Learning Science Principle #1: Observing Experts

Research shows that learners engage & achieve more when they see or hear experts thinking and talking about about the approach they take to solving problems and making decisions.

The Learning Science Bootcamp, Dr Philippa Hardman

✏️ Learning Design Tips

Think about what you want to teach as a scenario featuring an expert in the field: show the expert completing a task and narrating their thoughts, decisions and actions as they go.

This “cognitive annotation” or “think-aloud strategy” is proven to lead to deeper and more rapid changes in both learner thought and behaviour (Bereiter & Bird, 1985; Quinn, 2005; Schoenfeld, 1992).

Example 1: Accounting 📈

You want your learners to be able to analyse a balance sheet. Show a financial accounting professional thinking aloud as she analyzes a company’s balance sheet.

What considerations does she have, what decisions does she make, how and why?

Example 2: Sales Skills 💰

Show a sales professional narrating a filmed interaction with a client, explaining what she was thinking as she modelled a particular sales technique.

Example 3: Medicine 🩺

Create a podcast-style interview with a doctor who explains their thought process as they respond to an emergency, profile their patients and decide on a suitable treatment.

🥷 Phil’s Ninja Tip > Mistakes Happen…

• Include examples of when things go wrong or mistakes commonly made by novices.

• Modelling mistakes and errors and exposing the thought processing around recognising and correcting errors can be as valuable as modelling perfect performance (Loibl & Rummel, 2014).

🧪 The Science Bit

Bereiter, C. & Bird, M. (1985). Use of thinking aloud in identification and teaching of reading comprehension strategies. Cognition and Instruction, 2(2), 131–156.

Loibl, K. & Rummel, N. (2014). The impact of guidance during problem-solving prior to instruction on students’ inventions and learning outcomes. Instructional Science, 42(3), 305–326.

Quinn, C. N. (2005). Engaging learning: Designing e-learning simulation games. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Schoenfeld, A. H. (1992). Learning to think mathematically: Problem- solving, metacognition, and sense-making in mathematics.