[MUSIC] >> In many problem sets at university, you will be asked to apply knowledge that you have learned on your course. As we have already covered in previous lessons, a key reason why problems are set for university students to complete, is to give students practice in using the various ideas that they have learned in their courses. As a result, problem solving at university will require you not just to use some of the general problem solving techniques outlined in this course. But also use the specialized knowledge of your particular academic field. One of the key goals of university study is the develop expertise in a professional or academic field. You might think that the difference between novices and experts in a certain field is a natural talent. A chess grand master is an expert because they have some innate talent or genius for chess. And amazing singers and actors get that way because they were born with it. However, there's a large body of research showing that specific knowledge of a particular field is what really separates an expert from a novice. Chi, Glaser, and Farr point out that research in a number of different fields, such as physics, clinical medical situations, and chess, demonstrates the power of knowledge of a specific field in solving problems. This specific knowledge and experience with similar problem types gives experts certain advantages. Such as the ability to detect features not seen by novices, such as the deep structure of certain problems. Greater ability to detect their own errors when finding solutions. A larger range of strategies to deal with problems and the ability to choose the most relevant one. Greater speed at solving problems within their area of expertise. As Bransford and Stein note, specialized knowledge is particularly important when solving routine problems that might be regularly encountered in a particular professional or academic field. This means that at a university, you will need to draw upon outside sources, such as formulas, experiments, reports, case studies or theories. Rather than relying just on general thinking and problem solving skills. This may involve knowledge in learned in your course, but usually it means that you need to do some extra research. Research is important because it gives us the background and evidence we might need to justify our position or solution. Using this specialized subject knowledge will take different forms in different fields. In the humanities and social sciences, you may need to draw on a specific theory or set of theories to analyze a book or a film, or to address a problem. This information is often set out in course readings and is elaborated on in tutorials and lectures. For example, a common problem in education is how to motivate disengaged students. In solving this problem you would need to draw upon different theories of motivation and published case studies that illustrate how different people have used particular strategies. You could then adapt these strategies for your specific circumstances. Or use the theory as evidence and justification for a new approach. Thus, doing your weekly readings, participating in tutorials, and paying attention in lectures are all simple but effective strategies for gaining specialized knowledge. In the sciences, you may instead need to apply the correct formula, theory or experimental method. In maths, physics and engineering, you will often be required to use formulas to solve problems. Knowing what formula to use and how to use it is a form of specialized knowledge. Again, this knowledge will be taught to you in lectures and tutorials. And exemplified in weekly laboratories or homework problem sets. Doing these problems will help you to gain the specialized knowledge in your field. For longer problems, or problems that require detailed answers, you may need to research. And provide evidence to backup your problem solving process and the solution. Using specialized knowledge may also mean using certain tools correctly. Which might mean anything from specialized software in design courses to lab equipment in the sciences or engineering. Knowing what tools you are using and why you are using them is important. In these cases, specialized procedural or semantic knowledge, the how, may be just as important as the subject knowledge, the what. So in this lesson, we've looked at the importance of specialized knowledge to problem solving. While at university, we gain this specialized knowledge through our lectures, tutorials, or labs. But we also gain this specialized knowledge through research. Research helps you to understand and strategize the problems you will be given, and it helps you to evaluate your solutions. [MUSIC]
