The Nature of Expertise: Implications for Theory, Research, and Educational Practice

29 July 2008

4.45pm to 5.45pm

Venue: J2 Lecture Theatre, 74 Epsom Avenue, Epsom Campus

Presenter:
Professor Patricia A. Alexander

Patricia A. Alexander is an educational psychologist who has conducted notable research on the role of individual difference, strategic processing, and interest in students' learning (Alexander, 1998; 2000). She is currently Professor and Distinguished Scholar/Teacher in the Department of Human Development in the Faculty of Education at the University of Maryland.

Pat has been a featured speaker at major research conferences, including the annual meetings of the National Reading Conference, the American Psychological Association, and the American Educational Research Association. She has authored an educational psychology textbook (Alexander, 2005), and has served as editor of prominent research journals and books in educational psychology (e.g., Alexander & Winne, 2006).

Abstract:
Throughout history—whether chronicled in primitive cave drawings, the annals of past cultures or societies, contemporary biographies, or web blogs—humans have been captivated by remarkable performance. Expertise is a term that has been applied to those who attain the pinnacle of human performance in specific domains or areas of pursuit; from art to athletics, or from physics to politics. Experts are, in effect, the paragons that people have celebrated throughout the ages and the models to which they aspire. But how does expertise take shape? What internal and external forces conspire to propel certain individuals forward towards expertise, while others languish or falter in their progress? In this presentation, the nature of expertise will be explored. As part of that exploration, past and present models of expertise will be discussed, and one recent developmental model, the Model of Domain Learning, will be considered in more detail. Implications of these past and present models of expertise for educational practice and their concomitant implications for empirical study will be considered.

After the seminar, wine/cheese will be served in A Block staffroom. Please rsvp by Friday 25 July to Sue Hamblyn foed-research@auckland.ac.nz for catering purposes.