Knowing How and Knowing What by

Our example

lucyshilling — 2023-11-06 13:50:38 UTC

Knowing how

lucyshilling — 2023-11-06 13:50:53 UTC

Explain procedural

Knowing what

lucyshilling — 2023-11-06 13:50:58 UTC

Explain declarative

Learning to drive

lucyshilling — 2023-11-08 14:20:37 UTC

•Despite $60 billion is spent on management training within business industries, the training is often repeated regardless of the quality of delivery and content, and hardly used within management organisations (result was replicated).

•They concluded that knowing what to do to complete a task does not determine whether the individual knows how to physically do it.

•If we generalise to driving-Many individuals pass their theory test first time but do not pass their practical test first time.

•In 2017, the pass mark for a theory test was 43% while it is 51.6% for a practical test.

If you know how but you can’t explain what, do you even know how?

ps22ld2 — 2023-11-08 23:54:26 UTC

how can you be so good at performing something if you cannot explain how you do it?

does mastering a task mean morphing the how and the what?

the other end of the spectrum, that these two concepts can definitely be dissociated
some people struggle to apply the theory into practice when it comes to driving

moving across the spectrum in terms of ability mirrors the dissociation of the what and the how
the more you master a task, the smaller the dissociation becomes.

References

lucyshilling — 2023-11-09 12:00:12 UTC

-Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (1999). Knowing “what” to do is not enough: Turning knowledge into action. California management review. 42(1), 83-108.

-Mercer, S., & Ryan, S. (2010). A mindset for EFL: Learners’ beliefs about the role of natural talent. ELT journal, 64(4), 436-444.

F1 example

ps22ld2 — 2023-11-09 12:34:25 UTC

Study suggested that some are naturally talented at certain skills without putting lots of effort into studying or practicing (Mercer & Ryan, 2010).

When thinking of driving as an example for knowing what and knowing how, you can think of this ability range as a spectrum, with very able at one end and not so able at the opposite end. Formula 1 drivers are a very good example of individuals that have mastered the what and the how. In their case, these two concepts seem to be fused together rather than dissociated.

However, even the most gifted drivers such as Schumacher, Verstappen, Alonso and Hamilton even, have struggled to explain aspects of what they do on a regular basis. In other words, they struggle to separate the what from the how - they will say what they have done in a certain scenario during a race, but they would struggle to explain in detail how to go about it.