Cognitive Science Goes to College: Scaling Up What We Know About Learning and Instruction

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session addresses how cognitive science research can be scaled up to improve learning and instruction in higher education and other settings, a topic that is consistent with the theme of the conference and also highly relevant to current efforts to improve learning in schools, colleges, and universities across the world. Cognitive science research has produced compelling findings on how advanced knowledge and skills develop and how teaching, instructional design, and assessment can most effectively support that development, but these findings have not yet had a significant impact in large-scale educational environments. Session presenters describe instruction and assessment strategies derived from cognitive theory and research and report evidence on the effectiveness of those strategies in large-scale, online, postsecondary environments.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Technology, Instruction, Cognition & Learning

Chair

• David Michael Niemi, Kaplan

Papers

• De Groot’s Lesson, Geary’s Evolutionary Educational Psychology, and Cognitive Load Theory - John Sweller, University of New South Wales

• The “Active Ingredients” Approach to the Development and Testing of Evidence-based Instruction - Richard E. Clark, University of Southern California

• Investigating the Value of Evidence-Based Instructional Design for Online University Courses - Brenda Mary Sugrue, Kaplan; Erik Ellefsen, Kaplan Inc.

• Building a Cognitively Sensitive Adaptive Testing System - Sylvia Tidwell Scheuring, Arroki Inc; David Michael Niemi, Kaplan; Larry Rudman

Discussants

• Richard E. Mayer, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Bror Valdemar Haug Saxberg, Kaplan Inc.