Desirable Difficulties: Learning, Teaching, & Collaboratively Bridging 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 Presentation Order Example Performance during training Performance at a delay Blocked A,A,A,A,A,B,B,B,B,B better worse Interleaved A,B,B,A,B,A,A,B,A,B Learners incorrectly predict own performance! (e.g. Shea & Morgan 1978, etc.)

Implications of Desirable Difficulties Performance ≠ Learning! But do these findings extend to realistic educational material and environments? Potential to be misled

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! Developed at Berkeley Middle school students Curriculum based on standards

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!

(video clip of classroom use of WISE software)

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.

A few visual representations of all this…

Human Memory System Brain ≠mind (Abstract Representation!)

Learning… Teacher Technology Material …Performance Student

Classroom Policy Parents Makers Curriculum Teacher Material $ Prof. Development Curriculum Material Teacher 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 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 Role of researcher as small and static as possible Graphical vs text Word pairs Context vs not Intervals analogy

Cognitive vs Educational Research: Methodologies 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 can do exp design, but harder to unpack variables, draw conclusions Researcher: hard not to want to help students, but can’t give away info, but can’t say nothing! Fixing bugs too. many other methodologies (non-exp) tech in exchange for participation

Methodologies: Compromise & Complement Use of more realistic material in the lab Parallel studies in lab & classroom Validates laboratory results “realistic” material still not good enough for use in class Longer retention intervals needed Assessment: attempts to get at more conceptual knowledge in addition to single facts

The Role of Teachers Research Partners But: can affect results Active in material design Run our experiments! But: can affect results Limited grasp of experimental design Resistance to control conditions Professional Development Teachers Ultimately must understand practices/principles in order to use Tech too

Technology as Bridge & Catalyst Test Bed Control over conditions Reduce role of teacher/researcher Common Ground Tech = critical node in system Teachers were ALREADY using WISE!

Some more visual representations…

Collaboration Cognitive Researchers Educational Researchers Teachers Technology Cognitive Researchers Educational Researchers Teachers

Research Process Theory Research Findings

Research Process Cognitive Theory Educational Lab Findings Teacher Classroom Findings

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. Grant writers expect simple physics-like principles that can be applied for widespread general improvements in performance.

My thanks to… Jason Finley: jfinley@ucla.edu 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