Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge

Concept Maps as Facilitative Tools in Schools and Corporations

Joseph D. Novak

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780415991858
• eBook ISBN: 9781135184469
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This fully revised and updated edition of Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge recognizes that the future of economic well being in today's knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators. Novak's pioneering theory of education presented in the first edition remains viable and useful. This new edition updates his theory for meaningful learning and autonomous knowledge building along with tools to make it operational ? that is, concept maps, created with the use of CMapTools and the V diagram.

The theory is easy to put into practice, since it includes resources to facilitate the process, especially concept maps, now optimised by CMapTools software. CMapTools software is highly intuitive and easy to use. People who have until now been reluctant to use the new technologies in their professional lives are will find this book particularly helpful. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge is essential reading for educators at all levels and corporate managers who seek to enhance worker productivity.

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Chapter 1
An Overview of the Book

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Introduction

This book is for anyone who cares deeply about education. It is for anyone who believes education can be significantly improved and who is frustrated with the parade of educational “innovations” of the past half century that seem to have accomplished so little. During the 1970s, standardized test scores were steadily declining, while school budgets were increasing. From 1955 to 1985, per-pupil expenditures rose 300 percent after adjustment for inflation, and the growth in school budgets continues. For five decades Americans have pumped money into schooling. In 1984, Goodlad wrote in his report on American schools, “There is even a growing mood that some schools are now beginning to improve rather than continuing to get worse … The change in mood may stem from little more than the belief that conditions in our schools have bottomed out. The only way to go now is up” (p. xv). Public school per pupil expenditures increased from $5879 in 1985 to $9928 (in constant dollars) in 2007.¹ Now, 25 years later, there is little evidence that schools are getting better.

1 See: http://nces.ed.gov/

The connection between educational attainment and economic development in the world is well documented (Lutz, et al., 2008). But in the USA, the evidence now is that little progress has been made in school improvement. Almost daily we read in our papers reports on new studies that indicate American children lag behind those in most industrialized nations. Our national illiteracy rate and school dropout rates are also among the highest for all developed nations. School dropout rates are depressing, exceeding 50 percent in the 50 largest cities in the USA, with only about 70 percent finishing high school in four years nationwide (Fields, 2008). Such poor school performance has very negative consequences for the cities and for the US economy. Even teacher dropout rates are high, with 30 percent leaving within five years (Truesdale, 2008). Why? Why has progress been so slow, even in the exceptional schools? I shall argue that education cannot be improved by doing more of the same things. We need to move to new educational practices that are guided by sound theory and make better use of new technologies.

On the corporate side, we have been doing better. The gross domestic product (GDP) for the United States continues to be the highest in the world, and although our growth comparative with other countries has declined, we remain the envy of most nations. However, as international trade continues to increase and we approach what Friedman (2005) calls “The Flat World” brought on by increased globalization of trade, the United States faces some important challenges, as do all other countries. To sustain and propel the explosive economic growth in India and China, the leadership is moving rapidly to improve the quality of education and to increase school enrollments, especially in higher education. As Friedman notes, “In the 2004 Intel Science Fair, China came home with thirty-five awards, more than any other country in Asia, including one of the top three global awards” (p. 266). The question growing in leadership circles in the USA is whether we can maintain our economic status without enormously improving education. In the first edition of this book I highlighted the increasing importance of knowledge assets for corporate growth as, for example Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) views on the Knowledge-Creating Company. Today every corporate leader talks about the importance of knowledge and knowledge creation. This is a concern I shall visit frequently. In reviewing a number of recent books dealing with issues in the field of business, I was surprised to see how little new thinking has emerged in the past decade. Most of the authors cited in 1998 are still some of the popular authors, but few present new ideas. In addition to Friedman (2005), Tapscott & Williams’ (2007) Wikinomics and Lafley and Charan’s (2008) Game Changer present new ideas which I will discuss at some length. What these three books all stress is the enormous increase in globalization and the power of the Internet to transform the way business is done.

Have you wondered why so many people you encounter seem unable to think out the simplest of problems? Indeed, have you wondered why you may have failed to see the solution to a problem which, retrospectively, appeared so simple? Contrast this with observations we all have made where very young children have seen solutions before we have. Why is it that finding and executing solutions to common problems appears to be so uncommon? In short, why do people have so much difficulty in organizing, using, and creating knowledge? This is a question for which I will propose answers. It’s a difficult question, and the answers I give are not always simple. And, to understand the solutions I propose will require learning more about the nature of learning and the nature of knowledge and knowledge creation than you may want to know at this point in your life. But, stay with the book; in the end, I believe you will say, as so many have over past decades, “This makes sense. Why aren’t we doing more of the things proposed?” My hope is that, after you study this book, you will help to change the way we educate, use, and create knowledge in school, governmental, and corporate settings.

