The Analysis of Expert Performance in the Redesign of the En Route Air Traffic Control Curriculum

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Abstract
This paper describes a cognitive task analysis performed within an integrated framework to analyze knowledge structures, mental models, skills, and strategies of the en route controllers to provide an understanding of the key cognitive components of the controller's job. Seven different procedures were used to collect cognitive data, and this presentation concentrates on the results of three of those procedures as they contributed to an understanding of controller expertise. The procedures under discussion include performance modeling, structured problem solving, and paper problem solving. The performance modeling resulted in the identification of twelve primary tasks and a mental model made up of eight panels that underlie expert controller's organization of domain knowledge. The structured problem solving involved protocol analysis that resulted in the identification of three categories of controller strategies, and the paper problem solving resulted in a hierarchy of goals and a set of methods used by experts to achieve those goals. These results were integrated into a model of the expert controller that will be used to specify the instructional content and sequencing for the new curriculum.

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