gowin in

1977

Gowin’s Knowledge Vee showing the

12 elementsinvolved in

creatingnew knowledge

A Vee diagramshowing the

elements requiredto study what

Knowledgechildren and their parents

share.

A Parade of Vees shows how knowledge evolves over time

The Vee heuristic can also be used as atool to represent interviewee’s knowledge

The ideas represented in the left side and right side of the Vee

can be represented as concept maps.

Draw a Vee diagram to address the focus question:

How can we measure temperature using a thermometer?

Thank You!