Wiggins and McTighe describe the “Expert Blind Spot” in Chapter 2 and how it could impact greater student understanding. On page 46 they describe three types of “uncovering” that assist in designing and teaching for understanding to avoid forgetfulness, misconception, and lack of transfer. Select one of the ideas presented below and expand on how you could incorporate it into your current profession.
1) Uncovering student’s potential misunderstandings (through focused questions, feedback, and diagnostic assessment)
2) Uncovering the questions, issues, assumptions, and gray areas lurking underneath the black and white of surface accounts
3) Uncovering the core ideas at the heart of understanding a subject, ideas that are not obvious—and perhaps counterintuitive or baffling to the novice
While all of these are important and perhaps all required to varying proportions, I will be choosing the item (3) pertaining to uncovering core ideas.
The ‘Expert Blind Spot’ is something most people have either demonstrated or experienced. Beginning with getting instructions to make a certain recipe, driving directions, operating instructions for a device, or a lecture on how to seek happiness, most people have been subject to this form of the blind spot.
Phelan (2021) provides an example of the recipe ‘Blind Spot’.
I was teaching a class yesterday (my first session with those students) and after about 20 minutes into the class, I asked a few questions to gauge how much they knew or understand the task at hand. The result – Two students in the entire class knew the objective of the class they had registered for. The rest had no idea. Knowing that made it easy for me. I had a baseline to operate from.
I was in a conversation earlier this week about the concept of situational awareness in aviation. Upon reading a reasonable number of prior studies and results, I was slowly but surely arriving at the conclusion that situational awareness, at its core, was about perception – a human trait. Regardless of whether the individual applies it to flying or driving or waiting at a lonely bus stop, the need for being aware of your surroundings was fulfilled by the same trait, perception. In the above-mentioned conversation, the individual I was speaking to added another term – sensation. Sensing and perceiving became the core concepts of being situationally aware.
Likewise, in my profession both as a Technology Executive and as an Aviation faculty member, I realize that breaking topics down to their core ideas has been the only effective way to transfer knowledge or skill. The success of any individual who has a role to transfer knowledge or skill, in my opinion, lies entirely in how well that individual performs point (3) – i.e. breaks down topics to their core ideas – which are most often easier to communicate and entrench in a learner’s mind.
Here is an example – In teaching Project Management, one arrives at the topic of Earned Value. Earning value to novices may mean many different things. Speaking about measures such as SPI and CPI may make the instructor look really experienced and intelligent. However, it will do little to help a novice understand the subject of earning value. Instead, speaking about a project that is scoped to build the four sides of a fence, 1000 dollars for each side and four weeks to do it, frame the idea a little better.
Speaking of scenarios where the first side got built in the planned one week, and 1000 dollars was spent as planned. The project has ‘earned planned value’ for the 1000 dollars spent and 1 week elapsed. The second week went by and only half of side 2 was built and 1000 dollars was spent. The 1000 dollars failed to earn planned value and the project is now also behind schedule. Week 3 completed the remaining half of side 2 and also side 3, but only 500 dollars was spent. Time has been recovered and since the 3 sides are now complete and only 2500 dollars have been spent, they are ahead on earning planned value…. and so forth. Rarely do PMs or PM instructors teach EV in this manner.
Another way to establish and reinforce core ideas is to gravitate to workshops where students learn by doing rather than rote learning a concept.
Points (1) and (2) are equally important because they help gauge the learner and also adapt as needed to the varying needs of each learner (a concept that today has been marketed as ‘Adaptive Learning’).
References –
Huang, E. (2018). Rearview mirrors for the “expert blind spot”. Design Research in Education: A Practical Guide for Early Career Researchers, 16.
Nathan, M. J., Koedinger, K. R., & Alibali, M. W. (2001, August). Expert blind spot: When content knowledge eclipses pedagogical content knowledge. In Proceedings of the third international conference on cognitive science (Vol. 644648).
Phelan, J. (2021, March 26). Beware the Expert Blind Spot – Educate. – Medium. Medium; Educate. https://medium.com/educate-pub/beware-the-expert-blind-spot-42744dc66ba9Links to an external site.