It is a cliché to say that we are today in a crisis. There have been so many crises in the past and yet somehow the world goes on. But, great empires have fallen; the cultural and economic power of the orient gave way to the dominance of the West; and maybe we shall see history repeat itself. As Prestowitz (1988) argued, the United States is “trading places” with Japan. In a decade, the United States moved from the largest creditor nation in the world to the largest debtor nation—and the debt increases continue! The economic consequences of stupidity are enormously negative. Perhaps more than at any time in the history of capitalism, the well-being of American citizens, and all who depend upon us, is at stake. We need to learn how to educate ourselves better, both as individuals and as organizations. American companies need to become “knowledge-creating” companies as Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) advise.

In his book, Post-Capitalist Society, one of America’s economic gurus, Peter Drucker (1993, p. 198) advises that we need radically different schools from those we see today. These schools must have the following specifications:

• The school we need has to provide universal literacy of a high order—well beyond what “literacy” means today.
• It has to imbue students on all levels and of all ages with motivation to learn and with the discipline of continuing learning.
• It has to be an open system, accessible both to highly educated people—to people who for whatever reason did not gain access to advanced education in their early years.
• It has to impart knowledge both as substance and as process—what the Germans differentiate as Wissen and Können.
• Finally, schooling can no longer be a monopoly of the schools. Education in the post-capitalist society has to permeate the entire society. Employing organizations of all kinds—businesses, government agencies, non-profits—must become institutions of learning and teaching as well. Schools, increasingly, must work in partnership with employers and employing organizations.

You may want to amend or add to Drucker’s specifications, but it is difficult to deny the value of any of those listed. How can society move to achieve these revolutionary schools? There are no easy answers. A basic assumption of this book is that we must look to new partnerships and exchange of ideas between schools and business, and we must build educational change into both on the basis of a comprehensive theory of education. This book attempts to provide such a theory and framework.

There continues today unprecedented movement toward “globalization” of the world’s economies. This process accelerated rapidly in the 1990s and is likely to continue to increase as new technologies continue to facilitate global communications and global commerce. While I see little evidence that schools, especially universities, are leaping to address the new educational challenges, it is likely that corporate America, and corporations throughout the world, will move to employ the most powerful ideas and tools available to enhance their effectiveness. Continued globalization of the economy will require this—the alternative being increasing corporate bankruptcy. The US and European countries will face many challenges as the economies of India, China, and Brazil as well as other countries improve. We may be entering into what Zakaria (2009) called the Post-American World. The next decade or two should be an exciting time for everyone, and especially for educators who seek to grasp the challenges we face. It is my hope this book will contribute to better education of all the peoples of the world.

Synopsis of the Book

A graphic summary of the book is presented in Figure 1.1. This is an example of a concept map, many of which will be shown in the following chapters. Concept maps are a knowledge representation tool, and this map represents a general overview of this book. Concept maps should be read from the top to the bottom, proceeding from the “higher order” more general concepts at the top to the “lower order” more specific concepts at the bottom. Concept maps also have “crosslinks” that show relationships between ideas in different segments of the map. Figure 1.1 shows that three major concepts or ideas will be presented in this book: (1) the nature of knowledge, its capture, creation and use; (2) the nature of human learning; and (3) a theory of education that will tie together aspects of the latter two ideas and explain how these interrelate. Review the map before you proceed to read the synopsis of the book. Figure 1.1 was prepared using CmapTools software developed by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), and this software is available for anyone to use at: http://cmap.ihmc.us. This software has features that open up new possibilities of capturing and archiving knowledge and for educating in any setting. Some of these new possibilities will be discussed in later chapters. The software also provides a place to enter a focus question, that is, a question that helps to define what the ideas shown in the concept map should help to answer. This issue will be discussed in other chapters.

Figure 1.1 An Overview of ideas presented in the second edition of this book.

