presentation outline experts and novices learning and transfer children and learning common themes
TRANSCRIPT
Experts and Novices:Six Key Points
1. Pattern Recognition2. Knowledge and Organization of
Subject Matter3. Conditionalized Knowledge4. Effortless Retrieval / Fluency5. Pedagogical Knowledge versus
Subject Knowledge6. Adaptive Expertise and
Metacognition
1. Pattern Recognition
Expert 2: . . . I haven't heard a bell, but the students are already at their desks and seem to be doing purposeful activity, and this is about the time that I decide they must be an accelerated group . . .
Experts quickly recognize patterns in data.
Novice 1: . . . I can't tell what they are doing. They're getting ready for class, but I can't tell what they're doing.
2. Knowledge and Organization of Subject
MatterExperts have deep knowledge organized around “big ideas”.
Expert
Novice
3. Conditionalized Knowledge
Experts know “when, where and why” to use relevant knowledge.
Exhaustive searches for
relevant knowledge
overwhelm working
memory.So “conditionalize”
knowledge on the contexts
where it is useful.
4. Effortless Retrieval / Fluency
Fluent knowledge retrieval allows experts to focus on the important
parts of a problem.
Just like language…
5. Pedagogical Knowledge versus Subject Knowledge
Being an expert in an area is not the same as being a good teacher.
• Experts can forget what is difficult in learning their subject
• Pedagogical knowledge is more than just the facts
• Pedagogical knowledge varies across subjects
6. Adaptive Expertise and Metacognition
Experts reflect on their own knowledge.
“Artisans”, “Virtuosos” and “Accomplished Novices”
Learning and Transfer:Main Points
1. Memorization versus Transfer
2. Initial Learning3. Feedback and
Metacognition4. Learning in
Multiple Contexts5. Previous Learning
and Culture
• Building a significant body of knowledge is important
• It takes time to integrate knowledge and to explore concepts
• 100,000 hours to become a chess master!
2. Initial Learning
3. Feedback and Metacognition
• Sometimes students need prompting to facilitate transfer:“Can you think of something you did earlier?”
• Make students aware of the problem-solving process
4. Learning in Multiple Contexts
• Over-contextualized knowledge makes transfer difficult
• Shared cognitive elements (versus shared surface structure) facilitate transfer
Learning multiple word-
processors
5. Previous Learning and Culture
Avoiding Misinterpretation
Building on Prior Knowledge
Acknowledging Cultural
Background
Children and Learning:Key Points
1. Privileged Domains
2. Learning Strategies and Metacognition
3. Guided Learning
2. Learning Strategies and Metacognition
• Information Processing– “Chunking” facts to deal with larger
sets of information– Gradual development of
metacognition– Children develop and use multiple
strategies
• “Entity Theories” versus “Incremental Theories”
3. Guided Learning• Scaffolding: Facilitating children’s
interest and helping to manage forward progress
• Reading stories• “Zone of Proximal Development”
Common Themes
• Expert skills are things to be learned– Fluency requires background
knowledge and time– Metacognition and Adaptive
Expertise are as important as “the facts”
– Conditionalized knowledge comes from applying knowledge to diverse situations