Modes Of Knowledge Acquisition Research Articles

Assessment of learning preferences among medical students

Background: Facilitating learning, or the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, and habits, is what education is all about. The learning style of an individual refers to how they prefer to gather, process, memorize, and recall information. One student may adopt one or many modes of knowledge acquisition. Academics consider learning style as a factor influencing students’ learning as a result of personal preferences for physical, social, and environmental components during the learning process. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September 2022, at Goa Medical College. The student’s preferred method of learning was ascertained using the VARK questionnaire which consisted of 16 questions in the VARK questionnaire. Each question offers 4 options, which correlate to the preferences for the 4 sensory modalities. The students were told to select the response that best reflected their preferences. Results: A total of 867 medical students completed the questionnaire. Among the students 368 (41%) preferred unimodal learning style (either visual, auditory, reading/writing, or kinesthetic), 173 (20%) preferred usage of bimodal learning style, 126 (15.8%) trimodal and 200 (23.2%) quadrimodal learning style. Conclusions: There is a variety of learning styles present in the classroom, and there are some students who are not addressed by the standard lecture format. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that students prefer multimodal methods. It is the responsibility of the instructor and the student to be aware of student learning style preferences to improve learning. As instructors, we need to assess and understand how to reach all students by understanding how to present information in multiple modes.

A “Reorder of Things” in Black Studies: Sacred Praxis, Phono(geo)graphy, and the Counter-Archive of Diaspora

ABSTRACT This article examines Erna Brodber's 1994 novel, Louisiana, as a methodological invitation to the field of Black Studies to query how we do the work of black study. A Jamaican social scientist turned novelist, Brodber finds the tools of social science and notions of Western rationality and reason that undergird it insufficient for the unique challenges of recovering a past characterized by violent rupture and irreparable loss. In turn, she takes up fiction to imagine a new method and field of study to fill in the gaps of black diasporic history. Merging anthropology and sociology with literature, she produces a fictionalized ethnography—the novel Louisiana—that undermines the tenets of Western Enlightenment thought, its various offspring (social scientific method, History, Christianity, and technology), and their attendant claims to truth, facticity, and progress. Mobilizing the epistemes embedded within black diasporic cultural and political practices such as spirit possession, music, storytelling, and grassroots labor organizing, Louisiana constructs a counter-archive of diaspora that is at once sacred, feminist, and communal. Ultimately, the novel sketches the contours of a new interdisciplinary method and field of study—perhaps Brodber's own version of Black Studies—that foregrounds 1) “sacred praxis” vis-à-vis spirit possession as a legitimate mode of knowledge acquisition, 2) the “global black south” as a nodal point of diasporic relationality, and 3) a dispossessive logic and an ethic of humility and surrender in the research process that serves as an affront to notions of liberal individual personhood and the hierarchization of peoples and knowledges that produced and sustain the Western “order of things.”

THE HISTORY OF ARGENTINE ART IN LIGHT OF DECOLONIAL STUDIES

At the end of the last century, colonial, postcolonial and decolonial studies set in motion a “detachment” from the dominant modes of knowledge acquisition in the social sciences and humanities. In the 1990s, Latin American intellectuals debated the colonial side of modernity and the cultural, theoretical and practical hegemony that the central countries maintained. In the field of art, this resulted in the problematization of the Eurocentric canons present in the artistic system and the lack of independent theoretical and visual thinking. In light of these problems, this article investigates one of the features of coloniality in force in the Histories of the Visual Arts “with capital letters” in Latin America and particularly in Argentina; that is, the neutralization of diversity in the construction of a national art. To this end, we have used the transdisciplinary qualitative methodology, which articulates different areas of knowledge (history, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, art history) from a decolonial interpretive perspective. In the theoretical analysis and historiographical reflection, a decentration is observed in the history of national art promoted by the Institute of Aesthetic Research (Faculty of Arts, National University of Tucumán), which interrupts the disciplinary canon favoring the emergence of the American, in both the folkloric and the ancestral.

Synthesis of single-case design research in communication sciences and disorders: Challenges, strategies, and future directions

The synthesis of scientific evidence has been undertaken for decades as a key mode of knowledge acquisition and development. With the growing evidence-based practice movement, the statistical aggregation tool of meta-analysis, with its techniques for measuring effect size, has become an integral method for assessing, analyzing, comparing, and quantifying findings from primary research studies. The role of meta-analysis in scientific and clinical decision making is expanding; however, evidence from single-case design research has been largely omitted from such efforts due to a lack of appropriate techniques, subpar methodology, and theoretical divisions. As single-case design research is a common methodology used in the study of low-incidence and heterogeneous populations, practice-based fields such as communication sciences and disorders are in need of methods to aggregate the available research and incorporate it into evidence-based decision making. This article outlines the challenges to synthesis of single-case design research, describes and critiques the available synthesis methods, and offers suggestions for current synthesis efforts and future research directions in communication sciences and disorders. Source of funding: No source of funding reported.

