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Domain-Specific Knowledge and Why Teaching Generic Skills Does Not Work

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Abstract

Domain-general cognitive knowledge has frequently been used to explain skill when domain-specific knowledge held in long-term memory may provide a better explanation. An emphasis on domain-general knowledge may be misplaced if domain-specific knowledge is the primary factor driving acquired intellectual skills. We trace the long history of attempts to explain human cognition by placing a primary emphasis on domain-general skills with a reduced emphasis on domain-specific knowledge and indicate how otherwise unintelligible data can be easily explained by assumptions concerning the primacy of domain-specific knowledge. That primacy can be explained by aspects of evolutionary educational psychology. Once the importance of domain-specific knowledge is accepted, instructional design theories and processes are transformed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS and University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    André Tricot

  2. School of Education, University of New-South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    John Sweller

  3. CLLE Institute, CNRS and University of Toulouse, 5 Allées Antonio Machado, 31 058, Toulouse, Cedex, France

    André Tricot

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  1. André Tricot
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  2. John Sweller
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Correspondence to André Tricot.

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Tricot, A., Sweller, J. Domain-Specific Knowledge and Why Teaching Generic Skills Does Not Work. Educ Psychol Rev 26, 265–283 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9243-1

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