us to examine the shared influence of domain knowledge and general strate-
gic knowledge in problem-solving performance (Alexander, Murphy, &
Kulikowich, 1998; Alexander, Murphy, Woods, Duhon, & Parker, 1997).
Specifically, we used domain-specific analogies:
knowing what : declarative knowledge :: knowing how : ?(procedural knowledge)
one limb : monoplegia :: side of body :? (hemiplegia)and domain-specific commonalities (Murphy & Alexander, 2002):
nominal ordinal interval ratio
levels of measurementThese interactive items have proven useful in cluster-analytic studies as ex-
ternal criterion measures that help establish the statistical differences be-
tween emerging expertise profiles.
Interest. Interest, the third dimension of the MDL, can be interpreted as
the energizing of learners’ underlying needs or desires (Ames, 1992; Dweck &
Leggett, 1988). As we did with the knowledge factor, we disentangled two po-
tentially competing forms of interest in the MDL, situational and individual
interest. Situational interest pertains to the temporary arousal or attention
triggered by conditions within the immediate environment. Individual inter-
est signifies a long-term investment or deep-seated involvement in the target
field (Hidi, 1990; Schiefele, 1991). Based on the emerging literature, I ex-
pected situational interest to play a stronger role in the early periods of do-
main learning than individual interest, which I presumed would be relatively
nonexistent at this point in development (Alexander, 1997).
Multiple Stages of Expertise Development
The MDL hypothesizes three stages in the development of domain-specific
expertise: acclimation, competence, and proficiency–expertise. As seen in
Fig. 10.1, each of these stages is distinguished by varied interrelations be-
tween knowledge, strategic processing, and interest. What follows are pro-
files of those three stages. Those profiles have been supported by various
cross-sectional and longitudinal studies summarized in Table 10.1.
Acclimation. I refer to the initial stage of expertise development as accli-
mation. I have chosen this term over the common label of novice for several
reasons. First, I wanted to establish that this perspective on expertise deviates
from traditional views in nontrivial ways. The choice of a new, process-
286 ALEXANDER