(Español) Diferencias entre expertos y principiantes en la solución de problemas

Luke Skywalker

 before expert Jedi was a beginner. In his training cost  of the councils of the teacher Yoda that transmitted his expertise with the Strength and the sword laser to the youngster Luke. But, what differentiates to an expert of a beginner?

The capacity of the people to resolve problems depends on two crucial factors: the quantity of knowledge on a specific field and the quantity of experience that have  in the solution of an individual lesson of problems.

The knowledge in a concrete field is fundamental to resolve specific problems in the daily life, but results necessary also the general knowledge. This refers  toa  wide knowledge that is not linked to any specific field but that it is necessary to carry out the tasks and solutions of any type of problem. It could consider like complementary of the knowledge of field although it depends of the centre of interest of the task.

Examples of general knowledge are: declarative networks represented by our vocabulary, the knowledge in contemporary politics and the historical knowledge; the knowledge procedimental necessary to speak; or the skills metacognitivas like the emotional intelligence. These knowledges can become almost infinite.

We can say that the specific knowledge of a field is the amplitude of the knowledge that have the individuals on a concrete field of study that can refer to areas of the curriculum or of the activity.  engloban Here the declarative knowledges (what is?), procedimentales (how does ?) And metacognitivos. This knowledge can operate to tacit or explicit level. This expertise develops  slowly owed in good part to this declarative knowledge and to that purchases  tácitamente along a long period of time providing like this an expertise, skill and greater efficiency.

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Characteristics of the expert performance.

They differentiate  seven characteristics of the performance of the experts.

1. The experts are good alone in his own field, are not more competent that the beginners in the solution of problems in fields that are not them familiar.
2. The experts process the information in big units and of way much more effective that the beginners.
3. The experts are faster that the beginners in the processing of the significant information, since they look for and represent the problems with more efficiency and with less effort.
4. The experts store more information in the memory in the short term and in the memory on a long-term basis by what the experts solve the better problems, more quickly and of a form automated.
5. The experts represent the problems with more depth. The experts show more attention in the underlying structure of the problem in place of in the superficial shots.
6. The experts happen more time analysing a problem to the beginning of the process of solution. They employ a greater proportion of the time in identifying and represent the problem, in comparison with the beginners, in spite of that use much less time selecting the strategy of solution adapted once that have attained to clear the problem. The experts besides tend to base  in complex conditional strategies to reduce the problem to subproblemas lower components.
7. The experts supervise better his own performance that the beginners in the majority of situations in his field of expertise. The experts are more proclives to generate alternative hypotheses before resolving the problem and are faster in refusing the unsuitable solutions during the process of resolution. Besides, the experts evaluate the difficulty of the problems with more precision that the beginners and formulate questions more pertinent in all the stages of the process of solution of a problem.

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All these characteristics aim to a simple conclusion on the nature of the expertise: the experts are faster, effective and more reflexive to casusa of the depth and amplitude of his knowledges. It does not affirm  that the knowledge guarantee the performance of the expert. The majority of the researchers agree in that the true expertise supposes a complex interaction between the general strategies of solution of problems and a wide knowledge of the field.

These two components conceive  better like complementary processes: the expert knowledge facilitates the use of strategies, whereas the knowledge on general strategies of solution of problems allows to use the expert knowledge with more efficiency.

Be expert also involves risks.

Three are the main dangers that can find  an expert to the hour to develop his expertise: sacrifice, rigidity and effect of blind spot.

Big sacrifice.

The expertise also involves risks and dangers as they are the quantity of time that is necessary to invest to develop it, which considers  a personal sacrifice too big in some occasions.

Conceptual rigidity.

Another cost is the conceptual rigidity that does difficult that the expert consider other points of view, in fact seems ironic that the experts can run a greater risk that the beginners in some situations owing to having of more heuristic and have them more automated.

Effect of the blind spot of the expert. 

Another third problem that can have the experts is the designated effect of the blind spot of the expert, by means of which the experts contemplate the solution of problems of the beginners from the perspective of the expert, in place to do it from the perspective of a student beginner. This can cause that the expert professors overlook the evolutionary needs of the students beginners and select a excessively advanced curriculum that it require that the students employ organisational principles and heuristic experts of which do not have. In general it does not say  that the experts are blind, but they act with more rapidity and precision that the beginners.

Stages of the development of the expertise.

The development of the expertise to convert  of a beginner in an expert develops  in predictable stages, going through an initial stage lúdica, usually in some familiar surroundings that loans support to this followed after an intermediate stage in which the beginner begins to develop principles of expertise and already depends of mentors. Finally, in the last stage, a consummate teacher is already needed, helping the individual to develop the skills competently and with complete psychological commitment.

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