This presentation will be helpful in knowing the concepts of disciplinary knowledge, interdisciplinary knowledge, nature and scope of disciplines, knowledge as construction of Experience, various kinds of thinking and how knowledge is different from information

1. UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLINE
AND SUBJECTS
B.ED 107

2. COURSE
CONTENT
UNIT 1
KNOWLEDGE AND
METHODS OF ENQUIRY
UNIT 2
LEARNER AND THEIR
CONTEXTS
UNIT 3
PEDAGOGIC PRACTICE AND
THE PROCESS OF LEARNING
UNIT 4
CRITICAL STUDY OF ICTs AND
DEVELOPING CAPACITIES
PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT:
Analysis of school text books to construct and discuss nature and type of
knowledge and pedagogic elements
Observing, documenting and interpreting classroom discourse (teaching-
learning episodes)
2

3. Hello!
I am Poonam Sharma
I am here to unfold the concepts of Knowledge,discipline and Subjects
You can find me at poonam.sharma2682@gmail.com
3

4. SUGGESTED
READINGS
▹ Ms. Bhavna Shukla: Understanding Discipline and
Subjects
▹ Prof. Saroj Sharma: Understanding Discipline and
Subjects
▹ Anita Woolfolk : Educational Psychology
▹ BES-125: IGNOU Study Material
▹ N. Mohan: Understanding Discipline and Subjects
▹ Dr.Rajesh KumarVashishtha: UDS in (Hindi
Medium)

5.  Disciplinary Knowledge
 Interdisciplinary Knowledge
 Knowledge as construction of
experience
 Knowledge as distinct from Information
 Methods of Inquiry and different types
of thinking etc.
5
Knowledge
and Methods
of Enquiry
Unit-I

6. Learner and
their
Contexts
Unit II
 Interface between Knowledge, Subjects,
Curriculum,Textbooks etc.
 Alternative frameworks of Children’s
Thinking
 Child and Adult Misconceptions
 Everyday concepts and Situated Cognition
 Concerns of Inclusive Education in
Schools
6

7. Pedagogic
Practice and
the Process
of Learning
Unit-III
▹ Critical Examination of Terms and
Notions associated with Child-centered
Education
▹ Concept formation, Enquiry based
learning and project based learning etc.
▹ Interrogating disciplinary practices and
Creating non-threatening learning
environment
7

8. Critical Study of
ICTs and
Developing
Capacities
Unit- IV
▹ Critical examination of the role of ICT in
Effective Curriculum Transaction and
Evaluation
▹ Capacity development of teachers and students
in the use of ICTs
▹ ICT-based teaching learning approaches in
schools
▹ Role of Open and Distance Learning in
catering to diversity in Learners and Learning
Styles.
8

9. Knowledge and Methods of
Enquiry
Let’s start with the concept of
Knowledge
1
9

10. “
Knowledge is justified true
belief.
10

11. Two
requirements
for Knowing (a) Objective requirement (p must be true)
(a) Subjective one (one must believe p)
(b) Necessity of evidence or a reason to
believe p
(Suggested Readings: BES-125 IGNOU)
11

12. Discipline + Knowledge
Disciplinary
Knowledge
12

13. The term ‘discipline’
originates from the
Latin word
‘discipulus’- which
means pupil,
and ‘disciplina’ – which
means teaching
(noun).
Etymological
Meaning
As a verb : training
someone to follow a
rigorous set of
instructions, but
also enforcing
obedience
(Krishnan, 2009).
13

14. What is a
discipline ?
▹ A discipline is an
organised body of
knowledge with a
logical structure.
▹ It is a network of
concepts and
generalisations
which explain the
relationships among
a body of facts.
▹ A discipline is
characterized by its
structure which
includes domain,
method and
history.
14

15. What
constitutes
discipline?
▹ First, it has a domain, a field of phenomena (subject
matter), with which it deals. This may refer to different
aspects of reality – scientific, logical (Science and
Mathematics) or with different degrees of overlapping
between them.
▹ Second, every discipline has its own methods and modes
of inquiry and also a set of rules to validate the knowledge.
The use of methods again implies the form/type of
knowledge it deals with. The rules of one discipline cannot
be applied to other, but similar practices of methods in
different contexts can be used across the disciplines.
▹ Third, a discipline has its own history which describes its
domain of knowledge, rules and philosophy.
15

16. Nature of
Discipline
▹ Every discipline has a history. It implies the
development of that particular discipline and the
chronology of its growth and modification.
▹ Each discipline has certain domain of
knowledge (cognitive, affective and
psychomotor).
▹ Discipline has a particular object of research,
though the object of research may be shared
with another discipline.
▹ Discipline has a substantial body of knowledge
and research, which is specific to it and not
generally shared with another discipline.
▹ Discipline uses specific terminologies 16

