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Bridging Cognitive Psychology and Education: Introducing Desirable Difficulties

Explore the complex system of human memory, apply Desirable Difficulties to enhance learning, and bridge cognitive psychology with classroom education. Discover implications and challenges in implementing cognitive principles in educational settings.

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Bridging Cognitive Psychology and Education: Introducing Desirable Difficulties

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  1. 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.

  2. Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions

  3. State of Education System in U.S. • Needs Improvement • (TIMSS, 1998; Stigler & Heibert, 1999) • But how?

  4. 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)

  5. Nevertheless… • Improving education is IMPOSSIBLE without collaboration between cognitive psychologists & educational researchers • This is difficult, but we are trying…

  6. 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

  7. Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Mind • Material • Context • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions

  8. The Human Mind • About as complex as they come • Human Memory System • A complex system in itself

  9. 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.”

  10. Desirable Difficulties • Design principles that impair performance during learning, but enhance it at a delay • Things that produce difficulty can enhance learning!

  11. Interleaving Effect (e.g. Shea & Morgan 1978, etc.)

  12. Implications of Desirable Difficulties • Performance ≠ Learning! • But do these findings extend to realistic educational material and environments?

  13. 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!

  14. Material • Adapted existing WISE modules for use in experiments • Ex: star formation & planet formation, blocked vs. interleaved

  15. Context • UCLA: Psychology Laboratory • Controlled environment, UCLA undergrads • UC Berkeley: Middle School Classrooms • Complex systems!

  16. The Classroom • Many students, interacting • Individual differences • Emotional, motivational • Fallible technology • Curriculum • Policy Makers • Parents • Teacher!

  17. (video clip of classroom use of WISE software)

  18. 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.

  19. A few visual representations of all this…

  20. Human Memory System (Abstract Representation!)

  21. Teacher Technology …Performance Learning… Material Student

  22. Classroom Policy Makers Parents Prof. Development Curriculum Teacher Material Technology $

  23. Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Cognitive vs. Educational Research • Teachers • Technology • Conclusions

  24. Cognitive vs Educational Research: Goals • Cognitive Psychology • Goal: Determine specific cognitive processes underlying learning & memory • Desire: CONTROL! • Strict experimental design.

  25. 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

  26. Different Perspectives Laboratory Classroom Cognitive Researcher sees: Control! Utter Pandemonium! Educational Researcher sees: Irrelevant Contrivance! Validity, Realism!

  27. 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

  28. 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

  29. Methodologies: Compromise & Complement • Use of more realistic material in the lab • Parallel studies in lab & classroom • Validates laboratory results

  30. 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

  31. Technology as Bridge & Catalyst • Test Bed • Control over conditions • Reduce role of teacher/researcher • Common Ground

  32. Some more visual representations…

  33. Technology Technology Collaboration Cognitive Researchers Educational Researchers Teachers

  34. Research Process Theory Research Findings

  35. Cognitive Theory Educational Theory Teacher Lab Findings Classroom Findings Research Process

  36. Outline • Goal of Research • Subject of Research as Complex System • Research Itself as Complex System • Conclusions

  37. 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.

  38. 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

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