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Fig. 10.2
Developmental scale for skill levels and tiers
Thus the Skill Scale is a model of the developmental dimension underlying the
learning sequences that comprise development in almost all domains. This model
has been used to guide researchers in their analysis of behaviors and performances,
informing the dissection of the skill structure and thus locating performances along
the developmental continuum specified by the general Skill Scale—a technique
known as Skill Analysis. Analyzing the structure of diverse performances as they
unfold over time in a given domain allows for the inductive reconstruction of learn-
ing sequences in that domain. This general technique has been used in a variety
of domains, including mathematics (Fischer, Hand, & Russell, 1984), reflective
judgment (Kitchener & Fischer, 1990), and self-in relationship (Fischer & Kennedy,
1997). Research informed by the Skill Scale has been paralleled by research involv-
ing comparable frameworks (Case, 1992; Commons, Trudeau, Stein, Richards, &
Krause, 1998), which has reinforced the idea that the Skill Scale represents an
important underlying developmental dimension.
Importantly, this research tradition has focused in large part on the diversity
and dynamism of human development. Thus, the emerging consensus regarding
a common scale should not be seen as a reworking of the simple ladder-like,
growth-to-goodness models of development offered in the 1960s and 1970s. Instead,
learning sequences are understood as sets of diverse pathways, which individuals
traverse in unique ways—often toward common goals (Fischer & Bidell, 2006).
Of course, some researchers have constructed learning sequences to serve as ideal
types—simplifying the dynamics of development into set of static level descriptions.
These idealizations can be useful only insofar as they frame an understanding of
how individual learners work,
in medias res
, to construct unique paths through this