Chapter 2 discusses the need for a Theory of Education to help us deal with the many questions, issues, and problems faced in educating people, educating them in a manner that will empower them to become powerful, confident, and committed knowledge creators and knowledge users. There are five elements in my theory of education, each of which interacts with all the others, and all must be considered simultaneously to create a powerful educational event. The five elements presented are: (1) learner; (2) teacher; (3) knowledge; (4) context; and (5) evaluation. Each of these and their interactions are discussed in Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 also stresses the crucial role that meaningful learning, as distinct from rote learning, plays in successful education. In fact, the idea of meaningful learning is the very foundation for the theory of education presented. While the learner must choose to learn meaningfully, the teacher (live or vicarious) can do much to encourage and facilitate meaningful learning.

Theory can improve practice directly by providing an explanatory framework to guide practice, and indirectly, by helping to improve research in education. If we are going to make the quantum leap forward in education necessitated by evolving social and business demands, educational research and practice must be dramatically improved.

Chapter 3 defines meaningful learning and the fundamental elements that knowledge is made from—facts, concepts, propositions, and principles. The nature of human memory and the role of the major memory systems are discussed. Our early work in the development of the concept map tool to represent knowledge and applications in school and corporate settings are described briefly. Finally, the role of meaningful learning for the empowerment of individuals and organizations is sketched out.

Chapter 4 develops further how humans construct new meanings and the role that concepts and propositions play in the process. Humans construct, over time, complex concept and propositional frameworks as they develop, idiosyncratically, their knowledge structures, or, as psychologists refer to them, their cognitive structures. The monumental works of Jean Piaget and his ideas on cognitive development are presented briefly, along with brief discussion of emerging newer ideas.

Chapter 5 presents, in detail, David Ausubel’s assimilation theory of meaningful learning, along with numerous examples and some modifications that derive from our studies and recent work in cognitive sciences. Ausubel (1962; 1963) was one of the pioneers who helped to move psychology away from behavioral models of learning based largely on animal studies in the 1930s through the 1970s, to cognitive models that focus on how humans construct new meanings and use knowledge in creative problem solving. The nature of creativity and intelligence as seen through assimilation theory is discussed. For readers new to the field of learning psychology, this chapter may prove to be a challenge. However, to acquire a deep understanding of how humans create and use knowledge, careful study of Chapter 5 can prove rewarding. In spite of many newer theories advanced to explain human learning, I still see Ausubel’s theory, with some modifications and additions, as the most comprehensive and most powerful. Where recent advances in cognitive psychology add to Ausubel’s ideas, these will be presented as well.

Understanding meaningful learning is the foundation needed to understand the nature of knowledge and knowledge creation. Chapter 6 presents a theory of knowledge that builds on the theory of learning presented in Chapter 5. The Vee heuristic is presented as a tool to help illustrate the structure of knowledge and the 12 elements involved in knowledge creation. Each of the 12 elements are defined, and examples are given to show how the Vee can be used to represent the knowledge creation process, or the structure of knowledge in any specific domain of knowledge.

Different forms of knowledge, such as tacit contrasted with explicit knowledge are discussed. Methods for capturing tacit knowledge are presented, and various approaches for capturing and using knowledge are discussed. Both academic and business examples are used to illustrate the principles and methods involved. Special attention is given to capturing and using knowledge from consumers. A fundamental principle of meaningful learning is that new learning must build on specific relevant knowledge the learner already has. Thus, understanding what knowledge individuals possess, be they school learners or consumers, is crucial to moving them to new levels of understanding and competence.

Chapter 7 focuses on the third element involved in educating and empowering people—the teacher or manager. I take the position that management, if it is to be effective, is essentially teaching. Therefore, the issues and ideas discussed apply equally to teaching and management. For example, I believe both require emotional sensitivity, commitment, honesty, and caring. Of course, there are teachers and managers who have been judged successful who do not evidence these characteristics consistently. There are always exceptions when we are dealing with the complex feelings, thoughts, and actions of people. This chapter seeks to put forward ideas that evidence suggests will be most effective most of the time with most people. The ideas presented are consistent with and build upon the theory of learning and theory of knowledge presented in earlier chapters.

All educative events take place in some space, time, social, and cultural milieu. Chapter 8 deals with issues related...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 An Overview of the Book
• 2 The Need for a Theory of Education
• 3 Meaningful Learning for ipowerment
• 4 The Construction of New Meanings
• 5 Ausubel’s Assimilation Learning Theory
• 6 The Nature of Knowledge and How Humans Create Knowledge
• 7 The Effective Teacher/Manager
• 8 The Context for Education/Managient
• 9 Evaluation and Rewards
• 10 Improving Education in Schools and Corporations
• Appendix I
• Appendix II
• References
• Name index
• Subject index