Modes of knowledge acquisition and retrieval in artificial grammar learning

The aim of this study was to conceptualize artificial grammar learning (AGL) in terms of two orthogonal dimensions--the mode of knowledge acquisition and the mode of knowledge retrieval--as was done by Perlman and Tzelgov (2006) for sequence learning. Experiment 1 was carried out to validate our experimental task; Experiments 2-4 tested, respectively, performance in the intentional, incidental, and automatic retrieval modes, for each of the three modes of acquisition. Furthermore, signal detection theory (SDT) was used as an analytic tool, consistent with our assumption that the processing of legality-relevant information involves decisions along a continuous dimension of fluency. The results presented support the analysis of AGL in terms of the proposed dimensions. They also indicate that knowledge acquired during training may include many aspects of the presented stimuli (whole strings, relations among elements, etc.). The contribution of the various components to performance depends on both the specific instruction in the acquisition phase and the requirements of the retrieval task.

Modes of Knowledge Acquisition and Innovation in Different Environments: An Examination of New Firms

Knowledge about markets and technology are essential to the discovery and exploitation of opportunities for innovation. In this paper, we examine the modes of new knowledge acquisition (i.e. market vs. technological) practices and their effect on innovation in a sample of over 300 new firms and try to answer the question of 'what knowledge matters in what situations'. We find a diverging impact for the mode of knowledge acquisition, depending on the level of dynamism of the environment. In stable and predictable environments, market knowledge is vital for innovation. However, in dynamic markets, market knowledge had a negative impact on innovation. Technological knowledge showed no differences across differing environments. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The eSTEP™ Website: A Good Model for Online Surgical Training?

eSTEPTM: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/education/estep/home_html BeST online: https://www.intumed.com/ Online learning is not a new concept and this is certainly true in surgery. With online textbooks, basic skills videos and interactive tutorials, the World Wide Web should be the surgical trainees’ oyster. Yet few of these resources are comprehensive enough or of sufficient quality to be the ideal surgical training tool. Perhaps recognising this deficit, The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSE) launched eSTEPTM in 2001 – a comprehensive online learning resource aimed at surgical trainees. eSTEPTM complements the printed modules in the Surgeons in Training Education Programme (STEPTM), a distance learning programme introduced in 1994. STEPTM is firmly aimed at the surgical trainee working towards the MRCS examinations. A wide breadth of information is presented on the eSTEPTM website including case discussions, anatomy teaching videos, GMED Limited’s ‘Multimedia Course in Minor Surgery’, self-test questions and discussion boards – much of what the surgical trainee is seeking online. The website is quick, convenient to access and easy-to-navigate, if a little bland. The study modules are divided into 12 components reflecting the STEPTM printed modules – six core modules covering areas common to all branches of surgery and six system-specific modules – with each containing a variable number of case studies and multiple choice questions. The case studies are well written and are illustrated using realistic examples from every-day practise. A large compilation of clinical cases is supplemented on a weekly basis and explores the study modules in depth. Trainees are encouraged to participate in online discussion – commenting, answering questions and clarifying areas of uncertainty – facilitated by an online moderator. Thought-provoking exchanges result, promoting self-directed learning rather than the classical ‘spoon-feeding’ mode of knowledge acquisition. Some cases are supplemented with convenient anatomical videos – useful given the limited anatomy teaching resources available to postgraduate trainees. The minor surgery course uses images, videos and animation to prepare the surgical trainee embarking on their first minor operations list. A large bank of multiple choice and extended matching questions are of good quality and are written in a format similar to the MRCS examination making them suitable for exam preparation. So far, eSTEPTM sounds like the answer to a surgical trainee’s prayer – a high-quality learning resource aimed at supporting the trainee through their early surgical training years and their MRCS examinations – what more could a trainee ask for? If so, why are all trainees not subscribing to STEPTM so they can make use of the eSTEPTM website? One potential reason is financial – £1370 (or £1420 via direct debit) for a 24-month subscription will seem pretty hefty to the average junior surgical trainee. Subscription is limited to one option (24 months) which some will find restrictive. Many may only wish to use certain aspects of the website, while some will complete the MRCS examinations in less than 24 months – more flexible subscription periods would certainly be attractive. It is important to bear in mind that subscription includes the 12 STEPTM printed modules, 24-months’ access to the eSTEPTM website, 24-months’ subscription to the Surgery journal, discounts on books and RCSE courses, access to a College Day which includes an introduction to eSTEPTM, an overview of the Intercollegiate doi 10.1308/003588408X301190

