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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Knowledge

Knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. Philosophical debates in general start with Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified true belief". There is however no single agreed definition of knowledge presently, nor any prospect of one, and there remain numerous competing theories.

Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose if appropriate. See Knowledge Management for additional details on that discipline.

Defining knowledge (philosophy)


We suppose ourselves to possess unqualified scientific knowledge of a thing, as opposed to knowing it in the accidental way in which the sophist knows, when we think that we know the cause on which the fact depends, as the cause of that fact and of no other, and, further, that the fact could not be other than it is. Now that scientific knowing is something of this sort is evident — witness both those who falsely claim it and those who actually possess it, since the former merely imagine themselves to be, while the latter are also actually, in the condition described. Consequently the proper object of unqualified scientific knowledge is something which cannot be other than it is.


The definition of knowledge is a matter of on-going debate among philosophers in the field of epistemology. The classical definition, described but not ultimately endorsed by Plato[1], has it that in order for there to be knowledge at least three criteria must be fulfilled; that in order to count as knowledge, a statement must be justified, true, and believed. Some claim that these conditions are not sufficient, as Gettier case examples allegedly demonstrate. There are a number of alternatives proposed, including Robert Nozick's arguments for a requirement that knowledge 'tracks the truth' and Simon Blackburn's additional requirement that we do not want to say that those who meet any of these conditions 'through a defect, flaw, or failure' have knowledge. Richard Kirkham suggests that our definition of knowledge requires that the believer's evidence is such that it logically necessitates the truth of the belief.[citation needed]

In contrast to this approach, Wittgenstein observed, following Moore's paradox, that one can say "He believes it, but it isn't so", but not "He knows it, but it isn't so". [2] He goes on to argue that these do not correspond to distinct mental states, but rather to distinct ways of talking about conviction. What is different here is not the mental state of the speaker, but the activity in which they are engaged. For example, on this account, to know that the kettle is boiling is not to be in a particular state of mind, but to perform a particular task with the statement that the kettle is boiling. Wittgenstein sought to bypass the difficulty of definition by looking to the way "knowledge" is used in natural languages. He saw knowledge as a case of a family resemblance. Following this idea, "knowledge" has been reconstructed as a cluster concept that points out relevant features but that is not adequately captured by any definition.


Communicating knowledge

Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought of as a dynamic process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can be viewed as one ascription process whereby knowledge can be transferred. Other forms of communication include imitation, narrative exchange along with a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of knowledge transfer or communication.[citation needed]

While many would agree that one of the most universal and significant tools for the transfer of knowledge is writing (of many kinds), argument over the usefulness of the written word exists however, with some scholars skeptical of its impact on societies. In his novel Technopoly Neil Postman demonstrates the argument against the use of writing through an excerpt from Plato's work Phaedrus (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York, pp 73). In this excerpt the scholar Socrates recounts the story of Thamus, the Egyptian king and Theuth the inventor of the written word. In this story, Theuth presents his new invention "writing" to King Thamus, telling Thamus that his new invention "will improve both the wisdom and memory of the Egyptians" (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York, pp 74). King Thamus is skeptical of this new invention and rejects it as a tool of recollection rather than retained knowledge. He argues that the written word will infect the Egyptian people with fake knowledge as they will be able to attain facts and stories from an external source and will no longer be forced to mentally retain large quantities of knowledge themselves (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74).

Andrew Robinson also highlights, in his work The Origins of Writing, the possibility for writing to be used to spread false information and there for the ability of the written word to decrease social knowledge (Robinson, Andrew (2003) The Origins of Writing in Crowley and Heyer (eds) Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society, Boston pp 34). People are often internalizing new information which they perceive to be knowledge but are in reality fill their minds with false knowledge.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Technology


Technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile phones are used in developed countries both to complement established education practices and develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and understandings of students, including Multimedia, and provides new ways to engage students, such as Virtual learning environments. Technology is being used more not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard is capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is also being used in the assessment of students. One example is the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and classroom discussions.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a “diverse set of tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”[17] These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. There is increasing interest in how computers and the Internet can improve education at all levels, in both formal and non-formal settings.[18] Older ICT technologies, such as radio and television, have for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both developed and developing countries.[19]

The use of computers and the Internet is in its infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant high costs of access. Usually, various technologies are used in combination rather than as the sole delivery mechanism. For example, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri Lanka.[20] The Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU), established in 1969 as the first educational institution in the world wholly dedicated to open and distance learning, still relies heavily on print-based materials supplemented by radio, television and, in recent years, online programming.[21] Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audio conferencing technologies.[22]

The term "computer-assisted learning" (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe the use of technology in teaching.

Learning modalities


There has been work on learning styles over the last two decades. Dunn and Dunn focused on identifying relevant stimuli that may influence learning and manipulating the school environment, at about the same time as Joseph Renzulli recommended varying teaching strategies. Howard Gardner identified individual talents or aptitudes in his Multiple Intelligences theories. Based on the works of Jung, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter focused on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. The work of David Kolb and Anthony Gregorc's Type Delineatorfollows a similar but more simplified approach.

