Novice Students In Expert Situations

In psychology class last month, we talked about problem-solving. From this particular unit, there is a concept that I am still going over in my head. That is the idea of Novice vs. Expert problem solvers. Both are states of mind, and you can be an expert at one kind of problem but a novice at many others (depending on the societal relevancy of that one thing, there's even a word to describe such people: dilettantes). Here is the basic difference between the novice's and the expert's thought process when presented with a subject/problem that they are a novice or an expert on.

Novice: The novice doesn't have much knowledge on the subject, and thus must go by what they see on the surface of the problem. This means that they are limited to using means-end analysis (working backwards) to find a solution.

Expert: The expert has more knowledge on the subject, and can subsequently categorize the problem based on its structure from having enough experience with similar problems. Because of their being able to break the problem down, they are able to work forward to attain a solution, which is much faster.

A good example of this is with chess. A chess novice will look at the board, take some time thinking about what the best "next move" is, and then make it. A chess master (or "Expert") will see the board and just know what the next move should be from experience. Being an expert allows you to have a heightened sense of awareness surrounding your topic of expertise without even knowing it.

This leads into my next example, formula/equation-related classes. It seems to me that most of the math teachers I've had over the years (and possibly the math teachers everywhere else, and even teachers of other subjects) expect that when they give you the formulas for any given set of problems, it will immediately elevate you to Expert status and you will be able to get through the homework in a few minutes. However, since it takes years to become an Expert on any subject, this doesn't work. Rather, it gives the student a useful step, but they are still a novice. It just makes their problem-solving strategy "look at the problem, look at the formula, see what numbers go in the variables, go from there." While the teacher may see this as a valid strategy, the students are limited to seeing strings of characters on paper. They aren't able to sift through the chaff and see what they need to just having learned what they need to understand the problem. In this, the equations are like learning a new word in a second language, or deciphering a complicated word problem. They won't immediately recognize what they need to, as they lack the skill and experience to have their mind highlight what is important for them.

I'll end this post with a quote from this site.

"Experts tend to be aware when they don't know. Then they ask questions. Many adolescents (and adults) may be aware that they don't know, but they hesitate to ask questions for fear of appearing stupid. Lacking knowledge is ignorance, but not filling in knowledge gaps when you are aware of them is stupid. Don't be a novice all your life - ask questions when you don't know or are unsure!"