The Effectiveness of Cognitive Principles in Authentic Education Settings : Research to Practice

Background Lab-based research in cognitive and learning sciences provide many recommendations for improving learning and instruction (e.g., Pashler et al., 2007). Tightly controlled experiments demonstrate that learning can be enhanced with strategies such as: 1) facilitating mapping between visual representations, 2) prompting for explanation of worked examples, 3) using quizzing to promote learning, and 4) spacing practice opportunities over time (e.g., Cooper & Sweller (1987); Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, et al. 2006; Clark & Mayer, 2003; Larkin & Simon, 1987; Mayer 2001; Kalyuga, Chandler, and Sweller (2001); Paas & Van Merrienboer, 1994; Rohrer & Taylor, 2006). However, few studies investigate the principles in combination, or in authentic learning environments. We describe a large-scale effort to bridge research and practice by applying four cognitive principles to redesign the 7th grade Connected Mathematics Project 2 curriculum and testing the efficacy of these revised materials. Figure 1 shows a side-by-side of a page from the original and the revised curricula.