SCOPE

A. This element focuses on exploring the nature and scope of the different themes and areas of knowledge.
B. It explores how each theme/area of knowledge fits within the totality of human knowledge.
C. It also considers the nature of the problems that each theme/area of knowledge faces and tries to address.

➢ What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in these themes/areas of knowledge?

➢ What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from these themes/ areas of knowledge?
➢ What are the key current open/unanswered questions in these themes/areas of knowledge?
➢ What makes this theme/area of knowledge important?

Areas of Knowledge
History (selection of evidence and reliability )
What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in History?
➢ History presents a challenge in that we can not observe the past directly
➢ Historians must use different methods of inquiry during the study of history which are different from other areas of
knowledge.
➢ Am wondering how studying history can also promote empathy with, and understanding of, people living in diverse places
and at different times.
➢ Historians rely on documentaries to understand past events and interpret the past but reliability remains in question
➢ It is interesting in that it is an interpretive discipline that allows for multiple perspectives and opinions.
➢ Students could be encouraged to consider the role and importance of historians, particularly in terms of why their
interpretations may differ or how we evaluate conflicting interpretations of past events.
➢ History writers are influenced by social environment and historical environment they were in while writing, this affects the
selection and interpretation of the evidences

What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from History?

❖ Some choices made today may be based on a historical events that was recorded some time back.

What are the key current open/unanswered questions in History?

❖ Is it possible to know who we are without knowledge of the past? (scope)
❖ The unanswered question is that why some historical events have been recorded and others havent been recorded/
and even excluded from any document.
❖ Why history is used to promote dominant perspective in the past and that of the minority excluded.
❖ Why different books about history of a similar event report differently about the common issue .
What makes this History important?
❖ It reveals exactly what might have shaped the current ideas people have
❖ It develops empathy in the minds of those studying it.
❖ Studying how different environments (political, social and economic) affects the way people write their knowledge and
how it is affected.

Examples of knowledge questions

The human sciences(psychology, social and cultural anthropology, economics, political science, and geography.) study of human existence and behaviour.
➢ What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in human sciences ?
○ study of human existence and behaviour
○ There are many subjects in the group, how are they surely interlinked
○ How do human science subjects interrete science different from natural sciences
○ Do these subjects use the same method of collection of data and testing its validity like it is done is natural sciences
○ The use of questionnaires and polls in the human sciences , how reliable is the information collected given the challenges associated with use of
neutral language, leading questions. The responses from respondents could be wrong and misleading since some could be untruthful and
delibaratelly giving misleading information.

➢ What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from human sciences?
● It is interesting to know that a research can be made to find out how social, political , cultural or financial factors can affect the type of research
one is more like to do.
● The human science make research through the public to find ways they can influence them and make more profits for the company.

➢ What are the key current open/unanswered questions in human sciences?

➢ How does advertising utilize knowledge of human psychology to influence and persuade us? (scope)
➢ Does market research consider the changing demands of a given society
➢ How often should research be done to consider the collected data as reliable?

➢ What makes human sciences important?

➢ It reveals that human behavoiur can be influenced and changed to do something good or bad depending on the level of advertisment.
➢ By the fact the current situation of people is determined, proper judgement about the future can easily be predicted.

➢ Examples of knowledge questions

➢
The natural sciences
➢ What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in natural sciences ?
● A focus for discussions of the natural sciences could be what differentiates the scientific from the non-scientific or
“pseudo-scientific”.
● What is based on to have paradigm shift? Is it based on growth in scientific knowledge or the advancement in
technological advancement drive scientific progress and discoveries.
● The natural sciences are often seen to rely on evidence, rationality and the quest for deeper understanding.
● The rely on direct Observation and experimentation play a key role. Am wondering what happens if one can not
obeserve and experiment, will such an individual be able to get knowledge.
● I would wish to know what a theory means in science and how different it is used in other areas of knowledge.

➢ What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from natural sciences?

➢ What are the key current open/unanswered questions in natural sciences?

The issue of funding.
A great deal of scientific research is funded by private for-profit companies and by
governments, which raises interesting questions around how the priorities for funding scientific research
are determined and who it is that determines which research directions are pursued.

➢ What makes natural sciences important?

❖ It is evidence based, it solves current problems

• The arts it involves (visual arts, theatre, dance, music, film and literature.)
➢ What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in arts ?
❖ There is alot of diversity in the techniques used with in the same area of knowledge.
❖ Why would arts focus much on interpretation, out of the 12 main concepts.
❖ It is funny in that the role of the audience in the arts is very crucial.
❖ Students could explore art forms and art works that are strongly rooted in a particular culture or tradition, as
well as reflecting on the diversity of the arts across time, cultures and contexts.
 ➢ What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from arts?
❖ Who determines the interpretation of the art: the artist or view
➢ What are the key current open/unanswered questions in arts?
❖ Does art provide knowledge of the artist or of ourselves?
❖ Is every one a competent judge in arts.
❖ Who is better in better position to critic, is it experts or even an ordinary person.
❖ Are judgements from ordinary people of any value.
❖ How reliable is the judgement of an expert who sees the art piece for the first time.
❖ Am wondering whether there are ethical issues in pursuit of knowledge in arts

➢ What makes arts important?

❖ It enables learners to analyse arts pure based in a specific culture and those rooted in diverse cultures

• Mathematics
➢ What motivates the pursuit of knowledge in Mathematics?
❖ Am wondering how math have a degree of certainty.
❖ why disciplines in the human sciences are often keen to cast their conclusions in mathematical terms, or why
mathematical treatments of a topic are often taken by many to be a sign of intellectual rigour.
❖ It focuses on imagination, so am wondering Despite, or perhaps because of, the strict confines of
mathematical logic,
mathematics can be an enormously creative subject, asking its practitioners to make great leaps of
imagination.

➢ What practical problems can be solved through the application of knowledge from Mathematics?

➢ What are the key current open/unanswered questions in Mathematics?

❖ Does art provide knowledge of the artist or of ourselves?
➢ What makes Mathematics important?
❖ The relationship between mathematics and the world around us. Mathematics is often used to model real-world
processes. Yet, in some ways, mathematics can also seem quite abstract and detached from the real world, strongly
focused on the application of reason rather than relying on experience and observation of the world.