Expert and novice, earth and space science: teachers’ declarative, procedural and structural knowledge

Abstract

This study sought to compare expert and novice earth and space science teachers in terms of the declarative, procedural and structural knowledge that they use while engaged in solving ‘typical’ earth science problems. In a qualitative analysis of the problem‐solving skills of six expert and six novice earth and space science teachers, it was found that expert earth and space science teachers: (a) brought more declarative knowledge to the problem, (b) used fewer steps to solve a problem, (c) generated more subroutines, (d) generated more alternative solutions, (e) moved less between declarative and procedural knowledge, and (f) solved problems more accurately than did the novice earth and space science teachers. Findings from this study support Norman's (1982) theory of learning, that experts perform with ease while novices seem to work harder. The expert earth and space science teachers in this study seemed to function at the ‘tuning’ level, while novice earth and space science teachers function at the ‘accretion’ level (Norman 1982).