Body Of Knowledge Essay

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Ancient man has always tried his best to share the information and knowledge acquired through his valuable experiences to his future generations and to the social groups he lived with. He has used various methods and techniques to share, express, communicate, and deliver the knowledge and information gained. He invented the rituals, languages, the art and architecture, engraved, inscribed and painted on the walls of the caves, temples, and monasteries, and scribed on the rocks, clay tablets, palm leaves, parchments, scrolls, codex, and manuscripts. He did all this and more as a means to “think critically”, “solve real world problems”, to communicate and pass on the information to the generations to come. However, access to such information …show more content…

By this time, they have gained much knowledge of animal behavior through hunting small animals and listening to hunting and tracking encounters, described in minute detail during storytelling around the campfire. This is a major component of their socialization as hunters. The stories and myths represent a vast body of knowledge and information about animals and how to kill them. Knowledge gained informally is often assimilated more easily than knowledge gained under direct instruction (Liebenberg 1990).
• Children were not excluded even when performing potentially dangerous tasks, such as making a fire or spear and arrow tips. (MacDonald, 2007) Social context is an important part of the teaching and learning process in hunter-gatherer societies.
So, from Lombard’s studies we can infer that the hunter gatherers used the “cognitive apprenticeship” model as their teaching and learning strategy. This model is defined as “learning through guided experience on cognitive and meta cognitive, rather than physical, skills and processes” by Collins et al. (1989, p. 456) It has its roots in social learning theories. One cannot engage in a cognitive apprenticeship alone, but rather it is dependent on expert demonstration (modeling) and guidance (coaching) in the initial phases of learning. (Burner,

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