Inert knowledge is information which one can express but not use. The process ofunderstanding by learners does not happen to that extent where theknowledge can be used for effectiveproblem-solving in realistic situations.[1]
The phenomenon of inert knowledge was first described in 1929 byAlfred North Whitehead:[2]
"[T]heoretical ideas should always find important applications within the pupil’s curriculum. This is not an easy doctrine to apply, but a very hard one. It contains within itself the problem of keeping knowledge alive, of preventing it from becoming inert, which is the central problem of all education."
— Whitehead 1929
An example for inert knowledge is vocabulary of a foreign language which is available during an exam but not in a real situation of communication.
An explanation for the problem of inert knowledge is that people often encode knowledge to a specific situation, so that later remindings occur only for highly similar situations.[3]
In contrast so calledconditionalized knowledge is knowledge about something which includes also knowledge as to the contexts in which that certain knowledge will be useful.