Procedural knowledge facts for kids

Procedural knowledge is all about knowing how to do something. Think of it as your "know-how" or "practical knowledge." It's the skill you use when you perform a task.

This is different from descriptive knowledge, which is knowing facts. For example, knowing that "snow is white" is descriptive knowledge. But knowing "how to ride a bike" or "how to change a flat tire" is procedural knowledge. You don't always need to explain how you do something for it to be procedural knowledge. You just need to be able to do it correctly.

The idea of procedural knowledge is used in different fields, like cognitive psychology (how our minds work) and intellectual property law (rules about inventions and ideas).

What is Procedural Knowledge?

Procedural knowledge is the "know-how" that helps you get things done. It's different from knowing facts because you can use it directly. For example, the knowledge you use to solve a math problem is procedural. You learn it by actually doing the problem.

A famous thinker named Gilbert Ryle helped make this difference clear. He talked about "knowing-how" versus "knowing-that."

Sometimes, procedural knowledge is called "street smarts." This is often seen as the opposite of "book smarts." Many times, this kind of knowledge is tacit knowledge. This means it's hard to write down or explain to someone else. Think about riding a bike. It's hard to explain every single step! The opposite of tacit knowledge is explicit knowledge, which is easy to share.

How We Define It

Procedural knowledge is simply "knowing how to do it." It's about being able to follow steps to solve problems. This type of knowledge is often linked to specific kinds of problems. It helps you reach a goal and guides how you solve problems.

In math, procedural knowledge means knowing the symbols and rules for solving problems. It's like knowing the steps to an algorithm. If you follow these steps in order, you're sure to get the answer. This is different from heuristics, which are more like general strategies.

Some experts say procedural knowledge can be simple or deep. Simple procedural knowledge is just knowing the steps. Deep procedural knowledge means you understand why those steps work. It also means you can be flexible and use different methods to solve problems. People with deep procedural knowledge can find the best solutions for different situations.

How We Learn It

Learning procedural knowledge often happens alongside learning declarative knowledge (facts). When you first learn to solve a problem, you might look at examples. You use the example to figure out how to solve your own problem. Even when you learn rules, you often refer back to examples.

Over time, with practice, you start to develop general rules. You don't need to look at the examples anymore. Your knowledge changes from remembering examples (declarative) to knowing how to do it (procedural). This idea is part of the ACT-R theory of how we think.

However, sometimes you can learn procedural and declarative knowledge separately. For example, people with memory loss can learn new skills without remembering when or how they learned them. This shows that different parts of our brain handle these types of knowledge. You don't always need one type of knowledge to build the other.

How We Use It

Our brains often control sequences of actions using central plans. These plans are like a hierarchy, with big goals at the top and smaller steps below. For example, the same sound can mean different things depending on where it is in a sentence. This shows that our brains use bigger plans to understand things.

When we learn skills, we form bigger and bigger units of behavior. It's like learning simple notes before you can play a whole piano concert. You learn small routines first, and then combine them into larger ones.

When we plan actions, we don't start from scratch every time. Instead, we adjust plans we've used before. Our brains make changes to existing plans to fit the new situation. Even simple movements are controlled by these hierarchical plans. For example, moving your hand involves a plan with a starting point, a goal, and steps in between.

How It Works with Conceptual Knowledge

Procedural knowledge is about "knowing how," while conceptual knowledge is about "knowing why." Conceptual knowledge helps us understand the relationships between different pieces of information. When you understand these links, you have conceptual understanding.

Cognitive psychologists also use the term declarative knowledge for "knowledge of facts." But conceptual knowledge is more than just facts. It's about ideas that help you think about how things work. Declarative knowledge can be just a list of facts, but conceptual knowledge connects them.

Research in math learning shows that understanding concepts helps you develop skills. Children who understand concepts better often have better procedural skills. Learning about concepts can lead to better skills. And understanding concepts helps you create new ways to solve problems.

