Transmitting the Acquired Wisdom of Distinguished Senior Researchers

• In Event: 58.011 - Acquired Wisdom: Lessons Learned by Distinguished Researchers

Abstract

Distinguished researchers, such as those presenting at this session, develop substantial tacit knowledge about research during their careers that is rarely transmitted to colleagues explicitly. Such tacit knowledge includes developing a research program, finding funding for it, doing the work, and writing it up for presentation or publication. That kind of knowledge and skill is usually conveyed while working with the distinguished researchers, or observing them. When such knowledge is developed by eminent senior researchers throughout their careers we refer to it as acquired wisdom. The researchers may not even be aware of their acquired wisdom, that is they may have never articulated it with sufficient clarity to present to others. Even if they have articulated it to some extent, well-developed avenues for teaching and learning such wisdom may not exist. As a result, the wisdom may be lost. The major purpose of the presentations at this symposium is to preserve and convey such high-level knowledge and recommendations to colleagues, especially those entering the field.
Presenters at this symposium are either approaching retirement age or have exceeded it, in one instance by three decades, but have continued to be professionally active, thus adding to the acquired wisdom which they intend to convey to colleagues. The presentations will summarize the acquired wisdom accumulated by the distinguished senior researcher throughout their long careers. The session is based on a series freely distributed over the internet. Essays previously released on the Internet include those by Robert Sternberg, David Berliner, John Sweller, Alan Lesgold, James Gee, and Sigmund Tobias and may be read at (http://edrev.asu.edu/index.php/ER). The series is edited by Sigmund Tobias, David Berliner, and Dexter Fletcher (an expert on training; contributions by distinguished members of the training community will be invited to strengthen the ties of that group to educational research).

Author

• Sigmund Tobias, University at Albany - SUNY