SIMULATION-BASED RESEARCH IN PART-TASK TRAINING

The work described in this report adresses the Air Forces's need for low-cost, effective training devices. The project guidelines to partition complex flight tasks, now trained in actual equipment and simulators, into parts that can be effectively trained on less expensive systems. The primary product developed to meet this goal is a first-generation decision support system (DSS). The literature on the methods and effectiveness of partitioning tasks for training is selectively reviewed. Cognitive task analysis techniques, providing the means for partitioning a task into psychologically valid components, are also reviewed and, as an example, are applied to a flight task. The logic and content of the DSS are presented, followed by general conclusions and recommendations for futher research.