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-{{wh}}
+'''Knowledge''' is information, understanding, skill, or awareness that a person or group has acquired through experience, study, observation, reasoning, teaching, research, or other means. Knowledge can concern facts, methods, concepts, relationships, processes, skills, interpretations, or explanations.
-==See also==
+Knowledge is central to [[learning]], [[teaching]], [[research]], [[science]], and [[problem solving]]. It allows people to understand the world, preserve what has been learned, communicate ideas, develop technologies, make decisions, and solve [[problems in living]].
+[[Image:Encyclopédie Figurative System of Human Knowledge.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]
+Knowledge can be individual or collective. A person can know how to repair a machine, speak a language, understand a mathematical concept, or remember an event. A society can also preserve knowledge through books, schools, libraries, databases, oral traditions, scientific institutions, software, archives, and wikis.
+One important challenge is not simply creating knowledge, but organizing it so that other people can find, understand, evaluate, and use it.
+== Types of knowledge ==
+Knowledge can be divided into several broad categories.
+'''Declarative knowledge''' concerns knowing that something is the case. For example, knowing that water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen is declarative knowledge.
+'''Procedural knowledge''' concerns knowing how to do something. Knowing how to ride a bicycle, repair a computer, perform an experiment, or write a computer program are examples.
+'''Experiential knowledge''' develops through direct experience.
+'''Tacit knowledge''' refers to knowledge that may be difficult to fully explain in words. A skilled craftsperson may know how something should feel or sound even if that judgment is difficult to reduce to a written procedure.
+'''Explicit knowledge''' is knowledge that can be more easily documented, written, recorded, or transmitted.
+{{Col}}
+* Declarative knowledge
+* Procedural knowledge
+* Experiential knowledge
+* Tacit knowledge
+* Explicit knowledge
+{{break}}
+* Scientific knowledge
+* Technical knowledge
+* Historical knowledge
+* Practical knowledge
+* Social knowledge
+{{colend}}
+These categories overlap.
+A skilled engineer may have explicit knowledge of formulas, procedural knowledge of engineering methods, and tacit knowledge gained through years of experience.
+== Knowledge and information ==
+Knowledge and information are related but are not always the same thing.
+A database may contain a large amount of information. That does not mean that every person who has access to the database understands the information.
+Knowledge generally involves some degree of interpretation, organization, understanding, or ability to use information.
+For example, a medical laboratory report contains information. Understanding what the measurements mean and how they relate to physiology requires additional knowledge.
+Similarly, a manual can contain instructions for repairing a machine, but a person may still need practice before being able to perform the repair successfully.
+This distinction becomes increasingly important as computers and artificial intelligence systems make enormous amounts of information easier to retrieve.
+Access to information can support knowledge, but access alone does not guarantee understanding.
+== How knowledge is acquired ==
+People can acquire knowledge through many methods.
+These include:
+* Observation
+* Personal experience
+* Reading
+* Teaching
+* Discussion
+* Experimentation
+* Practice
+* Research
+* Logical reasoning
+* Measurement
+* Historical records
+* Apprenticeship
+* Simulation
+Different methods are appropriate for different questions.
+A person can learn historical information by examining documents. Scientific questions may require controlled experiments. Practical skills may require repeated physical practice.
+Some knowledge can be learned quickly. Other forms can take years.
+Knowledge can also be revised. A person may discover that something previously believed to be true was incomplete or incorrect.
+This is one reason why learning should not always be understood as simply accumulating more information. Learning can also involve correcting previous beliefs.
+== Knowledge and uncertainty ==
+Knowledge does not require perfect certainty in every situation.
+Much human knowledge involves probabilities, incomplete evidence, models, or conclusions that may later be revised.
+[[Science]] often works this way.
+Scientific knowledge develops through observation, hypotheses, experimentation, measurement, peer criticism, replication, and revision.
+A scientific explanation can be strongly supported while still remaining open to improvement.
+It is useful to distinguish between:
+* What is known with strong evidence
+* What is probably true
+* What is uncertain
+* What is speculative
+* What is currently unknown
+Good research does not only produce answers. It can also identify uncertainty more clearly.
+Knowing what is not known can be useful knowledge.
+== Knowledge and teaching ==
+Teaching is one of the major ways knowledge moves between people and generations.
+Teaching can involve lectures, books, demonstrations, discussion, practice, mentorship, laboratories, online learning, and many other methods.
+Effective teaching involves more than transmitting facts.
+A teacher may need to help a learner understand:
+* Why something matters
+* How concepts relate to one another
+* How to evaluate evidence
+* How to apply knowledge
+* How to find additional information
+* How to recognize mistakes
+* How to continue learning independently
+Teaching can also improve the teacher's knowledge.
+Trying to explain an idea often reveals gaps in understanding.
+This creates a useful cycle between learning and teaching.
+== Knowledge and research ==
+[[Research]] is one of the primary methods used to expand knowledge.
+Research can involve asking new questions or revisiting old questions using improved methods.
+Research activities can include:
+{{Col}}
+* Literature review
+* Experimentation
+* Data collection
+* Statistical analysis
+* Interviews
+* Historical research
+{{break}}
+* Field observation
+* Simulation
+* Prototyping
+* Replication
+* Comparative analysis
+* Case studies
+{{colend}}
+Research does not always produce positive results.
+A failed experiment can still provide knowledge if it shows that a method does not work under particular conditions.
+Negative results, errors, and unsuccessful approaches can be valuable when they are documented accurately.
+== Organizing knowledge ==
+Knowledge becomes more useful when it can be organized and retrieved.
+Humans have developed many systems for this purpose.
