Developing Procedural Knowledge
We are talking here of skill development, specifically, the
acquisition of explicit, declarative knowledge as the basis for skill development. Often
this works as follows:
We are presented with a description of a way to perform a task.
We practice it, perhaps haltingly at first but our proficiency improves with continued
practice and it benefits from feedback.
Finally, we reach the point at which our ability to perform the task is automatic, we no
longer have to think about it.
Over time, we might even forget the original task descriptions that enabled enabled our early
attempts to perform the task.
Brian W on 04 Feb 10Excellent article. If I hear "the research shows" one more time I'm going to hit the roof. If the research was valid we wouldn't be changing course every two or three years. "Best practice" is usually an attempt by a superintendent, principal, or school board to put a feather in their cap by doing something new and "cutting edge."
