What happens when you become an expert @benjaminkeep

Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

Something special happens when we become experts and understanding what it is offers plenty of insights into learning and teaching.

Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community

00:00 Not just more; different
00:42 What do you see?
00:58 On autopilot
01:30 Productive navel gazing
01:54 More than fast

Footage sources:

The knife skills footage comes from Delish, featuring Masuharu Morimoto:
youtube.com/watch?v=h6dKczokYj8

Cooking techniques footage from one of Jacob Burton's older videos, here: youtube.com/watch?v=mBT5O3OXXkY

The soup recipe, where Kenji Alt-Lopez talks about recipe templates comes from Serious Eats: seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-how-to-make-creamy-vegetable-soup

The Rubik's cube footage comes from J Perm
youtube.com/watch?v=9CNJtFVkXW4

Chess mistake footage from Hikaru Nakamura (GMHikaru) youtube.com/watch?v=m-kQ-L0Ojkw

References:

Broadly, these ideas come from the bible of expertise research:

Ericsson, K. A., Hoffman, R. R., Kozbelt, A., & Williams, A. M. (Eds.). (2018). The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. Cambridge University Press.

Really great stuff that rewards repeat reading.

The quotes about expertise in writing come from:

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1991). Literate expertise. Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits, 172, 194. https://www.academia.edu/download/36339732/Scardamalia___Bereiter_1991.pdf

Also, a fantastic read. Very well written, perhaps unsurprisingly.

The Secrets to College Success - with Joshua Smith of Loyola University

What no one tells you about learning faster.

What makes people great chess players? Cognitive scientist answers.

$How Games Help Us Learn | Game-Based Learning Games can help us learn. But how? And when are they most effective? Join my online learning community: https://www.benjaminkeep.com/community 00:00 Introduction 00:27 Three Ways That Games Can Motivate 03:48 Four Ways to Teach Concepts and Skills 09:22 Whats the Difference Between Gamification and Game-based Learning? 10:10 The Idea Behind Preparation for Future Learning 14:17 The Key Principle to Making Games Effective for Learning Game examples used in the video: Kahoot, Math Jumps, Wuzzit Trouble, Mario, Airplane Spotter cards, Coding Pirates (海霸), Dragonbox Numbers, Space Invaders, Stats Invaders, Call of Duty, and Civilization. What about games that dont help you learn? https://youtu.be/WYl-nZyoEXs References: Tobias, S., Fletcher, J. D., & Wind, A. P. (2014). Game-based learning. Handbook of research on educational communications and technology, 485-503. (currently at http://acikders.atauni.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/75303/mod_resource/content/1/GameBasedLearning_V2_1.pdf) [General background on the idea.] Arena, D. A., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Experience and explanation: Using videogames to prepare students for formal instruction in statistics. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 23(4), 538-548. (currently at https://aaalab.stanford.edu/assets/papers/2013/Experience-and-Explanation-OnLine-First.pdf) [This is the one on Stats Invaders.] Arena, D. A. (2012). Commercial video games as preparation for future learning. Stanford University. (currently at https://www.academia.edu/download/42560722/CommercialVideoGamesAsPreparationForFutureLearning_DylanArena.pdf) [This is the disseration I mentioned using Call of Duty and Civilization.] Arena, D. (2015). Video games as tillers of soil. Theory Into Practice, 54(2), 94-100. (https://sci-hub.st/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00405841.2015.1010843) [On the preparation for future learning idea] Jimenez, O., Arena, D., & Acholonu, U. (2011, June). Tug-of-War: A card game for pulling students to fractions fluency. In Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Games+ Learning+ Society Conference (pp. 119-127). (currently available at https://www.academia.edu/download/6979659/Jimenez,%20Arena,%20Acholonu%20-%20Tug%20Of%20War%20-%20GLS%20Proceedings%20(2011).pdf) [Note how, in this project, when they tested their initial design, students’ game experiences weren’t translating to out-of-game contexts.] Long, Y., & Aleven, V. (2014, June). Gamification of joint student/system control over problem selection in a linear equation tutor. In International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 378-387). Springer, Cham (pdf currently https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yanjin-Long/publication/268577301_Gamification_of_Joint_StudentSystem_Control_Over_Problem_Selection_in_a_Linear_Equation_Tutor/links/5470fb2b0cf24af340c3b8fd/Gamification-of-Joint-Student-System-Control-Over-Problem-Selection-in-a-Linear-Equation-Tutor.pdf) [An example of where Dragonbox wasn’t effective.] On how to use Dragonbox effectively in the classroom, check out: https://tapintoteenminds.com/how-to-effectively-use-dragonbox-in-your-solving-equations-lesson/. Note how much time he spends drawing connections between the game and the target skill.$

What Sherlock Holmes Got Wrong | Deduction, Induction, and Abduction