ABSTRACT
Conceptual knowledge can be described at different levels (see Figure 12.1). At the highest level, conceptual knowledge is described in terms of domain models which offer rich descriptions of how the world is organized in a particular domain; these models use concepts, plans, and principles as their building blocks. Step 6 (Chapter 9) dealt with the analysis of mental models into such domain models and made a distinction between conceptual models (what is this?), structural models (how is this built or organized?), and causal models (how does this work?). Domain models allow for problem solving, reasoning, and decision making in a task domain and are less relevant to performing the recurrent aspects of a skill, which can be algorithmically described in terms of the application of rules and procedures. This chapter is primarily concerned with the two lowest levels of Figure 12.1. It deals first with the level of concepts, plans (that relate two or more concepts by location-in-time or location-in-space relationships), and principles (that relate two or more concepts by cause-effect or natural-process relationships). Concepts are the basic building blocks at this level and may be further analyzed into facts and, especially for concrete concepts referring to tools and objects, physical models. The analysis of prerequisite knowledge starts from the IF-THEN rules and procedural steps that were identified in the analysis of cognitive rules. Thus,
analyzing cognitive rules (Step 8, previous Chapter) must always precede ana lyzing prerequisite knowledge (Step 9). The analysis of IF-THEN rules and procedures focuses on the question how a task is performed. Consequently, after Step 8 it is still not known what knowledge is prerequisite to learning to carry out the learning task. The basic question for the analysis of prerequisite knowledge, which must be asked for each identified rule and procedural step, is “Which concepts, plans, and/or principles does the learner need to know in order to learn to correctly apply the rule or perform the procedural step?” It is precisely this knowledge that the learner needs to embed in to-bedeveloped cognitive rules, in the learning process called ‘knowledge compila tion’ (see Box 10.1). It should be noted that the answers to the basic question might introduce yet other concepts that are not yet known by the learners; thus, the analysis is hierarchical in nature and should be reiterated until a level is reached where the learners are familiar with all of the concepts used. At the lowest level, these concepts may be defined by stating the facts or proposi tions that apply to them. Such propositions are typically seen as the smallest building blocks of cognition, so that a further analysis is not possible.
