1.What I have learnt and thought in the lecture.
In the lecture 3, I have learnt the cognition can be categorized to 3 different levels. Before that, I know that human perceive things and understand ideas in different levels. But I have not thought about what are the features of each level. During the lecture, the most important theory I have learnt is that epistemic level of cognition is the highest and it can create new knowledge by the interaction and discussion. I also wish to know further that how our critical thinking ability is linked with epistemic level and knowledge building. Therefore I would like to discuss it in this post.
2. Further discussion of "knowledge building at epistemic level"
Knowledge building is a socialized activity. An individual cannot and is limited to build new knowledge. However, in a community where people can join and disucss, certain improvements can be made to the existing understandings. For example, in Wikipedia, people can comment on the previous entries and even improve the existing knowledge with the most updated one. This link shows the revision history of the wiki knowledge of Cattle Egret http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cattle_Egret&action=history
The above is what we have learnt in the lecture. Now I would like to talk about my own ideas of knowledge building and epistemic level in the aspect of critical thinking.
By definition, Epistemic congition is to question the knowledge itself and involves with inquiry. But it is not just inquiry about everything. I think in order to learn the subject in a more thorough way, we need to view and investigate the idea in multiple angles. Yet still, personal perspective is limited. Thus in order to complement our own limited view, a socialized effort can help to expand our individual mindset. This is one reason that knowledge building always involves a group people to discuss and improve the existing ideas or challenge it by proposing new ones.
From a personal learning perspective, I have found a particularly interesting site. In the website of INFohio, a learning tool builder in US. The Inquiry and Knowledge Building Process is presented in a model. http://learningcommons.infohio.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=298&Itemid=132
I think this chart and the resources on the website can help one to learn in critical thinking and also in collaboration with others. From an analysis way, I also see that this learning tool is facilitating the epistemic level of cognition. It enhances people's ability to question and connect, as well as update the old knowledge.
Social networks have changed the way that the world communicates and informs. From blogs and discussion boards to Facebook, LinkedIn and even Twitter, the sharing of information has never evolved at a more rapid pace. The amount of aggregated knowledge amassed through social networks has quickly superseded any formal effort to publish information.
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