Skills Taxonomy
This taxonomy incorporates different psychological skills of a person during
task performance. Skills are decomposed at a fine-grained level, so that not
only can we use them to capture which particular skills are used to perform a
task, but also, which skills are not used when the task fails.
Furthermore, these skills can be used to describe the level of difficulty of
various tasks.
We have designed this taxonomy to be "theory neutral" in that we tried to
extrapolate the skills highlighted by different proposed theories without
being biased in selecting a subset of skills in a particular theory over
another set.
Notation:
In the following diagrams, nodes with words rotated to the side represent
basic skills (i.e. leaf nodes). Skills in boxes are shared among multiple
nodes (notational convenience). Definitions of basic skills can be found at
the end of this document.
Top Level
There are four kinds of skills considered in this taxonomy: social, emotion,
cognition, and motor. Because the domain of application is computer software,
emphasis is mainly placed on expanding the skills in the cognition area. The
skills in the other areas are also expanded, but not very detailedly.
Social
Social skills include the skills that are used when we interact with other
people or agents (e.g., animated agents in a software).
Note: waiting for feedback and changes.
also need to take out the top level parts
Emotion
Emotion skills refer to the skills that we use for learning or expressing our
feelings.
Cognition
Cognition is the largest skill area, which composes of 7 overarching skill
areas: attention, memory, images, language, problem solving, decision making,
and domain knowledge. Each of these are further decomposed below.
Cognition: Attention
In order to attend to something, we must first determine the focus and
then concentrate on it. Once we have practised doing so enough times,
some kinds of information require little to no effort (i.e., they are
automatic) in becoming the focus of attention. These include
information about how often something is done (frequency), where
objects are (spatial), or when an event occurred (temporal).
Cognition: Memory
Memory is another cognitive skill area that is used in every task we perform.
Information is categorized as sensory or semantic. The former
refers to information that we experience via our senses (such as sight, touch,
etc.) but are not encoded into memory. The latter refers to information that
we further process, either on the surface level or at a deeper level. This
kind of information can be
sensory (e.g., the pain of touching a hot kettle),
verbal (e.g., e = mc2),
episodic (e.g., an argument my parents had in the car when i was
young),
conceptual (e.g., the solar system), or
procedural (e.g., how to use an espresso machine).
Cognition: Images
Both processing (pattern recognition) and generating (visual
imagery) images are considered in this subtree.
Cognition: Language
Information pertaining to language can be divided into the following
categories:
- phonetics: the physical form and structure of sounds (waves)
- phoneme: the representation of sounds
- morpheme: the representation of the smallest meaningful units
- lexicon: the mental dictionary, consisting of function (e.g.,
prepositions) and non-function (e.g., nouns, verbs) words
- syntax: the rules and principles that govern grammaticality
- semantics: the rules and principles that govern meaning
- discourse/pragmatics: the rules and principles that govern
coherence, truth values, interaction, and other higher-level concepts
Cognition: Problem Solving
To solve a problem, we first must understand it and then try to
solve it. Both of these are complicated steps, which require a clear
understanding of one's own objective and present situation, and then
planning intermediate steps to reach that objective. Certain
strategies may be carried out to speed up the process or to prevent
going into the wrong path. Lastly, after a solution has been reached,
we may want to remember it, or parts of it, for future reference.
Cognition: Decision Making
When a set of possibilities are presented, a decision must be made to select
the best one(s). The process of decision making describes the skills required
to perform this selection process successfully.
Cognition: Domain Knowledge
Domain knowledge breaks down the various skills required in specialized
domains. Undoubtably, this subtree is not meant to be exhaustive. The areas we
focused on are computer (due to the use of computers in computer
software applications), mathematics (due to the emphasis on mathematic
skills in children software), literacy (due to the importance of
literacy skills across age groups), and environment (where all other
specialized domains that happen in our life environment are clumped together).
Motor
Grossly defined motor skills are captured in this subtree.
Skill Definitions
This section provides definitions for the basic skills shown in the above
diagrams. All the skills are listed alphabetically.
Note: Skills in the social subtree are missing.
[A]
[B]
[C]
[D]
[E]
[F]
[G]
[H]
[I]
[J]
[K]
[L]
[M]
[N]
[O]
[P]
[Q]
[R]
[S]
[T]
[U]
[V]
[W]
[X]
[Y]
[Z]
- ABC ordering:
the layout of the keyboard in an alphabetic ordering
- abstract:
generating and maintaining a visual image of an abstract object
- acquire rules:
learn the rules for displaying emotions
- aim:
the ability to put the mouse pointer on a desired object
- analogy:
a strategy that compares the structure and elements of the current problem
to a known problem which has parallel structure and similar elements
- animals:
vocabulary for animals
- applying constraints:
conforming to module/theory specific rules, constraints, principles
- arithmetics:
simple addition and subtraction of objects
- auditory match to pattern:
...
- awareness:
realizing information is relevant to knowledge
- backtracking:
retracting one or more operations
- backwards:
a strategy that starts at the goal state and solves the problem backwards
- choosing focus:
use dictionary to choose focus based on item with highest threshold
- click:
the ability to select a desire object with the mouse pointer
- compare all results:
ability to retrieve and compare results
- compatibility check:
testing to see if candidate action is consistent with personal values,
beliefs, and goals
- concrete:
generating and maintaining a visual image of a concrete object
- counting:
knowing the names of cardinal numbers, which are often presented in groups
of 10
- diagrams:
a strategy that uses graphical representations to depict a problem or
solution
- disambiguate:
determining whether there is match of information, when that information
is unclear/noisy
- discrimination:
determine that a potential candidate does not fulfill or match the
requirements of the desired target
- distinctiveness:
knowing that two or more entities differ (perhaps minimally) in particular
aspects
- domain/problem specific knowledge:
see the "domain knowledge" area under "cognition"
- double click:
the ability to perform two consecutive clicks quickly with the mouse
pointer at the same location
- drag:
the ability to move the mouse pointer while it is pressed down and has
selected an object
- duration:
maintaining mental effort over a period of time
- early locomotion:
...
