Dr. David DelanyCAPSL

Trinity College Dublindelanydi@maths.tcd.ie

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING 

Using applied cognitive science to enhance learning, thinking, and problem solving

PRESENT IMPERFECT

ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS• Low cognitive level of students…

– Piagetian tests of formal operations norms 1976-2006/7

• Shayer & Ginsberg (2009)

– Almost 50% of Science 1st Years below Formal Operational Level (11-15 yrs)

• Finlayson, et al (2009)

• Dumbing down is a tacit admission of pedagogical failure!– Project Maths

PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONAL

EDUCATION• Educational practice demonstrably

sub-optimal– Surface > deep learning– Near > far learning transfer– Dependent > independent thinking– Routine > adaptive expertise

PARADIGM SHIFT NEEDED!

• Conventional education is sub-optimal at the paradigm level

• Fundamentally misses the point!

BLACK BOX METAPHOR FOR EDUCATION

• Answers are used to INDIRECTLY assess quality of understanding

• Input-Output black box metaphor at root of problems with modern education

KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES

EXPERTS• Integrated

– Good Learning Transfer

• Hierarchical– Efficient Problem

Solving Strategies

NOVICES• Fragmented

– Poor Learning Transfer

• Non-hierarchical– Inefficient

Problem Solving Strategies

CONVENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT of

EXPERTISE

• Fragmented• Non-Hierarchical• Narrow

• Integrated• Hierarchical• Extensive

UNSKILLED LEARNER

?

IDEAL DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESSION

• Integrated• Hierarchical• Narrow

• Integrated• Hierarchical• Extensive

SKILLED LEARNER

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING COURSE• Central goal: accelerate the

development of adaptive expertise through deliberate construction of expert knowledge structures– TCD, Cornell, Intel, etc

• Apply findings from cognitive science to improving cognitive skills– Meaningful learning, deep insight,

creativity & structured innovation• Novice => expert => elite expert

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING EXAMPLE

CAPITAL: The man-made FACTOR OF PRODUCTION encompassing all the physical assets, such as machinery, used by a business to produce goods and services.

CAPITAL: The man-made FACTOR OF PRODUCTION encompassing all the physical assets, such as machinery, used by a business to produce goods and services.

DEEP vs SURFACE STRUCTURE SURFACE STRUCTURE

CAPITAL: The man-made FACTOR OF PRODUCTION encompassing all the physical assets, such as machinery, used by a business to produce goods and services

DEEP STRUCTURE

FROM SURFACE TO DEEP TO SURFACE

GOODS AND SERVICES:The outputs of the business

production process

FACTOR OF PRODUCTION: Resources, such as capital, used by a business as inputs to the production process in the creation of goods and services

PRODUCTION PROCESS: The business process through which factors of production, such as capital, are converted into goods and services

CAPITAL: The man-made factor of production encompassing all the physical assets, such as machinery, used by a business to produce goods and services

ABSTRACTION The greatest thing by far is to be a master

of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.

Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING &

CREATIVITY• Ward (1994) Experiment: Alien Design

• CONCLUSION: Human creativity is limited– we recycle and adapt familiar elements– Bilateral symmetry, polarity, sensory app., appendages

• ALTERNATIVE CONCLUSION: • Creativity is limited by poor

Knowledge Engineering skills

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING &

CREATIVITYRADIAL

SPHERICALBILATERAL

SYMMETRY

ASYMMETRICAL

?

APOLARMULTI-POLAR

POLARITY

POLAR

?SYMMETRYPOLARITYMORPHOLOGY

?

KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING &

CREATIVITYRADIAL

SPHERICALBILATERAL

SYMMETRY

ASYMMETRICAL

?

APOLARMULTI-POLARPOLARITY

POLAR

?

MORPHOLOGY

??

LEGAL ANALYSIS: RATIO DECIDENDI• Identifying the ratio of the Wilkinson vs Downton (1895) case

• Process of structural abstraction• Good legal rule: not too concrete, not too general

WHY KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING?

• CLARITY OF UNDERSTANDING• COMPRESSION

– I am sorry for the length of my letter, but I had not the time to write a short one.

– Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician and philosopher

• FAR LEARNING TRANSFER• KNOWLEDGE RESTRUCTURING

KNOWLEDGE MAPPING SOFTWARE

• Intelligence analysts (FP7)• “Construction and visualisation of

augmented representations of the deep conceptual frameworks underpinning an analysis”

• Abstraction & Information overload• “analytical due diligence”

FUTURE EDUCATION: PARADIGM-SHIFTING

CONVERGENCE• Advanced knowledge analytics tools• Self-administered neurocognitive

enhancement training tools

• What educational system design would best serve ‘post-convergence’ students?

• Implications for the Irish education system?– Publication-grade student research at 2’ level– Vertically-distributed research model– Ireland’s international education ranking

FUTURE PERFECT?