Trotter, R.J. (1986, July). The mystery of mastery. Psychology Today.

OVERVIEW

The purpose is to begin the process of changing the way teachers teach and learners learn and to help us to become better thinkers and doers.

DATA

The University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center says that expert chess players are not deep thinkers able to see many moves ahead. They are simply experienced and able to recognize up to 100,000 meaningful board positions. The most important principal of skill performance is that skill depends on the size of the knowledge base. The journey from novice to expert is five stages.

Stage 1, Novice. Facts and rules are clearly and objectively defined—no exceptions to the rules. Stage 2, Advanced Beginner. Learners begin to recognize and deal with previous undefined facts and elements. Stage 3, Competence. One recognizes context-free and situational elements, and learn to narrow down to one plan in order to organize situations, concentrating on the most important elements. One simplifies and improves performance, and gradually grows competent—calculated risks are involved; learning from mistakes adds to growing expertise. Stage 4, Proficiency. Called the "holistic similarity recognition" plan, choosing and thought processes fade away. Triggered memories result in actions so quickly that proficient performers seem to have an intuitive grasp on situations. Stage 5, Expertise. Do not apply rules, make decisions or solve problems. Experts do what comes naturally—fluid performance. We are experts at walking, or driving certain roads that are familiar. Skill becomes part of expert.

IMPLICATIONS

• We must remember when we are born, we have a "clean slate." All we know and do has been taught, told or role modeled. We are not born preprogrammed.
• What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn if provided with prior and current conditions of learning.
• What we teach is important and has the potential of becoming part of us. Therefore, we need to make sure our teaching, particularly in the moral and value areas of life are both foundational and sound. We have no choice but to teach principals that will lead us away from self-centeredness and destruction.

Anne Montague cCYS