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Uzma Sagheer Janjua

PhD (Ist semester) Social Science & Prof .Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES,
ISLAMABAD
Janjuauzma2014@yahoo.com
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?
&
WHAT IS LEARNING?

The fact or condition of being aware of something. (www.merriam-webster.com).


How we acquire knowledge?
We all acquire knowledge in a similar way. There are various kinds of knowledge:
knowing how to do something (for example, how to ride a bicycle), knowing someone
in person, and knowing a place or a city. Although such knowledge is of
epistemological interest as well, we shall focus on knowledge of propositions and
refer to such knowledge using the schema S knows that p, where S stands for the
subject who has knowledge and p for the proposition that is known. Our question
will be: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for S to know that p?
Piaget observed that infants actually seek environmental stimulation that promotes
their intellectual development, he thought that their initial representations of objects,
space, time, causality, and self are constructed only gradually during the first 2 years.
He concluded that the world of young infants is an egocentric fusion of the internal
and external worlds and that the development of an accurate representation of
physical reality depends on the gradual coordination of schemes of looking, listening,
and touching. (www.nap.edu)
How mind works?
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), commonly known as the father of modern medicine,
worked for both philosophy and physiology. He was deeply concerned in the nature of
the mind and the concerned factors affecting this element. According to him human
mind is an entity that controls the body. It is a philosophical belief that the mind or
soul is different from the body. This leads to the definition of body being composed of
physical substance and in a contrast the mind is unearthly or intangible, not composed
of physical substance. Hippocrates (Sternberg, 1998) was the first person to assert that
the mind resides in the brain.

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Aristotle and Plato had some contradicting views on the nature of reality. Plato
believed that the reality does not lie in material objects that we come across through
our senses but in the abstract forms that these objects symbolize. These ideal forms
exist in an eternal measurement of pure abstract thoughts. These senses from objects
are simply poor, imperfect and temporary images of the "real" idea that is formed in
our minds. Plato articulates that the head must be the seat of the mind due to
resemblance with sphere which he thought to be a perfect abstract form. Plato says,
Mind and body interact with one another but they are fundamentally different and the
mind is always superior to the body. Truth is in our thoughts not in our senses.

The theory of tabula rasa was more developed in the 11th century by the Islamic
philosopher, Avicenna in the Western world. Avicenna argued that the "human
intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa, a pure potentiality that is actualized
through education and comes to know" knowledge is attained through the objects in
the world.
Pre conscious, conscious and unconscious.
The conscious part of the psyche is the part with which we are currently aware of. It is
the active part of the mind. It deals with all our thoughts that occupy our mind
presently.
The preconscious part of the psyche consists of the thoughts, memories, and
knowledge that we are not aware of currently, but can be recalled at any time. It is the
storehouse of our memories and knowledge. The third part of our psyche is
unconscious and that we are not aware of it. It is that part of our psyche we do not
have access to it. It contains our thoughts, memories and impulses we are not aware of
because it may cause anxiety and may be at times damaging to us. This thought drives
much of our behavior.
Al Ghazali wanted to learn everlasting knowledge which is hundred percent true. He
was also of the same opinion as Hume that senses are not reliable source of acquiring
knowledge. Our shadow moves and we do not know about it. We should have
mystical knowledge. Our own self is reality. If we think deeply about our origin,
where did we come from? We should try to gain spiritual and mystical knowledge. To
learn about self.
Dr. Mohammad Allama Iqbal derives his theory from Quran to acquire knowledge.
According to him knowledge is gained through all kinds of experiences. Such as our
five senses, reason, instinct, love and revelation. Knowledge is acquired through a lot
of sources. He starts from perception, moves on through intellect and arrives at love.
He defines knowledge as "sense-perception elaborated by understanding". On another
place Iqbal says "It is through thinking that our knowledge grows and thinking is
determined by our sensuous experience. So when the nature of our senses undergoes a
change, the world is changed for us. (www.ukessays.com)
14 WAYS TO ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE:
PRACTICE
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Consider the knowledge you already have the things you really know you can do.
The man who is really going to be educated, who intends to know, is going to stay
with it until it is done. Practice!
ASK
Ask! When you ask, you have to be humble. You have to admit you dont know! But
whats so terrible about that? Everybody knows that no man knows everything, and to
ask is merely to let the other know that you are honest about things pertaining to
knowledge.
DESIRE
You never learn much until you really want to learn. If you dont desire to learn
youre either a num-skull [sic] or a know-it-all. And the world wants nothing to do
with either type of individual.

