Pii: S0142-694x(98)00015-5

entities. Second, diagrams can be used to represent specific problems for specific goals. This allows recognition of the underlying structure of the problem and the organization of computationally efficient inference procedures for solving the problem. He suggests that the dominant factor for the development of expertise is the co-ordination of recognition and inference. Recognition leads to the recall of relevant, often abstract, knowledge from long-term memory while the availability of appropriate procedures leads to the efficient and effective use of this knowledge. The coordination between the two, he suggests, is closely related to the ability to develop effective diagrams. Both the ability to draw diagrams and to coordinate recognition and inference using diagrams is learnt during the development of expertise and is a critical aspect of expertise. 1.4 Diagrams and expertise in related disciplines The importance of diagrammatic representations in reasoning and problem solving has begun to receive attention in a number of other disciplines. Tabachneck et al. reported experiments comparing the performance of experts and novices in using diagrams to solve economics problems and to explain the solutions obtained. Novices were found to have difficulty in integrating pictorial information in the form of graphs and verbal, semantic information. Inferences for the novices were shallow and novices often failed to notice relevant features of the graphs. Experts, however, used multiple representations easily and frequently. For example, when asked to explain how to solve a problem, the experts spontaneously used both verbal and graphical representations and the two were closely integrated. Experts had learned to notice the relevant features of the graphs; they possessed the relevant inference operators and could translate back and forth between the operators and their economic interpretations. Both the results with the novice and expert economic problem solvers therefore parallel a number of the significant aspects of the findings in the physics problem solving literature. Kindfield has also demonstrated parallels between problem solving in physics and biology. Using problems in meiosis, Kindfield found that, where specific knowledge relevant to the problem was present, experts routinely generated fine tuned diagrams that included the knowledge and used both to complete the task. Further, diagrams in which relevant knowledge is represented were found to cue the recognition of the relevance of that knowledge to the immediate reasoning situation. Kinderfield explicitly notes the parallel between Larkin and Simon’s work on physics problem