Expertise

Reading questions for Class # 4 – Oct 1

Bedard and Chi (1992). Expertise

This chapter sums up certain known and accepted notions of expertise.

• What is expertise? What are the effects of expertise on problem-solving and transfer?

Glaser and Chi (1988). The nature of expertise

This chapter compiles relevant finding from studies on expertise and reviews specific domains that have been studied. Posner’s chapter highlights the importance of memory and problem representation as well as individual differences in persistence and motivation in the quest for expertise.

• What are the main conclusions drawn by Glaser & Chi based on the research on expertise?
• Can you think of examples wherein experts might be able to use a general strategy across domains or do you think that expertise is primarily domain-specific?
• Would expertise in well-defined domains differ from expertise in ill-defined domains? How and why?
• What is Posner’s theory in the "making of an expert"?

Adelson (1984). When novices surpass experts

This study addresses expert-novice differences in problem representation.

• What is Adelson’s theory behind the differences in problem representation of experts and novices in the programming task? How does that affect performance?
• What is the main finding of this study? Are there any limitations that you find based on the other readings?
• What are the implications of these results in other areas/domains? Should these results be expected only in procedural tasks?

Gobet and Simon (1996). Roles of recognition & look-ahead search in time-constrained expert problem-solving

This article compares the importance of recognition processes and planning ahead when expert chess players engage in simultaneous play.

• What is the most interesting finding in this study?
• Can you think of other examples where time-constraint could affect type of strategy-use by experts?
• What does this say about expert flexibility?

Hinds (1999). The curse of expertise.

This article assesses the ability of experts to make accurate predictions of novice performance.

• What are the limitations of the cognitive heuristics experts might use in making predictions of novice performances? What debiasing methods does Hinds suggest?
• What did the results of the study indicate with respect to the effect of the debiasing methods on expert predictions?
• What are the implications of this study to real-life classroom situations?