Rh. Barba et Pa. Rubba, EXPERT AND NOVICE, EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE - TEACHERS DECLARATIVE, PROCEDURAL AND STRUCTURAL KNOWLEDGE, International journal of science education, 15(3), 1993, pp. 273-282
This study sought to compare expert and novice earth and space science
teachers in terms of the declarative, procedural and structural knowl
edge that they use while engaged in solving 'typical' earth science pr
oblems. 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 declara
tive knowledge to the problem, (b) used fewer steps to solve a problem
, (c) generated more subroutines, (d) generated more alternative solut
ions, (e) moved less between declarative and procedural knowledge, and
(f) solved problems more accurately than did the novice earth and spa
ce 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 st
udy seemed to function at the 'tuning' level, while novice earth and s
pace science teachers function at the 'accretion' level (Norman 1982).