Expert and Novice Performance in Solving Physics Problems

Larkin, Jill H.; McDermott, John; Simon, Dorothea P.; Simon, Herbert A.

doi:10.1126/science.208.4450.1335

Cited by 1,700 publications

(847 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

778

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, this explanation should fare well in accounting for the phenomenon with a wide array of stimuli: musical notation (Bean, 1937;Sloboda, 1974Sloboda, , 1976Weaver, 1943;Wolf, 1976), technical drawings (Egan & Schwartz, 1979), physics computations (Larkin, 1981;Larkin, McDermott, Simon, & Simon, 1980), or computer programs (McKeithern, Reitman, Reuter, & Hirtle, 1981. This is because at a general level, the processing involved in comprehending these various stimuli should be comparable (see Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978, p. 364, for a related view).…”

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface information loss in comprehension

Gernsbacher

1985

Cognitive Psychology

228

185

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shortly after a sentence has been comprehended, information about its exact surface form (e.g., its word order) becomes less available. The present research demonstrated this phenomenon during the comprehension of nonverbal stimuli (picture stories). In Experiment 1, significantly more surface (left/right orientation) information was lost after comprehending several picture stories than just one; in Experiment 2, more was lost after comprehending an entire picture story than half of one. In Experiment 3, subjects segmented the picture stories into their constituents; in Experiment 4, significantly more surface information was lost after crossing these constituents' boundaries than before. The present research also investigated why surface information is lost. Four explanations were considered: Surface information loss is the result of performing grammatical transformations (the linguistic hypothesis), exceeding short-term memory limitations (the memory limitations hypothesis), integrating information into gist (the integration hypothesis), shifting from building one substructure to initiating another (the processing shift hypothesis). The linguistic and memory limitations hypotheses were considered inadequate; the integration and the processing shift hypotheses were tested in the last set of experiments. In Experiment 5 (using nonverbal stimuli), the predictions made by the processing shift hypothesis were confirmed; in Experiment 6 (using verbal stimuli), these results were replicated. Other implications of the processing shift hypothesis concerning surface information loss are discussed.A well-known phenomenon involved in language comprehension is this: Shortly after a passage is comprehended, information about the exact surface form of its sentences (e.g., their word order) becomes less available. By far the most cited demonstration of this phenomenon is Sachs ' (1967). Her subjects listened to a narrative story that included a sentence such as 1. He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.After comprehending this sentence, subjects decided whether it or Sentence 2 was the sentence they just heard. 2A letter about it was sent to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.If subjects were tested immediately after hearing the target sentence, their ability to discriminate between it and its reversed form was around 90%. However, if they were tested after comprehending only 80 additional syllables, performance fell to just above chance.Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. M. A. Gernsbacher,

show abstract

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface information loss in comprehension

Gernsbacher

1985

Cognitive Psychology

228

185

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A classic example is physics, where experts, contrary to the prediction, solve problems employing deep and abstract constructs, while novices solve them at a superficial and concrete level 1 The page numbers refer to the 2001 edition of the book. (Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981;Larkin, Mc Dermott, Simon, & Simon, 1980). In nursing, Benner (1984) provides a few exemplars that clearly indicate the importance of abstract theoretical knowledge (e.g., pp.…”

Section: Weaknesses Of the Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an alternative to Benner's theory of expert intuition in nursing: A discussion paper