It is currently fashionable to divide education into different learning "modes". The learning modalities are probably the most common:

* Visual: learning based on observation and seeing what is being learned.
* Auditory: learning based on listening to instructions/information.
* Kinesthetic: learning based on hands-on work and engaging in activities.

It is claimed that, depending on their preferred learning modality, different teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness. A consequence of this theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of teaching methods which cover all three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them.[14] Guy Claxton has questioned the extent that learning styles such as VAK are helpful, particularly as they can have a tendency to label children and therefore restrict learning.

Systems of formal education


Education is a concept, referring to the process in which students can learn something:

  • Instruction refers to the intentional facilitating of learning toward identified objectives, delivered either by an instructor or other forms.
  • Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor designed to impart learning to the student.
  • Teaching refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that can be applied immediately upon completion.



Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.

Teachers in educational institutions direct the education of students and might draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. This process is sometimes called schooling when referring to the education of youth. Teachers in specialized professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoology may teach only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is also education in fields for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot. In addition there is an array of education possible at the informal level, e.g., at museums and libraries, with the Internet, and in life experience.

The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 guarantees this right under its Article 13.

Friday, September 4, 2009

අධ්‍යාපනය


අධ්‍යාපනය යනු වියුක්ත සංකල්පයක් වන බැවින් ඒ සඳහා පැහැදිලි නිර්වචනයක් සැපයීම අපහසුය.අනෙක් අතට අධ්‍යාපනය යන්නෙන් එක් අදහසක් පමණක් අන්තර්ගත නොවේ.ඉගෙනීම, ඉගැන්වීම, ඇගයීම,රසවිඳීම,පුහුණූව ආදී විවිධ අදහස් සමුදායක් මේ තුළ ගැබ් වී ඇත. මේ නිසාද අධ්‍යාපනයට පැහැදිලි නිර්වචනයක් දීම අපහසු වී ඇත. විවිධ දාර්ශනිකයන් විසින් විවිධාකාර දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයන්ගෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය පිළිබඳව නිර්වචන ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇත.

අධ්‍යාපනය යන්න මුලින්ම බි ආවේ ලතින් භාෂාවෙනි. (e-ducere, educo) පිටතට ඇදල ගැනීම යන අර්ථය e-ducere තුළ ඇත. සෑම පුද්ගලයකු සතුවම විභව ශක්තියක් ඇති බව පවසයි. අධ්‍යාපනයේ කාර්යභාරය වන්නේ මෙකී සැඟවී ඇති හැකියාවන් ඇදගැනීමයි. වර්තමානයේ මේ අගය 5% හෝ 10% යැයි පැවසේ.


අධ්‍යාපනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇති විවිධ අර්ථකථන

  • අධ්‍යාපනය යනු දැනුම ඒකරාශී කරන ක්‍රියාවලියකි.

සොක්‍රටීස් පවසා ඇත්තේ උසස්ම දෙය දැනුම බවයි.දැනුම ඇත්තා උසස්ම පුද්ගලයාය. එය ලබන්නේ අධ්‍යාපනයෙනි.

  • අධ්‍යාපනය යනු වර්ධනීය ක්‍රියාවලියකි.

අධ්‍යාපනය යනු වර්ධනීය, යාවජීව ක්‍රියාවලියක් බව ජෝන් ඩුවී පවසයි. පුද්ගලයා හා පරිසරය අතර අන්‍යොන්‍ය සම්බන්ධයක් ගොඩනැගෙද්දී ඒ හා ගොඩනැගෙන අත්දැකීම් වල ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස වර්ධනය සිදුවේ.

  • අධ්‍යාපනය යනු සංස්කෘතික සම්ප්‍රේෂණ ක්‍රියාවලියකි.

සමාජයේ සාමාජිකයකු වශයෙන් මිනිසා විසින් අත්පත් කරගනු ලබන දැනුම කුසලතා,සදාචාරය ආදි සියලුම දේ සංස්කෘතියයි. මිනිසාගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් නිර්මාණය වී ඇති මෙකී සංස්කෘතිය එක් පරම්පරාවක සිට තවත් පරම්පරාවක් දක්වා සම්ප්‍රේෂණය කරන්නේ අධ්‍යාපනය ඉවහල් කරගෙකය.

  • අධ්‍යාපනය තුලින් හදවත, හිස සහ හස්තය යන තුනම (Head, Heart, Hand) සංවර්ධනය කල යුතුය.
අධ්‍යාපනයේ අරමුණු සහ පරමාර්ථ

පරමාර්ථයක් යනු කිසියම් විධිමත් ලෙස සැකසුණු ක්‍රියාවලියකින් අවසානයේ ඉටුකර ගැනීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන ප්‍රතිඵලයයි. පුළුල් සංකීර්ණ අරථයක් ගැනීම පරමාර්ථයේ ලක්ෂණයයි. මේ නිසාම එය ඉටුකර ගැනීම ඉතා දුෂ්කරය. පරමාර්ථය කරා යාමට නම් ඒවා සරළ කරගත යුතුය. ඒ සඳහා ගොඩනගාගන්නා වූ සුවිශේෂී ප්‍රකාශය අරමුණු ලෙස හැඳින්වේ. සුවිශේෂී බව,මැනිය හැකි බව , ළඟාවියහැකි බව ආදිය අරමුණක සුවිශේෂී ලක්ෂණ වේ. එක් පරමාර්ථයක් සඳහා අරමුණු කීපයක් පැවතිය හැක.

