| This study applies Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), a method for eliciting the automated, unconscious knowledge and skills of experts, to capture expertise in teaching K-12 mathematics. The purpose of this study was to conduct a CTA with middle school teachers who have been identified as experts, to capture the knowledge and skills they use when providing instruction in the division of fractions by fractions. Also, this study investigated whether experts' knowledge omissions in this field would conform to those in other fields, which can approach 70%. CTA methods in this study included semi-structured interviews with three middle school mathematics teachers. The study's findings indicated that these experts recalled, on average, 39.14% of the action and decision steps compared to the gold standard protocol, while omitting, on average, 60.86% of such steps. The study's implications are that the degree of omissions among expert middle school teachers are similar to those of experts in other fields. Additionally, the greater degree of knowledge capture provided by the use of multiple experts, compared to that for a single expert, indicates that the use of CTA for the development of teacher preparation and professional development programs shows promise when compared to current models, which rely primarily on individual experts. |
