Editing Expert (section)

===Academic views===
There are two academic approaches to the understanding and study of expertise. The first understands expertise as an emergent property of [[communities of practice]]. In this view expertise is socially constructed; tools for thinking and scripts for action are jointly constructed within social groups enabling that group jointly to define and acquire expertise in some domain.

In the second view, expertise is a characteristic of individuals and is a consequence of the human capacity for extensive adaptation to physical and social environments. Many accounts of the development of expertise emphasize that it comes about through long periods of deliberate practice. In many domains of expertise estimates of 10 years' experience{{sfn|Ericsson|Charness|Feltovich|Hoffman|2006}} deliberate practice are common. Recent research on expertise emphasizes the nurture side of the [[nature and nurture]] argument.{{sfn|Ericsson|Charness|Feltovich|Hoffman|2006}} Some factors not fitting the nature-nurture dichotomy are biological but not genetic, such as starting age, handedness, and season of birth.{{sfn|Gobet|2008}}{{sfn|Gobet|Chassy|2008}}{{sfn|Gobet|Campitelli|2007}}

In the field of education there is a potential "expert blind spot" (see also [[Dunning–Kruger effect]]) in newly practicing educators who are experts in their content area. This is based on the "expert blind spot hypothesis" researched by [[Mitchell J. Nathan|Mitchell Nathan]] and Andrew Petrosino.{{sfn|Nathan|Petrosino|2003|page=906|}} Newly practicing educators with advanced subject-area expertise of an educational content area tend to use the formalities and analysis methods of their particular area of expertise as a major guiding factor of student instruction and knowledge development, rather than being guided by student learning and developmental needs that are prevalent among novice learners.

The blind spot metaphor refers to the physiological blind spot in human vision in which perceptions of surroundings and circumstances are strongly impacted by their expectations. Beginning practicing educators tend to overlook the importance of novice levels of prior knowledge and other factors involved in adjusting and adapting pedagogy for learner understanding. This expert blind spot is in part due to an assumption that novices' cognitive schemata are less elaborate, interconnected, and accessible than experts' and that their pedagogical reasoning skills are less well developed.{{sfn|Borko|Livingston|1989|p=474}} Essential knowledge of subject matter for practicing educators consists of overlapping knowledge domains: subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content matter.{{sfn|Borko|Eisenhart|Brown|Underhill|1992|p=195}} Pedagogical content matter consists of an understanding of how to represent certain concepts in ways appropriate to the learner contexts, including abilities and interests. The expert blind spot is a pedagogical phenomenon that is typically overcome through educators' experience with instructing learners over time.{{sfn|Borko|Livingston|1989}}{{sfn|Nathan|Petrosino|2003}}