Alliance formation issues for knowledge‐based enterprises

Inter‐firm collaboration among knowledge‐intensive firms is increasing as a result of accelerating competition, falling regulatory barriers and rising customer expectations. Resource dependency theory is used to position knowledge as the key resource for the knowledge‐based enterprise and to examine the suitability of alliances as a mode of knowledge acquisition and exchange, contrasted particularly with merger and acquisition. The alliance and knowledge literatures are reviewed, and particular attention is paid to the critical alliance formation stage. This stage is reviewed against a research model that posits firm performance in knowledge creation arises from a number of factors, including the motivation for an alliance, partner firm characteristics (the ability to develop and sustain valuable resources; absorptive capacity; combinative capability; experience with alliances; and appropriate design for knowledge exchange), the development of operating structures and norms, and the choice of alliance structure. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research..

Knowledge and Resistance: Black Women Talk about Racism in the Netherlands and the USA

This paper presents cross-cultural data gathered in extensive interviews with black women in the US and in the Netherlands. The main issue concerns relations between knowledge and resistance. More specifically, attention is paid to the contents and structure of black women's knowledge of racism and modes of knowledge acquisition. It is argued that different modes and political contexts of acquisition have an impact on everyday `theories' of racism. For that purpose perceptions of racism based upon a `paternalistic' model of race relations (Netherlands) are compared to perceptions based upon a `conflict' model of race relations (US). These different models imply different perceptions of resistance.

The participant philosophy in nursing science.

AbstractThe central thesis of this article is that scientific rigor is necessary but not sufficient to address the broad human issues that challenge the nursing profession. The pursuit of scientific rigor has led nurse researchers away from personal engagement in the issues they wish to study. Clinical scholarship demands active engagement in the practice arena. Three modes of knowledge acquisition–quantitative, qualitative, and personal–are identified and discussed in the context of Pirsig's 1974 “participant philosophy.” A structure explaining the relationships between each of the major modes of knowledge acquisition is presented.SummaryA philosophic model that interrelates three modes of knowledge acquisition in nursing has been presented.The purpose of the model is to form what Pirsig called “quality,” which parallels Plato's “that which is good” and the Greek concept of “virtue” or “excellence.” One major idea is that the search for “reality” must be de fined in human terms rather than in terms of a reality that is imagined to exist outside of human perception. The second major idea is that quantitative and qualitative research methodologies must be combined with individual personal knowledge by individual participation in all modes of knowledge acquisition. Nurse researchers must become involved in deciding what ought to be by participating in the environments that they study. This means that they must practice nursing as well as observe practice, that they must take responsibility for their own actions in research and in practice as well as recording the behavior of others. By conducting research while avoiding personal engagement, a person risks being merely a spectator of the human process, and thus risks producing trivial results.

Beyond Explanation

In response to Michael Urban's article, "Bureaucratic Ideology in the United States and the Soviet Union: Some Empirical Dimensions," this commentary argues that three modes of knowledge acquisition: the explanatory, the interpretive, and the critical, may be employed by those seeking an explication of our general adherence to hierarchical principles. However, an understanding of the specific purposes to be served by each of these modes is a necessary prerequisite to their use in specific cases.

Rules and representations

AbstractThe book from which these sections are excerpted (N. Chomsky,Rules and Representations, Columbia University Press, 1980) is concerned with the prospects for assimilating the study of human intelligence and its products to the natural sciences through the investigation of cognitive structures, understood as systems of rules and representations that can be regarded as “mental organs.” These mental structui′es serve as the vehicles for the exercise of various capacities. They develop in the mind on the basis of an innate endowment that permits the growth of rich and highly articulated structures along an intrinsically determined course under the triggering and partially shaping effect of experience, which fixes parameters in an intricate system of predetermined form. It is argued that the mind is modular in character, with a diversity of cognitive structures, each with its specific properties arid principles. Knowledge of language, of the behavior of objects, and much else crucially involves these mental structures, and is thus not characterizable in terms of capacities, dispositions, or practical abilities, nor is it necessarily grounded in experience in the standard sense of this term.Various types of knowledge and modes of knowledge acquisition are discussed in these terms. Some of the properties of the language faculty are investigated. The basic cognitive relation is “knowing a grammar”; knowledge of language is derivative and, correspondingly, raises further problems. Language as commonly understood is not a unitary phenomenon but involves a number of interacting systems: the “computational” system of grammar, which provides the representations of sound and meaning that permit a rich range of expressive potential, is distinct from a conceptual system with its own properties; knowledge of language must be distinguished from knowledge of how to use a language; and the various systems that enter into the knowledge and use of language must be further analyzed into their specific subcomponents.