390 likes | 400 Views
www.psych.ucla.edu/iddeas. Desirable Difficulties: Learning, Teaching, & Collaboratively Bridging. Jason Finley UCLA Department of Psychology Thanks to: Robert A. Bjork, Lindsey Richland, & Matt Hays at UCLA Marcia C. Linn & Britte Cheng at UC Berkeley
E N D
www.psych.ucla.edu/iddeas Desirable Difficulties: Learning, Teaching, & Collaboratively Bridging Jason Finley UCLA Department of Psychology Thanks to: Robert A. Bjork, Lindsey Richland, & Matt Hays at UCLA Marcia C. Linn & Britte Cheng at UC Berkeley This research was supported by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, CASL Grant Award # R305H020113.
Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions
State of Education System in U.S. • Needs Improvement • (TIMSS, 1998; Stigler & Heibert, 1999) • But how?
Cognitive Psychology to the Rescue? • “120 years of psychological memory research have had scarcely any impact on education.” (Bahrick, 2004) • “Differences between research goals and the operational logic of schools have seriously weakened the cumulative impact of cognitive research on instructional practices.” (Rothkopf, 2004)
Nevertheless… • Improving education is IMPOSSIBLE without collaboration between cognitive psychologists & educational researchers • This is difficult, but we are trying…
IDDEAS: Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science Goal: extend cognitive laboratory research on learning and memory to classroom environment UCLA: Cognitive Psychologists UC Berkeley: Educational Researchers
Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Mind • Material • Context • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions
The Human Mind • About as complex as they come • Human Memory System • A complex system in itself
The Human Memory System • We don’t intuitively understand our own memory system. • We differ from computers in just about every way. • Static & incremental vs. dynamic & relational • Complexity is illustrated by “Desirable Difficulties.”
Desirable Difficulties • Design principles that impair performance during learning, but enhance it at a delay • Things that produce difficulty can enhance learning!
Interleaving Effect (e.g. Shea & Morgan 1978, etc.)
Implications of Desirable Difficulties • Performance ≠ Learning! • But do these findings extend to realistic educational material and environments?
Material • WISE: Web-based Inquiry Science Environment • A system/tool for scientific instruction • Contains modules on a wide variety of topics, with options to customize and to create new modules • Plus: a useful research tool!
Material • Adapted existing WISE modules for use in experiments • Ex: star formation & planet formation, blocked vs. interleaved
Context • UCLA: Psychology Laboratory • Controlled environment, UCLA undergrads • UC Berkeley: Middle School Classrooms • Complex systems!
The Classroom • Many students, interacting • Individual differences • Emotional, motivational • Fallible technology • Curriculum • Policy Makers • Parents • Teacher!
Implications • Cognitive principles may not apply in the classroom, or may have different effects • May be impossible to implement • Difficult to study this • …but we have made some initial progress.
Human Memory System (Abstract Representation!)
Teacher Technology …Performance Learning… Material Student
Classroom Policy Makers Parents Prof. Development Curriculum Teacher Material Technology $
Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Cognitive vs. Educational Research • Teachers • Technology • Conclusions
Cognitive vs Educational Research: Goals • Cognitive Psychology • Goal: Determine specific cognitive processes underlying learning & memory • Desire: CONTROL! • Strict experimental design.
Cognitive vs Educational Research: Goals • Educational Research • Goal: Determine conditions that foster long-term learning in the classroom • Desire: VALIDITY! • Realistic materials and contexts • Interest is in improving learning, with less attention to drawing conclusions about underlying processes
Different Perspectives Laboratory Classroom Cognitive Researcher sees: Control! Utter Pandemonium! Educational Researcher sees: Irrelevant Contrivance! Validity, Realism!
Cognitive vs Educational Research: Methodologies • Cognitive Psychology • Laboratory manipulation of independent variables • Test memory for specific, simple items learned using relatively short retention intervals • Start from theory (generally) • Role of researcher: small
Cognitive vs Educational Research: Methodologies • Educational Research • Classroom comparisons of conditions, no null groups • More like design research: make something and see what happens • Study broad conceptual knowledge over long term • Start from practice (generally) • Role of researcher: more active
Methodologies: Compromise & Complement • Use of more realistic material in the lab • Parallel studies in lab & classroom • Validates laboratory results
The Role of Teachers • Research Partners • Active in material design • Run our experiments! • But: can affect results • Limited grasp of experimental design • Resistance to control conditions • Professional Development
Technology as Bridge & Catalyst • Test Bed • Control over conditions • Reduce role of teacher/researcher • Common Ground
Technology Technology Collaboration Cognitive Researchers Educational Researchers Teachers
Research Process Theory Research Findings
Cognitive Theory Educational Theory Teacher Lab Findings Classroom Findings Research Process
Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions
Conclusions • Trying to improve the complex system of education requires focus on more than just one part! • Classroom & our research itself are complex systems. • We need systems methodologies. • A long way to go, but we’ve made progress.
My thanks to… • The Institute for Education Sciences and the Cognition and Student Learning program, which funded our research (Award # R305H020113) • Other members of the IDDEAS research team: • Robert A. Bjork, Ph.D, (UCLA) • Lindsey E. Richland, Ph.D, (UCLA) • Matthew J. Hays (UCLA) • Marcia C. Linn, Ph.D, (UC Berkeley) • Britte H. Cheng (UC Berkeley) • Relevant Links • IDDEAS : http://www.psych.ucla.edu/iddeas • WISE : http://wise.berkeley.edu • Jason Finley: jfinley@ucla.edu