- elaboration:
...
- encoding:
putting information in the appropriate representation
- estimate likelihood:
estimating the probability of success of an outcome
- estimate value:
estimating the value of an outcome
- expressions:
mathematical equations that involve symbols that represent numbers,
addition and subtraction operations, and equality
- filter/select:
choosing to attend to specific information
- fine motor control:
...
- forward planning:
carrying out one or more necessary operations (look ahead)
- fundamental locomotion:
...
- generate mental model:
during writing, a mental model of the material to be expressed is created
- generate possibilities:
ability to possible candidates of future actions
- geography:
knowledge about cities, countries, continents, and oceans
- global coherence:
ensuring that the information expressed in a text, from sentence to
sentence and paragraph to paragraph, is coherent
- hand-eye coordination:
the ability to spot where an object has been moved by one's hand
- heuristics:
a strategy that uses rules of thumb to approach solving a problem
- hold:
the ability to continuously hold down a selected object with the mouse
pointer
- icons:
understanding the representation of icons and the associated function
which it initiates
- identify current state:
determine the starting point of the problem and the relevant pieces that
describe it
- identify goal:
determine the ending point of the problem and the relevant pieces that
describe it
- identify propositions:
the interpretation of sentences into propositions
- automatic/immediate (inference):
the use of reasoning to establish relations in a text when the relations
are not directly stated, relying on day-to-day knowledge
- integrate cues:
putting together a coherent meaning based on multiple cues
- interface:
understanding aspects of a two-dimensional interface representation
- landscape:
knowledge about mountains, rivers, etc.
- large motor control:
...
- local coherence:
ensuring that the information expressed in a text, from word to word and
possibly sentence to sentence, is coherent
- logic:
ability to evaluate truth conditions that involve "and", "or", and "not"
- map/apply:
determine whether there is match of information by mapping old relation of
items with new relation of items
- maintain mental model:
during reading, a mental model of the read material is created and
maintainence of the model is needed when newly information is acquired
- means/ends:
a strategy that identifies the results (ends) and tries to find ways of
getting there
- mental rotation:
changing the orientation of an object in the mind without altering its
form
- music:
knowledge about music notes, tones, patterns, instruments
- object control:
...
- orthography:
the alphabet that represents a language in written form
- perspective taking:
understanding another person's feelings and relating to how s/he behaves
- phonics:
...
- plants:
knowledge about different kinds of plants
- primary emotions:
...
- printing:
operation of a printer
- QWERTY ordering:
the layout of the keyboard in a standard typist ordering
- recognition:
realizing a (similar/exact) match of previous information
- reflexes:
involuntary responses of our nervous system
- regulate/control:
controlling one's emotions and the display of it
- rehearsal:
repeating the information to maintain it
- reinstatement search:
the search to place words into active memory where they can be used to
integrate a text
- relate propositions:
connecting propositions via semantic relationships
- release:
ability to let go of a pressed mouse button, possibly at a specific
location
- remembering results of each possibility:
temporarily storing the results of each candidate
- retrieve:
accessing previously encoded information
- rocks:
knowledge about crystals and rocks
- rhyming:
knowing that different words have similar sounding quality in the last
vowel and the remaining consonants
- scanning:
shifting of attention across a visual display or image
- search:
finding (or failing to find) previously encountered information, or
something similar to it, and checking for a match
- seasons:
knowledge about seasons in a year
- secondary emotions:
...
- select words:
choosing the words to express the propositions in the writing process
- selective interference:
choosing to block out verbal or visual information during perception or
recall of information
- sequences:
determining patterns involving numbers and objects, and being able to
identify outlyers
- shapes:
understanding basic shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles
- size:
maintaining mental effort for multiple or large pieces of information
- social referencing:
understanding another person's feelings in order to determine how one self
should behave
- space:
knowledge about outerspace
- specialized knowledge (inference):
the use of reasoning to establish relations in a text when the relations
are not directly stated, relying on specialized domain knowledge
- species:
knowledge about categories of living things
- spelling:
ability to use an orthography to represent words of a language
- store:
if rehearsal successful, information will be stored
- subgoals:
a strategy that introduces valid states between the start state and the
goal state, and then use these intermediate states as temporary goal
states to solve smaller problems
- switching focus:
the physical act of changing the focus
- symbol association to object:
matching an abstract symbol to a realistic object (e.g., buttons)
- time:
knowledge about how time is represented on clocks and calendars
- traditional songs:
knowledge about traditional songs
- typing:
pressing keys on a keyboard and seeing the corresponding letter on the
screen display (i.e. not touch typing)
- verification:
ensuring that the written information corresponds to the mental model
- visual match to pattern:
...
- visual matching:
comparing information on visual images to determine their similarity
- weather:
knowledge about temperature, themometer reading, and their correlation to
weather patterns
- zooming:
the idea of getting closer and further away to/from an object in a
two-dimensional interface