Fisheries Extension Education (2+1)

4.6.2 Knowledge stage

This stage occurs when an individual (or decision making unit) is exposed to the innovation’s existence and gains some understanding of how it functions.

Three types or levels of knowledge are there:

a) Awareness knowledge : It covers ‘what ‘component of knowledge

- It motivates the individual to seek ‘how to’ knowledge and principles knowledge. This type of information seeking stage is called as knowledge stage of I-D process. It may also occur at later stages.

b) ‘How to’ knowledge: Consists of information necessary to use an innovation properly. If we proceed to trial or adoption without ‘how to’ knowledge, rejection or discontinuance is likely to result. Change agents should concentrate on providing ‘how to‘ knowledge at the trial and decision stage.

c) Principles Knowledge : It is the information dealing with the functioning principles underlying how the innovation works. It is usually possible to adopt an innovation without principles knowledge, but the danger of misusing the idea is greater and that may result in discontinuance. The long-range competence of individuals to judge future innovations is facilitated by principles knowledge.