Applying Cognitive Science Learnings in Education

Abstract

As the theoretical insights into cognitive processes in humans have deepened over the years, its potential in several applications has been recognized. Education is one of the primary areas which stands to benefits from these learnings in cognitive science. This report elaborates on this particular application by identifying key areas where cognitive science has enhanced our understanding of the education processes and also how this can be utilized to enhance their effectiveness.

Introduction

Education is the primary medium for facilitating learning particularly in at least first 20-25 years of a person’s life. It is one of the most highly regarded necessity in modern societies and everyone is expected to undergo this process of knowledge and skill acquisition, generally in a systematic way, in schools and colleges.

The use of terms like ‘learning’ and ‘knowledge acquisition’ itself undoubtedly suggest that research in cognitive psychology can provide scientific explanations of many methodologies that are practiced or should be practiced for achieving the goals of education. This will assist in recognizing useful practices, ensuring their random application is replaced by systematic one and elimination of those that do not provide desirable results.

The report also briefly mentions about the scope of error in translating these research learnings to practice in schools and other places. But most of the researches discussed in the next section have already been shown as robust enough for applications in practical situations.

Discussion

Education, as a process, involves an individual involved in an activity to enhance her current know-how, knowledge or skills. As Figure 1 explains, the process helps the individual to move from an initial level Si to new level Sf via learning. This learning may (or may not) be achieved via deliberate assistance in form of teaching (instruction) provided by a teacher- human or a system.

The process of learning and its use in future applications involve cognition, memorizing knowledge and retrieval of the same as and when required. Due to these facets of education, cognitive science inadvertently becomes one of the guidance systems which provides research based results for understanding various methods and comments upon their potential use. From Figure 1 it can be understood that such methods to enhance effectiveness of education can either directly involve the learning process or can be implemented in teaching process in order to affect learning.

This report, thus, highlights a set of findings from Cognitive Psychology research that have direct application in classrooms and/or strategies adopted by students outside class. These are:

1. Generation

2. Testing