1. Islands of
Expertise
Pirkko Hyvönen, PhD
Learning and Educational
Technology Research Unit (LET)
14.5.2013 1© pirkko.hyvonen@oulu.fi

2. ISLANDS OF EXPERTISE
(Crowley & Jacobs, 2002; Palmquist & Crowley, 2007)
• Children and adult novices can develope knowledge
constructions and deep understanding of phenomena,
which they are deeply interested in (Chi & Koeske,
1983).
– Child & parent/adult; novice & expert
• Domain approach to cognition applied to social
interactions. It recognizes and requires that
environmental inputs are matched to child/novices
capacities and expectations. (Gelman, 2010)

3. ”BUILDING” AN ISLAND (knowledge construction)
 Building is seen as social and cognitive process, where learning
habits are practiced and developed.
 Island is woven throughtout multiple activities, hence
it is essential to be occupied in many ways (negotiating, activities, reading,
teaching, problem-solving, memorising etc.) with the phenomen, learn in
activity, particularly in conversations.
 Abstract and general themes
 Building may continue for weeks, months or years
 Generally building takes place in informal settings, like in home,
museums etc.
© Pirkko Hyvönen

4. YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THE ISLAND! (learning is
social)
 Construct knowledge and deepen your understanding with other
people by negotiations, explanations and problem-solving situations
in everyday practices.
 Explanatoids
 Long series of collaborative interactions with peers and experts that
seems to be relatively unmarcable when viewed individually, but
they collectively create a strong linkage between understanding and
interest.
 Other people support you in maintaining the interest.
© Pirkko Hyvönen

5. ISLANDS WILL FORM AN ARCHIPELAGO!
(Conceptual construction)
 Through various activities individuals can develop larger
epistemic frames, which will support the connections between
earlier knowledge and new domains (Shaffer, 2006)
– Epistemic frames can be seen as a transfer (more Schaffer,
2006)

6. 6
COOKING
COUNTRIES, CONTINENTSVEHICLES
TRAINS
AN EXAMPLE OF ISLANDS
3-year child:
vocabulary,
declarative
knowledge,
schemas, memories
are numerous, well-
organised, and
flexible.
Their shared
knowledge,
conversational
space, allow their
talk to move on
deeper levels than
is typically
possible if the boy
were a novice.
Unerstanding can
be transfered to
other situations
and domains.
14.5.2013 pirkko.hyvonen@oulu.fi

7. Religion
Healt sciences
Finnish
language
English
Biologie
Statistics
Health
sciences
Chemistry
Educational
sciences,
Learning
Common ground
English
Economics
Philosophi
e
Media
sciences
Cultural
anthropology
Communicati
on
Physiotherapy
ARCHIPELAGO OF A ONE GROUP
psykologia
14.5.2013 pirkko.hyvonen@oulu.fi 7

8. 14.5.2013 pirkko.hyvonen@oulu.fi 8
YOUR TASK IS TO
SOLO:
1) Name keywords for islands of expertise.
2) Make deep reflections of the social and cognitive ways, you have
learned your expertise in a domain of learning and educational
technology.
3) Make a presentation of your islands / archipelago.
COLLABORATION (3x4):
1) In your group, present your design. A presenter is a novice and the
peers are experts who concentrate on making conversation to provide
deeper understanding.
Both, the interested novice and the supportive expert reflect and interpret
declarative knowledge and practices, making interferences to connect new
knowledge to existing knowledge. Expert aims to support interest and
challenge and deepen novice’s understanding
3) Make a syntheses of the results: archipelago of the peer group and
present it to other groups.

9. REFERENCES
Chi, M.T.H. & Koeske, R. (1983). Network representation of a child’s
dinosaur knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 19, 29–39.
Crowley, K., & Jacobs, M. (2002). Building islands of expertise in
everyday family activities. In G. Leinhardt, K. Crowley, & K Knutson
(Eds.), Learning conversations in museums (pp. 401–423).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gelman, S.A. (2010). Modules, theories, or islands of expertise?
Domain specifity in socialization. Child Development, 81(3), 715–
719.
Palmquist, S. D. & Crowley, K. (2007). Studying dinosaur learning on
an island of expertise. In R. Goldman, R. Pea, B. Barron, & S. Derry
(Eds.), Video research in the learning sciences (pp. 271–286).
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shaffer, D.W. (2006). Epistemic frames for epistemic games.
Computers & Education, 46, 223–234.14.5.2013 pirkko.hyvonen@oulu.fi 9