To understand expertise and expertise development, interactions between knowledge, cognitive processing and task characteristics must be examined in people at different levels of training, experience, and performance. Interviewing is widely used in the initial exploration of domain expertise. Work and cognitive task analysis chart the knowledge,…

Designed to examine the structural differences in the representation of medical problems in subjects with varying degrees of medical expertise, this study uses an online, thinking-aloud technique to investigate the validity of Feltovich and Barrows' model of expert medical knowledge and illness scripts. Study methodology involved asking one…

This report discusses the importance of presenting qualitative, causally consistent models in the initial stages of learning so that students can gain an understanding of basic electrical circuit concepts and principles that builds on their preexisting ways of reasoning about physical phenomena, and it argues that tutoring environments must help…

The ability to think critically in the presence of arguments with essential quantitative elements, most often graphical elements, will become an essential skill for educated citizens in the future. This paper takes one specific graphical display, a narrow series of observational and interpretational tasks related to a graph, and using a small set…

Some central issues in discussions of creative processes in science are: (1) the mechanism(s) by which hypothesis formation takes place; (2) the sources of new knowledge during hypothesis formation; and (3) the "Eureka" versus steady accumulation (accretion) issue concerning the pace of change during hypothesis formation. This paper…

Discusses problem-solving strategies and the successful strategy used to solve stoichiometric problems in general college chemistry courses. Reports that rereading problems, recalling a related concept, and reasoning deductively/inductively are the most heavily used strategies among 13 categories. (YP)

Discussion of the evaluation of courseware focuses on a study conducted to evaluate the Health and Fitness Assessment (HAFA) program, which was designed to elicit problem solving skills to assess health and fitness parameters and develop exercise prescriptions. Protocol analysis is described and the analysis of interpretive statements is…

Proposes the use of procedural task analysis as a tool to assess a person's mental processes during problem solving in science education research. Uses transcriptions of videotape or audiotape problem-solving sessions to identify students' knowledge structures and misconceptions. (MDH)