The Nature of Knowledgeand Knowledge Creation
Joseph D. NovakCornell University, Professor Emeritus
Senior Research ScientistInstitute for Human and Machine
Cognition
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
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!