Gobet

Chassy

2008

International Journal of Nursing Studies

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several authors have highlighted the role of intuition in expertise. In particular, a large amount of data has been collected about intuition in expert nursing, and intuition plays an important role in the influential theory of nursing expertise developed by Benner (1984). We discuss this theory, and highlight both data that support it and data that challenge it. Based on this assessment, we propose a new theory of nursing expertise and intuition, which emphasizes how perception and conscious problem solving are intimately related. In the discussion, we propose that this theory opens new avenues of enquiry for research into nursing expertise. KeywordsCare, decision-making, expertise, intuition, memory, nursing, pattern recognition Expert Intuition in Nursing 3 Towards an alternative to Benner's theory of expert intuition in nursing:A discussion paper What is already known about the topic?• While the role of intuition in nursing has been the topic of considerable debate, studies have established that this is a genuine phenomenon.• Definitions of experts' intuition emphasize five features: rapid perception, lack of awareness of the processes engaged, presence of emotions, holistic understanding of the situation, and overall good quality of the proposed solutions.• The literature often refers to Patricia Benner's theory of nursing expertise, which proposes that the road to expertise encompasses five stages. What this paper adds• A detailed discussion of Benner's theory, which leads to the conclusion that the theory is too simple to account for the complex pattern of phenomena that recent research on expert intuition has uncovered.• A new theory of expert intuition in nursing, which provides mechanisms for explaining how intuitive, perceptual decision making is linked to more analytical problem solving.• The suggestion that standard research on expertise (mostly based on the natural sciences) and that on nursing expertise (often based on phenomenology) should start a constructive dialogue. Expert Intuition in Nursing

show abstract

“…However, experience does offer tremendous advantages. For example, expert troubleshooters have well-developed cognitive schemas that contain quantitatively (more) and qualitatively (better) different system, principled, and strategic knowledge than novices' schemas do (Chi, Glaser, & Rees, 1982;Larkin, McDermott, Simon, & Simon, 1980). When troubleshooting familiar systems, experts can also use the case-based knowledge they gained through previous fault-finding experiences.…”

Section: Process-oriented Worked Examples 3 Effects Of Process-orientmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of process-oriented worked examples on troubleshooting transfer performance

Gog

Paas

Merriënboer

2006

Learning and Instruction

155

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the domain of electrical circuits troubleshooting, a full factorial experiment investigated the hypotheses that a) studying worked examples would lead to better transfer performance than solving conventional problems, with less investment of time and mental effort during training and test, and b) adding process information to worked examples would increase investment of effort during training and enhance transfer performance; whereas adding it to conventional problems would increase investment of effort, but would not positively affect transfer performance. The first hypothesis was largely confirmed by the data; the second was not: adding process information indeed resulted in increased investment of effort during training, but not in higher transfer performance in combination with worked examples. Process-Oriented Worked Examples 3 Effects of Process-Oriented Worked Examples on Troubleshooting Transfer PerformanceTroubleshooting, that is, diagnosing and repairing faults in a technical system, constitutes an important part of most technical jobs. Fault diagnosis is considered a complex cognitive skill to carry out, and even more complex to acquire (Gott, Parker Hall, Pokorny, Dibble, & Glaser, 1993;Schaafstal, Schraagen, & Van Berlo, 2000). This study addresses the question of how initial acquisition of this skill can be fostered by the design of effective troubleshooting instruction and, in particular, the support given to students during practice. Specially, the study investigates the effects on learning outcomes of support formats that are assumed to help students to use their cognitive resources more effectively.According to Cognitive Load Theory (CLT;Sweller, 1988;Sweller, Van Merriënboer, & Paas, 1998;Van Merriënboer & Sweller, 2005) instructional materials draw on students' cognitive resources in three ways, related to the intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load they impose. Intrinsic cognitive load is imposed by the complexity of the instructional task and depends on the number of interacting elements that have to be related, controlled, and kept active in working memory during learning activities. By nature, troubleshooting tasks are complex and require processing of numerous information elements. For example, in troubleshooting a simple electrical DC circuit, specific knowledge of the function of its components (e.g., voltage sources, resistors) and general knowledge about the relation between voltage, current and resistance (Ohm's law) and about the conservation of energy and charge (Kirchoff's laws) is needed to be able to determine how the circuit should function. Knowledge about how to use different meters is required to be able to measure the voltage, current and resistance at different points in the circuit. The troubleshooter has to compare those measurements to his/her own calculations of optimal functioning. Furthermore, s/he needs to relate the outcome of that comparison to knowledge about how certain symptoms (e.g., no current in the entire circuit) relate to certain Proc...

show abstract

Expert and Novice Performance in Solving Physics Problems

Cited by 1,700 publications

References 9 publications

Surface information loss in comprehension

Surface information loss in comprehension

Towards an alternative to Benner's theory of expert intuition in nursing: A discussion paper

Effects of process-oriented worked examples on troubleshooting transfer performance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About