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A cognitive task analysis was performed to analyze the key cognitive components of the en route air traffic controllers' jobs. The goals were to ascertain expert mental models and decision-making strategies and to identify important differences in controller knowledge, skills, and mental models as a function of expertise. Four groups of participants from all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the continental United States comprised a hierarchy of skill levels ranging from current developmental controllers with no formal radar training to expert controllers who were supervisors. Seven data collection procedures were used: unstructured interviews, structured interviews, critical incidents interviews, paired problem solving, cognitive style assessment, DYSIM (Dynamic Simulator) performance modeling, and DYSIM structured problem solving. This first phase resulted in the identification of 12 primary tasks, a mental model representing expert controllers' organization of domain knowledge, three categories of controller strategies, a hierarchy of goals and a set of methods used by experts to achieve those goals. The findings were used to specify the instructional content and sequencing for the Federal Aviation Administration's new en route air traffic control curriculum. (Appendixes include the following: 28 references; structured interview questions; scenarios for DYSIM performance modeling and structured problem solving; a summary of critical incident types; paired problem solving comparison diagrams and dictionary; a report of COGNET (cognitive network of tasks) analysis; problem-solving analyses of expert, intermediate, and novice groups; and statistical analyses of cognitive style assessments.) (YLB)

Phase II of a project extended data collection and analytic procedures to develop a model of expertise and skill development for en route air traffic control (ATC). New data were collected by recording the Dynamic Simulator (DYSIM) performance of five experts with a work overload problem. Expert controllers were interviewed in depth for mental model elaboration and validation. Federal Aviation Administration data regarding operational errors were analyzed. An extended literature review was conducted to integrate findings with existing literature. An elaborated and refined mental model and task decomposition were developed. The structure of the mental model implied both a conceptual framework used by the controller for organizing ATC knowledge and a strategy for applying the knowledge in job conduct. The task decomposition resulted in a listing and validation of 12 tasks. The analysis of strategy usage showed that experts tended to use fewer strategies, a greater variety of different strategies, more workload management strategies, and strategy usage that varied with context. A working model of interrelationships among key ATC constructs was developed. A revised listing of critical cues of work overload indicated that participants viewed anxiety and communication errors as being the most important cues that an overload situation was developing. Training implications were identified in the areas of instructional content, sequencing, media delivery, and training environment. (Appendixes include the following: a list of 57 references, a glossary of terms and acronyms, a glossary of strategies, a validation study timeline, strategy listings and validation interviews, retrospective protocols of DYSIM overload problem solving, a work overload questionnaire, and an error listing for DYSIM overload problem solving.) (YLB)

A computerized testing system was implemented in conjunction with the Radar Technician Training Course at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. The feasibility of the system and students' attitudes toward it were examined. The system, a multilevel, microprocessor-based computer network, administered tests in a sequential, fixed length format for the purpose of comparing the effect of mode of administration of test items (computerized versus paper-and-pencil). Since the one-parameter and three-parameter logistic models were both determined to be acceptable, the less expensive one-parameter model was used. The results indicated that, in spite of hardware problems, the system design was viable and that microcomputers could be used to administer achievement tests in an instructional program environment. Some items were found to operate differently when administered on a computer screen as compared to a paper-and-pencil administration. Further research was suggested to determine the cause of the differences in item performance. A 23-item attitude survey, which is appended, was administered to a sample of 136 trainees. The trainees generally had no difficulty taking the test on the computer, and 62 percent indicated that they enjoyed it. (Author/GDC)