Environmental Education

By khan

Key
words; Meaning and concept of
knowledge, Importance of Knowledge,
Types of Knowledge, Characteristics of knowledge, Priori
knowledge, Posteriori Knowledge, what is Knowledge

Knowledge

1. Meaning and concept of
knowledge

2. Importance of knowledge

3. Characteristics of
knowledge

4. Types of Knowledge

5. Sources of knowledge

 Meaning and concept of knowledge

Knowledge is all about facts
information and skills acquired by a person through experience or systematic education
system.it is the skill of;

• Theoretical or practical understanding
  of a specific subject


• awareness or familiarity gained by
  experience of a fact or situation

Plato defined knowledge as

 Justified true belief

Let us compare knowledge
with wisdom. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and information about a
subject, while Wisdom is a process of synthesis of knowledge and inductive and
deductive skills and develops insights on his experiences and experiences of
others. Wisdom increases one’s relationships with others in society and brings
new meaning of life. Education is a means of discovering new knowledge and
things which we do not know, therefore it increases our knowledge.

According to imam Ghazali,
knowledge can bring us closer to God as well as enhance worldly respect and
position. Knowledge, according to him is not relative but has an entity in
itself. It can raise the status of the individual, create self-respect and take
him to the highest position in the society.

Knowledge is
a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as
facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through
experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning. Knowledge
can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

So, knowledge is a
meaningful structure of facts and information about a specific subject or thing
and its relationships. Thus we can define knowledge as

• the facts of knowing


• information or what is already discovered
  


• the whole of parts and what can be
  learned or found out more

In modern era Term knowledge
is a more enhance view point, it is the collection of information and facts and
analysis and synthesis of these facts and information which lead to wisdom,
therefore it can be concluded that knowledge and wisdom are interrelated to
each other. We can further define knowledge as

• assured belief


• information


• enlightenment


• Practical skill and acquaintance.

The term ‘concept of
knowledge’ used by teachers and educators refers to the information and facts that
teacher teach and students are expected to learn in given subject and in a
given time.

Old concept of knowledge is
related to the facts, concepts, theories, and principles that are taught but not
related to the skills such as reading, writing or research that students learn
in academic courses.

New concept of knowledge is more
enhanced view, it include learning of facts, concepts, theories, reading,
writing, research and the wisdom that it bring in a person.

 Importance of Knowledge

• Knowledge is the most powerful and
  important part of life of mankind


• Knowledge has given man unlimited powers.
  Today with knowledge, man dominated the see, the sky, the space, the
  illness etc. it is the knowledge which make human being super and intelligent
  being on this planet 


• Knowledge has helped humans to preserve
  knowledge and transfer it to next generation due to that our civilization
  made progress with time.


• Knowledge accounts for the success of
  the people. The more knowledgeable you are, the more advantage you will have
  over other people in society.


• This Power of knowledge should not be
  used for the purpose of destruction purpose but it should be for benefits
  of mankind

 Characteristics of knowledge

•   Knowledge is like wealth,
  the more ones gets, the more he craves


• Knowledge expand with time it never
  decays


• Knowledge once gained, it spread its
  lights beyond its own immediate boundaries to all


• Information is one source or part of
  knowledge

Facts,
Information and values are the basis of the structures of knowledge.

• Knowledge is boundless


• Knowledge imparted itself to others like
  a light

Types of Knowledge

In order to impart knowledge,
it is important that we know about different types of Knowledge and
sources of knowledge that exists in education. Knowledge is an awareness or
familiarity gained by experience of fact or situation or by learning it from
others. Knowledge can be theoretical or practical. All our knowledge is founded
on the experiences of our elders which they gain during hundreds of centuries.

There are debates and disagreement over the different types of knowledge that
exist today, this is because the concept of knowledge is purely philosophical
and everyone and nation has a different opinion about knowledge; what is
knowledge and what is not.

Here some initial types of
knowledge that are based on experience

Priori knowledge:

A priori
knowledge, in Western philosophy since the time of Immanuel Kant, knowledge
that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori
knowledge, which derives from experience (Britannica).

• The literal meaning of a priori
  is from before or from earlier; A priori is the
  knowledge that is attained through understanding of how certain things
  work


• This type of knowledge comes from
  theoretical reasoning rather than actual observation or personal
  experience.

.Definition of a priori

Existing in the mind,
independent of observation or personal experience

Relating to what may be
known through an understanding of how certain things work, rather than by
observation or experience e.g. the proposition that all bachelors are unmarried
is a priori.

Posteriori Knowledge

A posteriori
knowledge, knowledge derived from experience, as opposed to a priori knowledge
(Britannica).

A posteriori literally
mean from what comes later or comes after

• It is the knowledge which is gained
  through observation and experience


• A posteriori knowledge depends on experimental
  evidence


• It is empirical knowledge


• Truths of physics, chemistry, and
  biology are examples of a posteriori knowledge.


• This kind of knowledge is gained through
  experience using logic

In philosophy term, a posteriori
is interchangeably use for empirical knowledge which is based on observation