17. Nature of
Discipline
▹ Discipline uses specific terminologies or
specific technical language.
▹ Discipline has developed specific
research methods according to its
specific research requirements.
▹ A discipline has a group of intellectual
followers, who have strong belief in that
discipline.
17

18. Meaning of Disciplinary Knowledge
Disciplinary knowledge refers to knowledge
associated with one academic discipline or
profession.
18

19. Disciplinary Knowledge
It describes types of knowledge,
expertise, skills, people, projects,
communities, problems, challenges,
studies, inquiry, approaches, and
research areas that are strongly
associated with academic areas of study
or areas of professional .
For example, the phenomenon
of gravitation is strongly associated with
academic discipline of physics, and so
gravitation is considered to be part of the
disciplinary knowledge of physics.
19

20. Categorisation
of Knowledge
for Constituting
a Discipline
Categorisation of Knowledge
 Observation, inquiry,
experimentation, scientific
discovery, scientific
exploration, scientific
innovations, personal
experiences, intuition,
empiricism, rationalisation,etc.
 Problem solving, analytical and
synthetic thinking, logical
reasoning, inductive and
deductive thinking,etc.
Constituting a Discipline
and its processes
Broad discipline of Science
Discipline of Mathematics
20

21. Categorisation
of Knowledge
for Constituting
a Discipline
Categorisation of
Knowledge
Observation, social inquiry,
historical discovery, social
exploration, social
innovations, narratives,
socio-personal experiences,
etc.
Thinking, creating, narrating,
appreciating, reflecting,
realising, etc.
Constituting a
Discipline and its
processes
Broad discipline of
Social Sciences
Discipline of Humanities
21

22. Nature and Scope
Disciplinary
Knowledge
22

23. It is an individual understanding
of a subject matter, concept and
how these concepts relate to
form large body of knowledge.
Concept of Disciplinary
Knowledge

24. Nature of Disciplinary
Knowledge
24

25. Nature of
Disciplinary
knowledge
25
▹ Disciplinary knowledge comprises a few
theories, like the discipline of Science
consists of knowledge about theory of
‘Gravity’, theory of ‘Relativity’ etc.
▹ Disciplinary knowledge is transacted through
a few methods.
▹ Key concepts in a discipline are defined
according to the nature of the discipline.
▹ Disciplines take their own ontological stance
toward the nature of reality

26. Nature of
Disciplinary
knowledge
26
Discipline take their own epistemological stance.
Ex: method of validating knowledge in Science is
different from that of philosophy.
Disciplinary Knowledge may be associated with
particular ethical, ideological practices.
Disciplines are identified by with some major
thinkers.

27. Nature and Scope
27
Nature and
Scope of
Disciplinary
Knowledge
Disciplinary
knowledge
Knowledge
Purpose
Forms of
communication
Methods

28. Activity ▹ Relating to your discipline of
study and teaching at school,
suggest sources and ways of
acquiring knowledge in that
discipline and pedagogies for
effective transaction of learning
experiences.
28

29. Meaning and Concept
Interdisciplinary
Knowledge
29

30. inter-, which means "between" in Latin,
and disciplinary, which is from the Latin disciplina and
means teaching or knowledge.
Etymological Meaning
30

31. Meaning ▹ Interdisciplinary is best seen as bringing
together distinctive components of two or
more disciplines.
▹ Interdisciplinary means between fields, but
they don't have to be unrelated disciplines.
for example : An interdisciplinary conference
on biology and computer science might
include workshops on both fields.
▹ interdisciplinary typically applies to four
realms: knowledge, research, education,
and theory.
31

32. Meaning in
Hindi
▹ अंतर्विषयकता (interdisciplinary) दो या
उस से अधिक विद्यार्जन विषयों के
मिधित अध्ययन क्षेत्र को कहते हैं।
▹ उदाहरण के मिये भूिंडिीय
ऊष्िीकरण िें भौततकी, भूगोि, र्ीि
विज्ञान और कई अन्य विद्या शाखाओं का
एक अंतविजषयक क्षेत्र है।
32

33. “▹ Many complex or practical problems can only be
understood by pulling together insights and
methodologies from a variety of disciplines.
▹ Those who forget this simple truth run the
intellectual risk of tunnel vision and the social risk
of irresponsible action.
33

