Advanced Concept Mapping: Developing Adaptive Expertise

We describe a novel cognitive science-based approach to concept mapping called Advanced Concept Mapping (ACMapping) designed to reliably enhance teaching, learning and research performance in both underperforming and highly accomplished individuals. ACMaps are logically constructed expert-like representations of the conceptual deep structure of a technical domain. The ACMapping methodology was designed around the key observation that expert-novice performance differences are overwhelmingly due to differences in the quality of domain-specific knowledge structures (Chi, 2006). The motivating assumption behind ACMapping is that the ideal goal of education is to promote the development of adaptive expertise i.e. the ability to apply meaningfully learned knowledge in a flexible and creative manner (Hatano, 1982). Elite performers invariably exhibit adaptive as opposed to routine expertise. To facilitate this goal ACMapping is taught within the context of a novel theoretical taxonomy of educational objectives, the Advanced Critical Thinking (ACT) Framework, a model of the key elements of adaptive expertise. The skilled meaningful learning process of autonomously constructing expert 'connected understanding' using ACMaps is referred to as 'Knowledge Engineering'. In Knowledge Engineering the learner employs the fundamental thinking skills of abstraction, analysis, synthesis, and inference to explicitly construct integrated, hierarchical, expert-like knowledge structures implied by the surface features of expert productions. The use of the advanced knowledge engineering techniques of Deep Structure Analysis and Heuristic Analysis to 'reverse engineer' the deep-level understanding and adaptive problem solving strategies of elite experts is also discussed. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland is currently using this accelerated learning approach to enhance the thinking skills of academic staff and postgraduates across the sciences and humanities. We also briefly report on ongoing research into the effect of this training program on student thinking skills and the quality of the research output of scientific research groups.