Adaptive expertise and knowledge fluency in design and innovation

Introduction. This chapter presents an overview of the adaptive expertise framework and describes how this framework holds promise for exploring knowledge fluency in the context of engineering design and innovation. Adaptive expertise is linked to research on knowledge transfer and the development of expertise. Each of these theoretical approaches explores how one recognizes when knowledge learned in one setting may apply in a novel setting, and the mechanisms for transfer of knowledge when challenged by an unfamiliar or ambiguous situation. The adaptive expertise framework is directly applicable in the context of design and innovation given the emphasis on how one develops adaptiveness in learning, and how to apply knowledge fluidly. The process of design and innovation involves developing a solution where one does not yet exist. From this perspective, every design situation is novel, embeds ambiguity, and has no one correct answer. The very nature of design requires one to recognize how prior knowledge might apply under new circumstances. Furthermore, research suggests that the nature of knowledge one employs in the process of design innovation is nuanced, complex, and spans the cognitive, metacognitve, and affective domains.