අධ්‍යාපන පරමාරථ සහ අරමුණු රටින් රටට වෙනස් වේ. එසේ වන්නේ රටක අධ්‍යාපන අරමුණු සහ පරමාර්ථ ගොඩනැගෙන්නේ එහි ඇති සමාජ ආර්ථීක දේශපාලන ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලට අදාළ වීමයි. අධ්‍යාපන පරමාර්ථ ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් පිළිගත් ඒවාද පවතී. ඒ අතරින් යුනෙස්කෝව ප්‍රධාන වේ. එහි පරමාර්ථය වූයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර සාමය හා අවබෝධය ඇතිකරලීමයි. මීට අමතරව දිවිපැවැත්ම සඳහා අධ්‍යාපනය නමින් වාර්තාවක්ද පිහිටුවීය.

අධ්‍යාපනයේ අරමුණු පිළිබඳව කතාකරද්දී ඩෙලෝ වාර්තාවද පිළිගත් එකකි. ළමයින්ගේ විභව ශක්තිය මතුකරගන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා කළේය. මෙහිදී මූලික මූලධර්ම 6ක් යටතේ සාකච්ඡා කරයි.

  1. අධ්‍යාපනය යනු මූලික මිනිස් අයිතිවාසිකමකි.
  2. විධිමත් අධ්‍යාපනය පමණක් නොව නොවිධිමත් අධ්‍යාපනයද වැදගත් වන බව
  3. කවර අධ්‍යාපනයක වුවද තිබිය යුතු මූලික ලක්ෂණ ඇති බව (සාධාරණත්වය, අදාළත්වය, විශිෂ්ටත්වය)
  4. අධ්‍යාපනය යනු ගැඹුරින් සිදුකළ යුතු දෙයකි. යම් යම් රටවල ආර්ථික, දේශපාලන, සාමාජික වශයෙන් සුවිශේෂී කරුණු තිබුණද ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රජාව එකඟ වූ වටිනාකම් පිළිගත යුතුයි.(ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය, මානව හිමිකම් )

මීට අමතරව,

    1. දැනගැනීම සඳහා ඉගෙනීම
    2. යමක් කිරීම සඳහා ඉගෙනීම'
    3. එකට ජීවත්වීම සඳහා ඉගෙනීම
    4. දිවිපැවැත්ම සඳහා ඉගෙනීම

ආදි ප්‍රධාන කුළුණු 4ක් පිළිබඳව මේ වාර්තාව අවධානය යොමුකරයි.

Alternative education


Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term that may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include not only forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability), but also forms of education designed for a general audience and employing alternative educational philosophies and methods.

Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education[citation needed]. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community[citation needed].

Adult education

Adult education has become common in many countries. It takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. A number of career specific courses such as veterinary, medical billing and coding, real estate license, bookkeeping and many more are now available to students through the Internet.

High school


High school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education. The actual term "high school" originated in Scotland with the world's oldest being the Royal High School (Edinburgh) in 1505,[1][2] and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop their state education systems.



The Royal High School was used as a model for the first public high school in the United States, the English High School founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1821. The precise stage of schooling provided by a high school differs from country to country, and may vary within the same jurisdiction. In all of New Zealand and Malaysia along with parts of Australia and Canada, high school is synonymous with secondary school, and encompasses the entire secondary stage of education.

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. It follows on from primary or elementary education.

There are many different types of secondary school, and the terminology used varies around the world. Children usually transfer to secondary school between the ages of 14 and 15 years, and finish between the ages of 16–18 years, though there is considerable variation from country to country.

Primary Education


Primary education is the first stage of compulsory education. It is preceded by pre-school or nursery education and is followed by secondary education. In North America this stage of education is usually known as elementary education.

In most countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education, though in many jurisdictions it is permissible for parents to provide it. The transition to secondary school or high school is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some educational systems have separate middle schools with the transition to the final stage of education taking place at around the age of fourteen.

The major goals of primary education are achieving basic literacy and numeracy amongst all pupils, as well as establishing foundations in science, geography, history and other social sciences. The relative priority of various areas, and the methods used to teach them, are an area of considerable political debate.

Typically, primary education is provided in schools, where the child will stay in steadily advancing classes until they complete it and move on to high school/secondary school. Children are usually placed in classes with one teacher who will be primarily responsible for their education and welfare for that year. This teacher may be assisted to varying degrees by specialist teachers in certain subject areas, often music or physical education. The continuity with a single teacher and the opportunity to build up a close relationship with the class is a notable feature of the primary education system.

Traditionally, various forms of corporal punishment have been an integral part of early education. Recently this practice has come under attack, and in many cases been outlawed, especially in Western countries.