Charting Pathways to the Development of Expertise

This article begins with a brief review of the history of the conceptions of intelligence and of intelligence testing. It then discusses the effects of these conceptions on education and on children's development. The problem of intelligence and intelligence testing is reformulated in terms of charting pathways to the development of expertise. In particular, the article stresses the importance of habits of mind, or patterns of thinking used in everyday life that can affect the way one approaches various tasks. Acquiring expertise requires acquiring those habits of mind that most facilitate task performance. The importance of context is stressed, as is the importance of dynamic testing of human abilities, which recognizes that people's observed levels of performance do not necessarily reflect their full capabilities.