+Examples include:
+* Libraries
+* Encyclopedias
+* Dictionaries
+* Archives
+* Databases
+* Catalogs
+* Scientific journals
+* Classification systems
+* Wikis
+* Knowledge graphs
+* Search engines
+A wiki is particularly useful because pages can connect related concepts through hyperlinks.
+A page on [[energy]] can connect to pages on physics, electricity, engineering, economics, environmental science, and technology.
+This makes a wiki useful not only for storing facts but for showing relationships between ideas.
+Categories, portals, indexes, and structured links can help learners move from one subject to another.
+== Open knowledge ==
+[[Open knowledge]] generally refers to knowledge that people can access, use, study, modify, and share with relatively few restrictions.
+Open educational resources, open scientific publications, open data, open-source software, and open hardware can all contribute to the broader availability of knowledge.
+Open knowledge can help people learn without needing permission from a central gatekeeper.
+It can also allow knowledge to be improved collaboratively.
+However, openness does not guarantee accuracy.
+Open information still needs evaluation, sourcing, testing, and criticism.
+The value of openness is that more people can participate in that process.
+== Knowledge and artificial intelligence ==
+Artificial intelligence systems can increasingly assist with finding, organizing, summarizing, generating, and analyzing information.
+They can help people:
+* Search large bodies of text
+* Compare sources
+* Explain difficult topics
+* Generate study materials
+* Organize notes
+* Analyze data
+* Develop research questions
+* Produce drafts
+* Connect related ideas
+AI systems can also produce incorrect or fabricated information.
+This means AI can be useful for learning and research, but information generated by an AI system should be evaluated like information from other sources.
+The ability to generate an answer is not the same as possessing verified knowledge.
+Research methods, citations, experimentation, and independent verification remain important.
+== Knowledge and problems in living ==
+Many [[problems in living]] can be understood partly as knowledge problems.
+People may lack information about how to solve a problem.
+Relevant research may exist but may not be accessible.
+Different groups may possess separate pieces of useful knowledge but fail to communicate.
+A solution may be known but expensive or difficult to implement.
+In other cases, the necessary knowledge may not yet exist.
+Examples can include:
+* How to prevent a disease
+* How to generate inexpensive clean energy
+* How to build affordable housing
+* How to improve transportation
+* How to reduce conflict
+* How to manufacture a difficult technology
+* How to extend healthy human life
+* How to organize resources more efficiently
+Learning, teaching, research, and experimentation can therefore be viewed as tools for solving problems.
+Knowledge alone may not solve a problem, but solving complex problems usually requires relevant knowledge.
+== Preserving knowledge ==
+Knowledge can be lost.
+Libraries can be destroyed. Digital files can disappear. Websites can shut down. Languages can become extinct. Skilled workers can retire without documenting what they know.
+Preserving knowledge is therefore an important task.
+Strategies can include:
+* Maintaining backups
+* Using open file formats
+* Creating archives
+* Publishing documentation
+* Recording oral histories
+* Preserving source code
+* Maintaining libraries
+* Teaching skills to new people
+* Creating redundant copies of important information
+Long-term preservation is especially important for knowledge that would be difficult or expensive to rediscover.
+== Discussion questions, essay ideas, and learning related AI prompt ideas ==
+* What is knowledge?
+* What is the difference between knowledge and information?
+* Can a person know something without being able to explain it?
+* What is the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge?
+* How should uncertain knowledge be represented?
+* How does science differ from other methods of acquiring knowledge?
+* Can incorrect beliefs still contain useful knowledge?
+* What kinds of knowledge are most difficult to preserve?
+* How can societies reduce the loss of institutional knowledge?
+* What information should be considered common knowledge?
+* How can open knowledge contribute to solving [[problems in living]]?
+* How should people evaluate information produced by artificial intelligence?
+* What is the best way to organize a large body of human knowledge?
+* Ask an AI system to compare declarative, procedural, tacit, and experiential knowledge.
+* Ask an AI system to design a system for preserving technical knowledge for one hundred years.
+* Develop a research project that examines how people distinguish reliable from unreliable information.
+* Compare wikis, encyclopedias, libraries, databases, and knowledge graphs as methods of organizing knowledge.
+== Wikipedia readings ==
+* [[w:Knowledge|Knowledge]]
+* [[w:Epistemology|Epistemology]]
+* [[w:Information|Information]]
+* [[w:Tacit knowledge|Tacit knowledge]]
+* [[w:Declarative knowledge|Declarative knowledge]]
+* [[w:Procedural knowledge|Procedural knowledge]]
+* [[w:Knowledge management|Knowledge management]]
+* [[w:Open knowledge|Open knowledge]]
+* [[w:Scientific method|Scientific method]]
+* [[w:Learning|Learning]]
+* [[w:Research|Research]]
+* [[w:Encyclopedia|Encyclopedia]]
+== See also ==
+{{Col}}
 * [[Science]]
-[[Image:Encyclopédie Figurative System of Human Knowledge.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]
+* [[Learning]]
+* [[Teaching]]
+* [[Research]]
+* [[Information]]
+* [[Epistemology]]
+* [[Open knowledge]]
+* [[Knowledge management]]
+* [[Education]]
+* [[Critical thinking]]
+{{break}}
+* [[Library]]
+* [[Encyclopedia]]
+* [[Wiki]]
+* [[Artificial intelligence]]
+* [[Open educational resources]]
+* [[Problem solving]]
+* [[Problems in living]]
+* [[Scientific method]]
+* [[Data]]
+* [[Wisdom]]
+{{colend}}
 [[Category:Knowledge]]
+[[Category:Learning]]
+[[Category:Education]]
+[[Category:Research]]
+[[Category:Epistemology]]
+[[Category:Information]]

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