Knowledge and the Model of Domain Learning: What We Knew, What We Know, and What Remains Unknown

• In Event: The Model of Domain Learning: Understanding the Development of Expertise

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Frame

Drawing on the extensive philosophical and psychological literatures and rooted in a cognitive framework, we will explore what was known about the construct of knowledge as well as the process of knowing when the MDL was initially conceived. As can be gleaned from the now classic review article on knowledge terminology, Alexander and colleagues (Alexander, Schallert, & Hare, 1991), clearly conceived of knowledge as the central feature of student learning, regardless of the domain. With knowledge as the driving force, Alexander began to piece the puzzle that would explain how students moved from a position of naiveté to competence and, with a great deal of sustained effort, proficiency in an academic domain.
As we will overview in our poster, it was evident that one’s current knowledge accounted for unique variance in learning, but it was equally as important to consider how knowledge developed over time and how such growth was hindered or helped by one’s fleeting situational interest or stores of individual interest, as well as the strategic processing abilities that could be martialed when faced with difficult domain content. Alexander’s ability to envision and plot the confluence of knowledge and knowing within the lattice of the Model of Domain learning, in many ways, set the stage for the next decade of knowledge research within education.

Modes of Inquiry and Results

Specifically, the poster will provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the contemporary literatures to interrogate what is now understood about knowledge and knowing by examining the conceptual and empirical literatures. We will share an overview of the varied ways researchers’ measure knowledge in the extant literature across varied domains, and we examine current understandings about knowledge emanating from the mounting body of empirical research undergirded by the MDL, including future directions for research to continue building on these findings. As part of this endeavor, we systematically examined the trends over time regarding how researchers have defined both subject-matter, domain, and topic knowledge in the extant literature, since the inception of the MDL. The findings will be presented via a table with quotations of the definitions in manuscripts published between 1988 and 2016. We also reviewed the different kinds of knowledge (i.e., subject-matter, domain, and topic knowledge) that researchers have studied as well as how that knowledge was measured (e.g., open-ended assessments or think aloud protocols). Finally, we conclude our systematic review by reviewing the major findings pertaining to knowledge resulting from extant research on the MDL.

Scholarly Significance and Future Directions

Finally, based on our examination of the literature, we will forward a potential agenda for the future as to what remains to be unearthed about the nature and manifestation of knowledge and the process of knowing. Despite the endless possibilities for future exploration, what is clear is that the MDL has radically altered our understanding of how individuals develop understanding within a domain of learning—development that is strongly driven by what one knows and comes to know.

Authors

• Pricilla Karen Murphy, The Pennsylvania State University

• Carla Marie Firetto, Arizona State University

• Mengyi Li, American Institutes for Research