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The role of insider knowledge in the trajectories of highly accomplished scientists

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Abstract

Insider knowledge is critical information about how to achieve success that is not available to the general public but is relatively well‐known to individuals within the domain and to those who have access to those individuals. The goal of this study was to examine the perceived role of insider knowledge in a sample of highly accomplished American professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We asked participants explicitly if insider knowledge had played a role in their talent development trajectory from K–12 education to their current creative work, with questions related to experiences at the undergraduate and graduate level and during their careers. The study was exploratory, so no formal hypotheses were put forward. Given the lack of research on the topic of insider knowledge as defined in this paper, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with a select group of individuals who had successful careers in STEM fields, both to see if insider knowledge was something that they considered important and to see if they felt that insider knowledge had played a role in their educational and career trajectories. Our hope is that the results of this paper will inform future in‐depth studies on the topic of insider knowledge.
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15034
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The role of insider knowledge in the trajectories of highly
accomplished scientists
Rena F. Subotnik1Paula Olszewski-Kubilius2Frank C. Worrell3
1Center for Psychology in Schools and
Education, American Psychological
Association, Washington, District of Columbia,
USA
2Center for Talent Development,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois,
USA
3Graduate School of Education, University of
California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
Correspondence
Rena F.Subotnik, Academic Talent
Development Program, BerkeleyGraduate
School of Education, University of California,
Berkeley,Berkeley, CA 10017, USA.
Email: subotnik0@berkeley.edu
Abstract
Insider knowledge is critical information about how to achieve success that is not
available to the general public but is relatively well-known to individuals within the
domain and to those who have access to those individuals. The goal of this study was
to examine the perceived role of insider knowledge in a sample of highly accomplished
American professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
We asked participants explicitly if insider knowledge had played a role in their tal-
ent development trajectory from K–12 education to their current creative work, with
questions related to experiences at the undergraduate and graduate level and during
their careers. The study was exploratory, so no formal hypotheses were put forward.
Given the lack of research on the topic of insider knowledge as defined in this paper,
we conducted semi-structured interviews with a select group of individuals who had
successful careers in STEM fields, both to see if insider knowledge was something that
they considered important and to see if they felt that insider knowledge had played
a role in their educational and career trajectories. Our hope is that the results of this
paper will inform future in-depth studies on the topic of insider knowledge.
KEYWORDS
career advising, domain talents, insider knowledge, mentoring, psychosocial skills, talent develop-
ment
INTRODUCTION
The development of talent into achievement that yields creative con-
tributions to society is complex and affected by many factors. Subotnik
et al.1–3 proposed the talent development megamodel (TDMM) to
illustrate this complexity. In the TDMM, Subotnik et al. contend that
talent development is a long-term process that begins with the recog-
nition of potential at the appropriate time for the particular domain.
Potential can be developed into competency and expertise, and even-
tually creative productivity in adulthood4–6 through stage-appropriate
opportunities and the fostering and use of psychosocial skills such
as screening out distractions and persistence that support study and
practice.7–9 These opportunities may include advanced courses in
school, research mentoring and coaching by teachers or adults in the
domain, and specialized outside-of-school programs. In the TDMM
framework, as individuals proceed to higher stages of talent devel-
opment, mastery of domain-related content and skills are assumed,
and psychosocial skills and insider knowledge become more critical to
generating creative productivity.
Unfortunately, access to opportunities that develop advanced
skills and content knowledge are unequally distributed across sub-
groups of students, as reflected in enrollments in advanced courses
and research experiences, competitions, university majors, and insti-
tutions of higher education with high-quality science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) offerings.10,11 Factors con-
tributing to these disparities include the many deleterious effects
of poverty, which start early in life, and the accessibility and
availability of educational opportunities within homes, schools, and
communities over the course of students’ educational careers.11
Concurrently, performance anxiety prevents some students from
84 © 2023 New York Academyof Sciences. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2023;1527:84–96.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nyas
... However, no talent is fully developed by school programs alone [36]. Research shows that schools can use outside-of-school time to increase learning opportunities for learners in poverty, enabling them to catch up in their achievement [13,37]. In a qualitative study of highly successful individuals in STEM fields, it was found that almost all had pivotal experiences in science or math outside of school, including working in laboratories or participating in specialized summer programs. ...
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... 45,46 Mentors also play an essential role in opening up new learning opportunities and professional networks or in helping mentees to acquire the values and insider knowledge of the domain. 5,46,47 In some cases, learners also receive support from multiple individuals with different foci. Especially in STEMM, support networks take on an increasingly important role in expertise acquisition. ...
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