What does the research say about…expertise and problem-solving?

In this series, I read through some academic research, try to understand it, and think of what it might mean for the classroom. This is not a literature review or extensive analysis: just a classroom teacher, trying to learn more.

Problem-solving is one of those 21st century skills we are suppose to cultivate in our students, but while these skills are frequently promoted, people seldom dig into what they mean and look like.

To better understand what it means to be a skilled problem-solver, I’ll be looking at The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, specifically the section on expertise within professional domains. Of particular interest is problem-solving being domain-general or domain-specific, and implications for how we teach students to be effective problem solvers.

Knowledge Series Part 3: In Defense of Knowledge cont’d

Knowledge Serves as the Foundation for Creativity, Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

There is lots of emphasis on teaching problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking in schools, and discussion of how employers look for these traits in future employees. That, in the 21st century, these general learning outcomes (GLO) should be developed, cultivated, and the focus of education, not knowledge. However, they cannot be taught without knowledge. Critical thinking, problem solving and creativity are not generic skills; they are domain-specific, and rely on knowledge in that domain.

Knowledge gives students something to think with, when solving problems, constructing arguments, or thinking innovatively. David Didau states it well, when he argues that the “more we know about something, the more sophisticated our thinking.” If you don’t know much about a topic, you are not going to thinking critically about it.

This is something I’ve felt in my gut for a while; when I saw it explained, it made a lot of sense. I make better connections between ideas and concepts, and think of new ideas in the process, when I’m pulling information out of my long-term memory. It helps me see when one author’s ideas agree with or contradict those of another. It helps me make connections between theory and practice in my teaching. It helps me see patterns in human behaviour over different time periods in history. My knowledge. In my head, not in a book or on a screen. That’s what I use to think effectively.