AD-A 275 474 Individual Differences in Planning-Related Activities for Simple Digital Circuit Design ' 1

Assessment of complex cognitive tasks requires an understanding of the characteristics of expertise in the specific domain. The research reported in this paper was part of a larger project whose goal was to distinguish among levels of expertise in digital circuit design. This study examined the problem solving characteristics of seven electrical engineering students, five undergraduates and two advanced graduate students. They were asked to design a simple combinational logic digital circuit. This type of circuit can be designed using a standard procedure and set of components but there are issues of optimization that enhance a standard design. Subjects provided think-aloud protocols during the solution process. Videotapes and the handwritten artifacts created during the design process were coded for standard components, optimization, and discrete behavioral episodes, a subset of which defined Planning-Related Activity. Contrary to previous contrastive analyses of expertise, all subjects showed evidence of planning. However, the function and location of the planning differentiated among subjects. Global planning, planning associated with moving from one component to the next, and selecting among alternatives were associated with better circuit designs. Local planning dominated the problem solving of the less expert designers. Implications for the assessment of expertise are discussed. Digital Circuit Design 1