GET IT FROM YOURSELF


You may be surprised to hear that you already know a great deal! Its all inside you
its all there, you couldnt live as long as you have and not be full of knowledge. Its
now up to you to go to work on your own gold mine, to refine the crude ore.
WALK AROUND IT
Any time you see something new or very special, if the thing is resting on the ground,
as your examination and inspection proceeds, you find that you eventually walk
around it. Have a free, broad, open mind! Be fair to the thing studied as well as to
yourself. When it comes up for your examination, walk around it! The short trip will
bring long knowledge.
EXPERIMENT
The world honors the man who is eager to plant new seeds of study today so he may
harvest a fresh crop of knowledge tomorrow. The greatest experiment is nearly
always a solo. The individual, seeking to learn, tries something new but only tries it
on himself. If he fails, he has hurt only himself. If he succeeds he has made a
discovery many people can use.
TEACH
By teaching others a human can learn more and this attempt will produce a great deal
more knowledge inside your own brain. Every elder one know more than the younger
one about all aspects of getting knowledge so to strengthen your abilities transfer your
knowledge to your friends, family and community.
READ
Every individual can surely learn from reading if he read in the proper manner. What
you read is important, and how you read is the main consideration. For if you know

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how to read, theres a world of education even in the newspapers, the magazines, on a
single billboard or a stray advertising dodger.
The secret of good reading is this: read critically!

WRITE
The men of the best memories are those who make notes, who write things down.
They just dont write to remember, they write to learn. And because they DO learn by
writing, write! Writing, to knowledge, is a certified check. You know what you know
once you have written it down!
LISTEN
Use your ears to learn. Pay attention to the person speaking. Contemplate the meaning
of his words, the nature of his thoughts. You hardly have to do any work. You are
bound to pick up information. Its easy, its surefire.
OBSERVE
Keep your eyes open. There are things happening, all around you, all the time.
Observe! Observe the loser that you may escape his mistakes, avoid the pitfalls that
dragged him down. Observe the listless, indifferent, neutral people who do nothing,
know nothing, and are nothing. Observe them and then differ from them.
PUT IN ORDER
Order is Heavens first law. And the only good knowledge is orderly knowledge! You
must put your information and your thoughts in order before you can effectively
handle your own knowledge.
DEFINE
A definition is a statement about a thing which includes everything the thing is and
excludes everything it is not. A definition of a chair must include every chair .You
have the ability to recognize them and describe them but you cant tell what their
nature is. Your knowledge is not exact.
REASON
The process by which you reason is known as logic. All you have to remember is one
word compare. Compare all points. Note the difference/check them against
established laws or principles. This is logic. This is reason. This is knowledge in its
highest form.
WHAT IS LEARNING?
Learning is a process that:
1. Is active - process of engaging and manipulating objects, experiences, and
conversations in order to build mental models of the world (Dewey, 1938;
Piaget, 1964; Vygotsky, 1986). Learners build knowledge as they explore the
world around them, observe and interact with phenomena, converse and

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engage with others, and make connections between new ideas and prior
understandings.
2. Builds on prior knowledge - and involves enriching, building on, and
changing existing understanding, where ones knowledge base is a scaffold
that supports the construction of all future learning (Alexander, 1996, p. 89).
3. Occurs in a complex social environment - and thus should not be limited to
being examined or perceived as something that happens on an individual level.
Instead, it is necessary to think of learning as a social activity involving
people, the things they use, the words they speak, the cultural context theyre
in, and the actions they take (Bransford, et al., 2006; Rogoff, 1998), and that
knowledge is built by members in the activity (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006).
4. Is situated in an authentic context - provides learners with the opportunity to
engage with specific ideas and concepts on a need-to-know or want-to-know
basis (Greeno, 2006; Kolodner, 2006).
5. Requires learners motivation and cognitive engagement to be sustained
when learning complex ideas, because considerable mental effort and
persistence are necessary. (/teaching.berkeley.edu).
TYPES OF LEARNING:

Types of Learning:
1. Motor learning:
Most of our activities in our day-to-days life refer to motor activities. All these
activities involve the muscular coordination.