34. Nature of Knowledge
▹ Abstract nature of Knowledge : Knowledge is shared understanding; be it
justified truth or agreement between two ideas. This attributes to the abstract
nature of knowledge.
▹ Social nature of Knowledge: Knowledge is socially shared understanding, as
it is developed through collective pursuit of the community members of the
society. Individuals acquire a great deal of knowledge from their own
experience; simultaneously they build up the knowledge through association
with fellow humans. Therefore, the knowledge is acquired and built up only in
society, and its roots lies in the social activities of man.
▹ Knowledge is Cumulative: It is cumulative in nature because it is socially
preserved and transmitted from one generation to the future generations. It is
continuous to grow and develop in generations with the help of new
understanding of reality, knowledge of the reality

35. ▹ Knowledge is always on Probation
▹ Knowledge meets our daily requirements
▹ Means to reach the truth
▹ All Inclusive
▹ Symbiotic relationship
▹ Coherent sequence of impressions, exercises and content
▹ Synthesis of ideas and the synthesis of characteristics from many
disciplines
Nature of interdisciplinary Knowledge

36. 4 realms of
interdisciplinary
▹ Interdisciplinary knowledge involves familiarity
with components of two or more disciplines
▹ Interdisciplinary research combines components
of two or more disciplines in the search or creation
of new knowledge, operations, or artistic
expressions.
▹ Interdisciplinary education merges components
of two or more disciplines in a single program of
instruction.
▹ Interdisciplinary theory takes interdisciplinary
knowledge, research, or education as its main
objects of study.
36

37. 37
Need and Scope
of
Interdisciplinary
Knowledge
▹ Curriculum development (knowledge, Interests,
aptitudes, skills and values)
▹ The Growth of Knowledge
▹ Transforming the culture of society
▹ Research and innovations
▹ Interdisciplinary knowledge and application of different
disciplines can lead to greater creativity.
▹ Students begin to consolidate learning by synthesizing
ideas from many perspectives and consider an
alternative way of acquiring knowledge.
▹ Exploring topics across a range of subject boundaries
motivates students to pursue new knowledge in different
subject areas.

38. 38
Students learn by making connections between ideas
and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries.
Students learning in this way are able to apply the
knowledge gained in one discipline to another different
discipline as a way to deepen the learning experience.

39. Knowledge as
construction of
Experience

40. What is
Knowledge
Construction?
▹ The generation, or thoughtful creation, of new ideas and
understandings lies at the heart of knowledge construction.
▹ When students apply critical thinking to go beyond
knowledge reproduction by generating ideas that are new to
them and understanding that are new to them.
▹ If knowledge construction is a process by which students
generate ideas and understandings, the focus of classroom
instruction should be on helping students to learn and
experience this process.
40

41. Activities that
require students
to generate new
ideas typically
include
▹ Interpretation: Drawing inferences
beyond the literal meaning
▹ Analysis: Identifying relationships among
the parts of a whole
▹ Synthesis: Identifying relationships among
multiple ideas
▹ Evaluation: Judging quality, credibility, or
importance of data, ideas, or events.
41

42. “
▹ Education needs to be geared toward
the HANDLING of data rather than the
ACCUMULATION of data.
David Berlo
42

43. Identify if each
is an example of
requiring some
knowledge
construction.
43
No Yes
Students write a paper
describing the crime a character
committed.
Students are merely describing
information they have collected.
Students use details in a story to infer
the reasons why a character committed
a crime.
Students are using inferences to go beyond
the literal information they have collected to
construct an argument about why a
character behaved a certain way.
Does this activity require some knowledge
construction?

44. 44
No Yes
Students search the Internet
for several YouTube videos
showing different ways to
solve a mathematical
problem, then write a
description of each method.
Students are only describing
information they have collected.
Students search the Internet
for several YouTube videos
showing different ways to
solve a mathematical
problem, then write a paper
comparing and contrasting
the merits of each method.
Students are collecting
information, and evaluating the
information by constructing a
judgment of its relative merits.
Does this activity require some knowledge
construction?

45. Knowledge as construction of Experience
Analysing, synthesizing, and consolidating the data; linking it
with personal experiences; connecting it with one’s thinking and
cognition and presenting it in an understandable form are the
processes involved in construction of knowledge.
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
45

46. Thanks!
Any questions?
46

47. Knowledge
distinct from
information
Information are the building blocks, but
knowledge is the building.
Processing of data results in information, which
when further manipulated or processed
becomes knowledge.
Suppose a person possess plethora of information about a
particular subject, but this does not mean that he/she can
make a judgement or draw inferences on the basis of the
available information because to make a sound judgement,
one should have ample experience and familiarity with the
subject, which is possible through knowledge.
47

48. 48
Knowledge
distinct from
information
1.Information denotes the organized data about someone
or something obtained from various sources such as
newspaper, internet, television, discussions, etc.
Knowledge refers to the awareness or understanding on
the subject acquired from education or experience of a
person.
2.Information is nothing but the refined form of data,
which is helpful to understand the meaning. On the other
hand, knowledge is the relevant and objective
information that helps in drawing conclusions.

