Cultivating Expertise in Learning of Life Sciences - Advancing Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

The study introduces a theoretically and methodologically novel approach to study the development of expertise in life sciences by combining a longitudinal perspective with case and intervention approaches. The development of expertise requires processes at different levels: a domain-specific conceptual understanding, conceptual change, knowledge integration and understanding of the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. However, there is little empirical data showing the interaction between these approaches, while the role of conceptual change has been almost neglected in higher education. In this multi-method study, bridges will be created between these research traditions.

Orchestrating successful learning in higher education requires that the teacher crosses the boundaries between her/his own subject domain and the domain of pedagogical theories and knowledge, meaning that s/he is able to notice relevant processes in classrooms, such as students’ possible misconceptions. Thus, this project focuses firstly, on investigating the development of expertise during the studies in life sciences utilising multi-method approach (such as eye-tracking and virtual reality learning evironments) and second, on investigating higher education teachers’ of life sciences level and quality of pedagogical expertise. The results of the CELLS project will open up ground-breaking theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence in this little investigated, though promising, research avenue related to the interaction of theory and practice in the development of expertise.