Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Knowledge construction may be viewed as a advancement towards expertise, with step-likeprogressions via experiences accelerated by connecting to the conceptual understanding (mentalmodels) of experts (Bruner, 1985). The richness of expert knowledge, in terms of knowledgestructures and their management, is explored through extensions to the chunking theory(Chase, 1973) 1 . Experts are seen to store into long-term memory faster than proposed bythis theory. This is explained through the development of templates, created when a chunkexhibits variation in content (Gobet and Simon, 1996). It has also been suggested that relational(semantic) links are constructed between the chunks, providing mechanisms for thegrowth of associative memory (Gobet, 1996), combining low-level with high-level aspects ofcognition. Thus the richness of the ‘indexing’ and the density of the relationships to otherchunks help determine the level of conceptual understanding attained.Alternatively, Norman (1993) argues that human cognition lies in our ability to constructexternal cognitive artefacts through the use of symbols designed to maintain, display oroperate on information in order to serve representational functions. Without the supportof external representations, internal representations (schemata, mental models) are typicallysimplistic, incomplete, fragmentary, unstable, difficult to manipulate or run, and lacking infirm boundaries (Allen and Otto, 1996). This supports the work of Chi et al (1982) whichconcludes that experts relate phenomena in a domain to higher-order principles and encodethese along with solution procedures. Their work also suggests that if a concept is categorisedinappropriately (eg relating a concept to incorrect mental models), it cannot be subsequentlyused. This emphasises the importance of ‘correct’ learning.The external representation developed may confer gains in efficiency – simple stimuli andsmall amounts of energy expended on those aspects of the environment that can yield largereturns trigger complex responses. Efficiency is further increased through offloading informationand its processing into the environment itself, thus exploiting information reflected inthe structure of the environment. This model assumes representation is distributed betweenthe environment and the brain rather than placing an emphasis on relatively complete mentalmodels and schemata. Higher order learning may then be defined by the degree to which itpermits individuals to benefit from the externalisation of information storage and processing.A higher level of perception is seen to characterise some models of expert behaviour – theexpert is said to leave information in the environment if it remains easily accessed. Thisperception involves selecting and attending to some sources of information at the expense ofothers. The selection is based on ‘the price paid’ – the risk – for non-selection (Norman andRumelhart, 1975).1 chunks are a familiar pattern that can be used as a unit, linked to suggestions for plans, moves, and othertypes of information, with about 50 000 chunks needed for a (chess) master’s memory117