This relationship works both ways, but conceptual knowledge might have a bigger impact on procedural knowledge. Learning concepts first can lead to better understanding and the ability to use procedures correctly. Learning procedures first can also improve conceptual understanding, but it might not help as much with applying those procedures in new situations.

Where Procedural Knowledge is Used

In Artificial Intelligence

In artificial intelligence (AI), procedural knowledge is a type of knowledge that a smart computer system can have. It's often shown as a step-by-step program. For example, a robot that moves around a building might have procedures like "navigate to a room" or "plan a path."

An AI system based on declarative knowledge would just have a map of the building. It would also know basic actions like moving forward. Then, a planning program would figure out how to use those actions to reach the robot's goals.

In Cognitive Psychology

In cognitive psychology, procedural knowledge is the knowledge you use to do a task. It's often subconscious (or tacit), meaning you can't easily explain it. Many times, you learn procedural knowledge without even realizing it.

For example, most people can tell if a face is attractive or if a joke is funny. But they can't always explain how they know. They can't give a definition of "attractive" or "funny." This shows the difference between procedural knowledge and simply "knowing how" in everyday talk.

Recognizing a face as attractive is something you just do. It's a type of procedural knowledge. Research has shown that we can learn procedural knowledge by subconsciously noticing patterns.

In Education

In school, procedural knowledge is part of what a student already knows. It includes the rules, skills, and steps a student uses to reach goals. For example, a child learning math might use their fingers to count. This is procedural knowledge.

Procedural knowledge can make learning more efficient. For students with learning disabilities, teachers might break down tasks into small steps. Then they teach each step clearly.

One good thing about procedural knowledge is that it often involves more senses. You get hands-on experience and practice solving problems. This can sometimes be more helpful than just learning theories.

However, procedural knowledge is often specific to a job or task. It's less general than knowing facts. For example, a computer expert might know about a computer program in many different languages. But a programmer who only uses one language might only know how that program works in that specific language. So, their "hands-on" skills might only be useful for certain jobs.

In Business and Law

In business and law, procedural knowledge is often called "know-how." It's a collection of secret information about how a company makes its products or does its work. This "know-how" can be a trade secret and help a company make money.

This kind of knowledge can be transferred when a company is bought. It's often part of intellectual property rights. It might come with the right to use patents or trademarks. But "know-how" isn't just secret information. It's a mix of secret and non-secret information that would be new to an expert in that field.

Industrial know-how is a key part of sharing technology between companies. It can exist with or without other intellectual property rights like patents. When it's shared on its own, it's usually treated as a trade secret in a legal agreement.

Know-how can include secret inventions, formulas, designs, and methods. It also includes the skills and experience of a company's experts. This helps another company make and use a product, giving them a competitive edge. It can also include private expert knowledge on how to run, maintain, or sell a product.

The value of know-how comes from the legal protection given to trade secrets. Trade secret laws can be different in each country.

The World Trade Organization says a trade secret must meet three conditions:

• It must be secret, not generally known or easy to find.
• It must have commercial value because it is secret.
• The person in control of the information must have taken reasonable steps to keep it secret.

When companies share know-how, they often use agreements. There are "disclosure agreements" and "non-disclosure agreements." A disclosure agreement lets a potential partner see what the know-how includes. This helps them decide if they want to work together. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are used to keep the information secret if the deal doesn't happen. People who receive confidential information, like engineers building a plant, also sign NDAs.

Employee Knowledge

In some legal systems, employees have a duty to be loyal to their employer. It can sometimes be tricky to figure out what "know-how" an employee learned on the job becomes their own personal knowledge. Some employers might try to put rules in contracts about keeping information secret after an employee leaves.

However, it's hard to stop someone from using the skills and knowledge they learned to get another job. Employers usually can't say "you must keep all information secret for four years" because that person needs to be able to work elsewhere.

See also

In Spanish: Conocimiento procedimental para niños