2. Verbal learning:
This type of learning involves the language we speak, the communication devices we
use. Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds, etc, are the tools used in such
activities. We use words for communication.

3. Concept learning:
.Concept learning involves two processes, viz. abstraction and generalization. This
learning is very useful in recognizing, identifying things.

4. Discrimination learning:
Learning to differentiate between stimuli and showing an appropriate response to
these stimuli is called discrimination learning

5. Learning of principles:
These principles always show the relationship between two or more concepts.
Example: formulae, laws, associations, correlations, etc.

6. Problem solving:

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This learning requires the use of cognitive abilities-such as thinking, reasoning,
observation, imagination, generalization, etc.

7. Attitude learning:
Attitude is a predisposition which determines and directs our behaviour.

NATURE OF LEARNING BY THEORISTS:

Trial and Error Learning Theory:

This theory was developed by an American psychologist EL Thorndike (1874-1949).


He argues that learning takes place through trial and error method. According to him
learning is a gradual process where the individual will make many attempts to learn.
The essence of this theory is-as the trials increase, the errors decrease.

Learning by Conditioning:
1. Classical conditioning:

This method of conditioning got its name from the fact that, it is a kind of learning
situation that existed in the early classical experiments of Ivan P Pavlov (1849-1936),
Russian physiologist who was awarded Nobel Prize, in 1904 for his experiments.

Sub-principles of Classical Conditioning:

a. Extinction and spontaneous recovery:


b. Stimulus generalization:
c. Stimulus discrimination:
d. Higher order conditioning:
2. Operant Conditioning:

This method of conditioning was developed by an American psychologist BF Skinner.


This theory is also known as Instrumental conditioning, because the animals use
certain operations or actions as instruments to find solution. It is on the basis of these
experiments, Skinner made his famous statement Rewarded behavior is repeated.
Reinforcement which is the most important aspect of this experiment is divided into
two types: positive reinforcement is used in reward training. Negative reinforcement-
like punishment is used to stop undesired responses or behaviors. Operant
conditioning is useful in shaping undesirable behavior and also in modification of
behavior.

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This is also useful in training of mentally retarded children to learn dressing, eating
and toilet training skills, treatment of phobias, drug and alcohol addictions, and
psychotherapy and to teach needed behavior in children. Further, these experiments
have proved that intermittent reinforcement yields better results than continuous
reinforcement.

Learning by Insight:

Learning by perceiving the relationship in the scene and understanding the situation is
insightful learning. This theory was developed by a psychologist known as Wolf gang
Kohler, who belonged to Gestalt school of psychology.

LAWS OF LEARNING:
EL Thorndike has explained three laws of learning called Primary laws and in
addition to these, he has also framed 5 subsidiary laws in connection with his trial and
error learning theory.

Primary laws:
These are the most important laws, which explain the basic aspects of learning. They
are:
1. Law of readiness:
2. Law of exercise:
3. Law of effect:
Secondary laws:
In addition to the three primary laws explained above, Thorndike has given five
secondary or subsidiary laws also.

They are as follows:


a. Law of multiple response:
b- Law of set or attitude:
c. Law of associative shifting:
d. Law of prepotency of elements:
e. Law of response by analogy:

Nature of Learning by Psychologists:


In 1994, psychologist Albert Bandura gave the world of mass media effects social
learning theory, hypothesizing that people dont learn by trial and error or by
reinforcement and reward as much as by observing the behaviors of others.
Hackbarth found support in the work of George Kneller (1984; 1994), who explicated
the importance of dispositioning young people for a type of learning that is grounded

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in inquiry and reflection. Kneller (1994) asserted that learning occurs best through the
senses especially in the early grades and he discussed the application of
prereflective concepts, which are dispositions to think and act that are established in
early childhood.
Gardners (1993) theory of multiple intelligences may only scratch the surface of
human learning; yet, throughout the lifespan, the thrill of learning prevails upon us to
capture this magic as we search for its meaning. The integration of cognitive and
affective dimensions of learning is the hallmark of confluent education, which adds
value as a potential model for a broadened view of learning.
CONCLUSION
At the core, learning is a process that results in a change in knowledge or behavior as
a result of experience. Understanding what it takes to get that knowledge in and out
(or promote behavioral change of a specific kind) can help optimize learning. The
learning ecology is a vast and intricate network of systems. A change in one part of
this ecology affects all of the others.
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