49. 3.Data compiled in the meaningful context provides
information. Conversely, when information is combined
with experience and intuition, it results in knowledge.
4.Processing improves the representation, thus ensures
easy interpretation of the information. As against this,
processing results in increased consciousness, thus
enhances subject knowledge.
5.Information brings on comprehension of the facts and
figures. Unlike, knowledge which leads to the
understanding of the subject.
49
Knowledge
distinct from
information

50. 7.Information can be reproduced in low cost.
However, exactly similar reproduction of knowledge
is not possible because it is based on experiential or
individual values, perceptions, etc.
8.Information alone is not sufficient to make
generalization or predictions about someone or
something. On the contrary, knowledge has the
ability to predict or make inferences.
9.Every information is not necessarily a knowledge,
but all knowledge is an information.
50
Knowledge
distinct from
information

51. Methods of
Inquiry ▹ Scientific Thinking
▹ Social Scientific Thinking
▹ Critical Thinking
▹ Creative Thinking
▹ Mathematical Thinking
51

52. Scientific
Thinking ▹ Scientific thinking refers to both thinking
about the content of science and the set
of reasoning processes
▹ that permeate the field of science:
induction, deduction, experimental design,
causal reasoning, concept formation,
hypothesis testing, and so on.
52

53. First kind of
Scientific
Thinking
▹ People are engaged in scientific thinking
when they are reasoning about such
entities and processes as
▹ force,
▹ mass,
▹ energy,
▹ equilibrium, magnetism, atoms,
photosynthesis, radiation, geology, or
astrophysics (and, of course, cognitive
psychology!).
53

54. Second Kind
of Scientific
Thinking
The second kind of scientific thinking
▹ includes the set of reasoning
process: induction, deduction,
▹ experimental design, causal
reasoning, concept formation,
▹ hypothesis testing, and so on.
54

55. “
Mathematics is the music of reason’
James Joseph Sylvester
55

56. Mathematical
Thinking
It is a whole way of looking at things,
stripping them down to their essentials,
whether it’s numerical, structural or
logical and then analyzing the
underlying patterns.
Math is about patterns.
56

57. Steps of Mathematical Thinking
 break task down into components
 identify similar tasks that may help
 identify appropriate knowledge and skills
 identify assumptions
 select appropriate strategy
 consider alternative approaches
 look for a pattern or connection
 generate examples
57

58. Quality of creativity and the quality of technique
leads to great mathematical thinking

59. Social
Scientific
Thinking
▹ Social science, which is generally regarded as
including psychology, sociology, anthropology,
economics and political science, consists of the
disciplined and systematic study of society and
its institutions, and of how and why people
behave as they do, both as individuals and in
groups within society.
▹ "scientific thinking" entails a systematic and
disciplined method of acquiring knowledge, and
that knowledge must be verifiable knowledge.
59

60. Social
Scientific
Thinking
▹ Social scientific thinking involves
how to organise, analyse, interpret
and critically review discourses in
society. Tools of Social Scientific thinking……..
▹ social science perspectives,
▹ social science causality,
▹ social science evidence,
▹ social science inference and
▹ social science abstraction
60

61. 61
Instances of Social Scientific Thinking:
Exercises like role-play revolving around climate issues
or writing papers on poor countries’ situations tend to
give students a view of globalization characterized by
realism.

62. Critical
Thinking ▹ Critical thinking is that mode of thinking —
about any subject, content, or problem —
in which the thinker improves the quality of
his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing,
assessing, and reconstructing it.
▹ Critical thinking is self-directed, self-
disciplined, self-monitored, and self-
corrective thinking.
62

63. In its
exemplary
form
▹ Critical thinking is based on
universal intellectual values that
transcend subject matter divisions:
clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency,
relevance, sound evidence, good reasons,
depth, breadth and fairness.
63

64. Qualities of
Critical
Thinker
A well cultivated critical thinker:
▹ raises vital questions and problems, formulating them
clearly and precisely;
▹ gathers and assesses relevant information, using
abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-
reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them
against relevant criteria and standards;
▹ thinks open mindedly within alternative systems of
thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their
assumptions, implications, and practical
consequences; and
▹ communicates effectively with others in figuring out
solutions to complex problems.
64

65. Thank You