Proposal Title
Preparing our students for unknown challenges
Session Type
Presentation
Room
FNB 1200
Start Date
3-7-2019 3:00 PM
Keywords
Adaptive expertise, learning transfer, lifelong learning, introductory courses
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
Our world of rapidly changing technology, disruptive innovations, and accelerating complexity presents challenges for how we can prepare our learners for lifelong success. Not only should our graduates possess an extensive knowledge base and range of problem-solving strategies, they should also be able to apply, adjust, and extend what they know in new environments and situations. Formal education traditionally addresses the first part, but pays less attention to the second.
In this session, we will use the lens of “adaptive expertise” to consider the development of learners who are able to thrive in an evolving world. The concept of adaptive expertise was introduced by Hatano & Inagaki (1986) to describe the ability to aptly address new types of problems, in contrast to routine expertise which is focused on efficiently solving familiar problems. Cultivating adaptive expertise requires trade-offs between developing efficiency in dealing with familiar settings versus innovation for novel ones (Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005). Drawing on practical recommendations for designing curricula supporting the simultaneous development of both (e.g., Mylopoulos et al. 2018), we will consider how to start students on a trajectory to becoming adaptive experts.We will illustrate with examples of learning experiences from an introductory data science course.
There will be opportunities for participants to contribute to the discussion throughout this session. The goal is that participants leave the session with a new lens on their current learning activities and at least one new idea for an activity or assessment that cultivates the development of adaptive expertise.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In H. Stevenson, H. Azuma, & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan(pp. 262-272). New York: W.H. Freeman.
Mylopoulos, M., Steenhof, N., Kaushal, A. & Woods, N.N. (2018). Twelve tips for designing curricula that support the development of adaptive expertise. Medical Teacher, 40 (8), 850-854.
Schwartz, D. L., Bransford, J. D., & Sears, D. (2005). Efficiency and Innovation in Transfer. In Mestre, J.P. (Ed.), Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective(pp. 1-51). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Elements of Engagement
There will be opportunities for participants to contribute to the discussion throughout this session. Participants will engage in considerations of adaptive expertise that are both broad and common and specific to the context of their discipline. The goal is that participants leave the session with a new lens on learning activities they currently carry out and at least one new idea for a learning activity and/or assessment they can implement that cultivates the development of adaptive expertise.
Participants will:
- Answer audience polls on the relative importance of learning that cultivates innovation and learning that cultivates skill development and learning that cultivates development of a knowledge base and how these are reflected in their current course and curriculum learning outcomes,
- Engage in pair-share / small group discussions to reflect on their current practices through the lens of cultivating adaptive expertise and brainstorm new activities they can add to their courses.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Preparing our students for unknown challenges
FNB 1200
Our world of rapidly changing technology, disruptive innovations, and accelerating complexity presents challenges for how we can prepare our learners for lifelong success. Not only should our graduates possess an extensive knowledge base and range of problem-solving strategies, they should also be able to apply, adjust, and extend what they know in new environments and situations. Formal education traditionally addresses the first part, but pays less attention to the second.
In this session, we will use the lens of “adaptive expertise” to consider the development of learners who are able to thrive in an evolving world. The concept of adaptive expertise was introduced by Hatano & Inagaki (1986) to describe the ability to aptly address new types of problems, in contrast to routine expertise which is focused on efficiently solving familiar problems. Cultivating adaptive expertise requires trade-offs between developing efficiency in dealing with familiar settings versus innovation for novel ones (Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005). Drawing on practical recommendations for designing curricula supporting the simultaneous development of both (e.g., Mylopoulos et al. 2018), we will consider how to start students on a trajectory to becoming adaptive experts.We will illustrate with examples of learning experiences from an introductory data science course.
There will be opportunities for participants to contribute to the discussion throughout this session. The goal is that participants leave the session with a new lens on their current learning activities and at least one new idea for an activity or assessment that cultivates the development of adaptive expertise.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In H. Stevenson, H. Azuma, & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan(pp. 262-272). New York: W.H. Freeman.
Mylopoulos, M., Steenhof, N., Kaushal, A. & Woods, N.N. (2018). Twelve tips for designing curricula that support the development of adaptive expertise. Medical Teacher, 40 (8), 850-854.
Schwartz, D. L., Bransford, J. D., & Sears, D. (2005). Efficiency and Innovation in Transfer. In Mestre, J.P. (Ed.), Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective(pp. 1-51). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.