Knowledge Acquisition Process: how do we learn?

The knowledge acquisition process is the model by which the human being learns and develop your intelligence.

A process of building the necessary knowledge to develop as people and acquire tools that allow us to face the challenges of our society.

What is the acquisition of knowledge for?

Every time we receive pieces of information structured in theoretical sets, organized in some way, we are acquiring knowledge.

Information is power, as long as we are able to organize and structure it correctly so that it is useful when it comes to relating to ourselves and our environment.

According to the psychologist Robert Gagne, the main functions of knowledge acquisition are the following:

They serve as a prerequisite for the acquisition of other knowledge. Learning a certain topic requires that we have previous knowledge that serves to establish and strengthen new learning.

They are useful to function in our daily life in a practical way. Normally, the most educated people and with a higher level of knowledge, tend to have a greater facility to resolve conflicts and get out of the day to day.

They serve as a vehicle for our thoughts to flow. Individuals with more knowledge tend to be also more capable of reasoning and interpreting reality in a more flexible and pragmatic way.

Phases in the acquisition of knowledge

The acquisition of knowledge is not an easy task and that is why several stages have been identified through which it passes before being able to consider that knowledge has been consolidated as such.

Up to 5 necessary phases have been described. They are the following.

1. ID

In this phase of knowledge acquisition In the first place, it must be determined whether the problem that is presented to us can be solved or not. through knowledge-based systems; that is, it should not be a solvable problem from the application of algorithms.

In addition, access must be had to sufficient sources of knowledge to complete the task (experts, specialized bibliography, etc.). And the problem must have an adequate size, which is not impossible to address due to its complexity.

2. Conceptualization

In this phase, the basic elements of the problem must be detailed and the relationships between them discovered.. It is also about breaking down the problem into sub-problems to facilitate their understanding and resolution.

Another necessary element in this phase is to discover the flow of reasoning in solving the problem and to specify when and how the knowledge elements are necessary. The ultimate goal is to understand the problem and classify its elements.

3. Formalization

In this phase of knowledge acquisition, the objective is to consider different reasoning schemes that can be used to model the different resolution needs of identified problems.

It is necessary to understand the nature of the search space and the type of search to be carried out, through comparisons with different prototypical problem solving mechanisms (classification, data abstraction, temporal reasoning, etc.)

The certainty and completeness of the available information must be analyzed, as well as its reliability or the coherence of the information. The goal is to develop a formal model of the problem that the expert system can reason with.

4. Implementation

In the implementation phase, it is necessary to select or define the most suitable algorithms for solving problems. and data structures for knowledge representation. It is about discovering problems and incompleteness that will force us to review some of the previous phases.

5. Proof

In this last phase of testing, a set of representative solved cases has to be chosen and the functioning of the system verified. In this phase, errors are uncovered that will allow previous analyzes to be corrected.

In general, problems will appear due to lack of rules, incompleteness, lack of correction, and possible errors in the analysis of the pre-established rules.

Piaget's learning theory

According to Piaget, the organism builds knowledge from its interaction with the environment. The popular psychologist denied the existence of innate knowledge and defended in his learning theory that people we try to know reality through the selection, interpretation and organization of the information that We received.

The acquisition of knowledge, according to Piaget, would be carried out through mechanisms of assimilation and accommodation. The information received would be integrated into the knowledge schemes already built in the individual and, in turn, these would be mobilized, modifying themselves and undergoing a process of accommodation or readjustment.

Assimilation and accommodation

Assimilation and accommodation are two complementary processes of adaptation, postulated by Piaget., through which the individual internalizes knowledge of the outside world.

The assimilation process refers to the way in which an organism faces a stimulus from the environment in terms of current organization. Mental assimilation is the process by which new information conforms to pre-existing cognitive schemata.

The accommodation process implies a modification of the current organization in response to the demands of the environment. It is a process by which the individual adjusts to external conditions, that is, internal schemes are modified to accommodate new information.

Ausubel's meaningful learning

david p. Ausubel he was an American psychologist and one of the main promoters of constructivism. Ausubel rejected the Piagetian assumption that we only understand what we discover., since according to him we can learn anything as long as said learning is significant.

He significant learning It is the knowledge acquisition process by which new knowledge is related or information with the cognitive structure of the learner in a non-arbitrary and substantive way or not literal.

This interaction with the cognitive structure does not occur considering it as a whole, but with relevant aspects present in it, which are called subsumers or anchor ideas.

The presence of inclusive, clear and available ideas, concepts or propositions in the learner's mind is what gives meaning to that new content in interaction with it.

But it is not simply a matter of a union of concepts, but in this process the new contents acquire meaning for the learner and are produces a transformation of the subsumers of its cognitive structure, which are thus progressively more differentiated, elaborated and stable.

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory

The sociocultural theory of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, one of the foremost theorists of developmental psychology and forerunner of neuropsychology Soviet, focuses on the contributions that society makes to individual development and the acquisition of knowledge.

This theory focuses not only on how adults and peers influence individual learning, but also how cultural beliefs and attitudes impact the way in which knowledge is taught and constructed.

According to Vygotsky, each culture provides what he called the tools of intellectual adaptation, which allow children to use their cognitive habilyties in a way that is sensitive to the cultural environment in which they grow and develop.

One of the most important concepts in his theory is the zone of proximal development.. This concept refers to the distance between the level of actual development determined by independent problem solving and the level potential development, determined by solving problems under the guidance and supervision of an adult or older peers competent.

How does our brain learn?

Cognitive neuroscience warns us, time and time again, that learning based on pure repetition and memorization is not the most appropriate way for our brain to acquire and consolidate knowledge.

It seems that we do not learn by memorizing, but by experimenting, by getting involved and by participating with our hands. Various scientific studies have verified that factors such as surprise, novelty, motivation or teamwork, are essential factors to promote and encourage learning and the acquisition of knowledge.

Another essential factor when acquiring new knowledge is the emotion and significance of the material to be learned. Learning under the influence of positive emotions and feelings that imply passion, lucidity or curiosity, supposes increasing the possibilities that the person assimilate said knowledge.

In short, it is about making the person participate in their own learning process., so that learning and acquiring new knowledge is a challenge and not an obligation.

Bibliographic references:

• Well, Juan Ignacio. 2006). "Cognitive theories of learning" Morata. Madrid.

• Triglia, Adrian; Regader, Bertrand; Garcia-Allen, Jonathan (2016). Psychologically speaking. Paidos.