Michelene T. H. Chi

Bio: Michelene T. H. Chi is an academic researcher from Arizona State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Active learning & Conceptual change. The author has an hindex of 61, co-authored 134 publications receiving 31141 citations. Previous affiliations of Michelene T. H. Chi include University of Pittsburgh & Carnegie Mellon University.

The Nature of Expertise

Abstract: Contents: M.T.H. Chi, In Memoriam. R. Glaser, M.T.H. Chi, Overview. M.I. Posner, Introduction: What Is It to Be an Expert? Part I:Practical Skills. D.R. Gentner, Expertise in Typewriting. K.A. Ericsson, P.G. Polson, A Cognitive Analysis of Exceptional Memory for Restaurant Orders. J.J. Staszewski, Skilled Memory and Expert Mental Calculation. Part II:Programming Skills. E. Soloway, B. Adelson, K. Ehrlich, Knowledge and Processes in the Comprehension of Computer Programs. J.R. Anderson, P. Pirolli, R. Farrell, Learning to Program Recursive Functions. B. Adelson, E. Soloway, A Model of Software Design. Part IIIIll-Defined Problems. E.J. Johnson, Expertise and Decision Under Uncertainty: Performance and Process. J.A. Lawrence, Expertise on the Bench: Modeling Magistrates' Judicial Decision-Making. J.F. Voss, T.A. Post, On the Solving of Ill-Structured Problems. Part IV:Medical Diagnosis. G.J. Groen, V.L. Patel, The Relationship Between Comprehension and Reasoning in Medical Expertise. A. Lesgold, H. Rubinson, P. Feltovich, R. Glaser, D. Klopfer, Y. Wang, Expertise in a Complex Skill: Diagnosing X-Ray Pictures. W.J. Clancey, Acquiring, Representing, and Evaluating a Competence Model of Diagnostic Strategy.

Expertise in Problem Solving.

Abstract: : It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the quality of domain-specific knowledge is the main determinant of expertise in that domain. This paper begins with an examination of the shift from consideration of general, domain-independent skills and procedures, in both cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, to the study of the knowledge base. Next, the empirical findings and theoretical models of other researchers in physics problem solving are detailed and summarized. Then our own work is presented, consisting of eight empirical studies. These studies show, in general, the importance of differences in the knowledge bases of experts and novices to their problem solving success. More specifically, they show that it is difficult to use protocols of problem solving episodes to illuminate the differences in the knowledge bases of experts and novices, that experts and novices perceive the problem themselves differently, i.e., novices respond to the surface features of a problem while experts respond to its deep structure, that less successful novices, at least, have deficiencies in their declarative knowledge of physics, that novices tend to lack knowledge of when to use certain physics knowledge, and that deficiencies in knowledge appear to prevent novices at times from making key inferences necessary for solving problems. Finally, these results and their implications for theories of intelligence, are discussed. (Author)

The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance.

Abstract: because observed behavior is the result of interactions between environmental factors and genes during the extended period of development. Therefore, to better understand expert and exceptional performance, we must require that the account specify the different environmental factors that could selectively promote and facilitate the achievement of such performance. In addition, recent research on expert performance and expertise (Chi, Glaser, & Farr, 1988; Ericsson & Smith, 1991a) has shown that important characteristics of experts' superior performance are acquired through experience and that the effect of practice on performance is larger than earlier believed possible. For this reason, an account of exceptional performance must specify the environmental circumstances, such as the duration and structure of activities, and necessary minimal biological attributes that lead to the acquisition of such characteristics and a corresponding level of performance. An account that explains how a majority of individuals can attain a given level of expert performance might seem inherently unable to explain the exceptional performance of only a small number of individuals. However, if such an empirical account could be empirically supported, then the extreme characteristics of experts could be viewed as having been acquired through learning and adaptation, and studies of expert performance could provide unique insights into the possibilities and limits of change in cognitive capacities and bodily functions. In this article we propose a theoretical framework that explains expert performance in terms of acquired characteristics resulting from extended deliberate practice and that limits the role of innate (inherited) characteristics to general levels of activity and emotionality. We provide empirical support from two new studies and from already published evidence on expert performance in many different domains.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Abstract: Good computer and video games like System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Pikmin, Rise of Nations, Neverwinter Nights, and Xenosaga: Episode 1 are learning machines. They get themselves learned and learned well, so that they get played long and hard by a great many people. This is how they and their designers survive and perpetuate themselves. If a game cannot be learned and even mastered at a certain level, it won't get played by enough people, and the company that makes it will go broke. Good learning in games is a capitalist-driven Darwinian process of selection of the fittest. Of course, game designers could have solved their learning problems by making games shorter and easier, by dumbing them down, so to speak. But most gamers don't want short and easy games. Thus, designers face and largely solve an intriguing educational dilemma, one also faced by schools and workplaces: how to get people, often young people, to learn and master something that is long and challenging--and enjoy it, to boot.