1. Desirable Difficulties: Learning, Teaching, & Collaboratively Bridging
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 # R305H

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 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.)

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

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!
Developed at Berkeley
Middle school students
Curriculum based on standards

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

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

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

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

19. 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.

20. A few visual representations of all this…

21. Human Memory System
Brain ≠mind
(Abstract Representation!)

22. Learning…
Teacher
Technology
Material
…Performance
Student

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

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

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

26. 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

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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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!

33. Some more visual representations…

34. Collaboration Cognitive Researchers Educational Researchers Teachers
Technology
Cognitive
Researchers
Educational
Researchers
Teachers

35. Research Process
Theory
Research
Findings

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

37. Outline Goal of Research Subject of Research as Complex System
Research Itself as Complex System
Conclusions

38. 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.

39. 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 :
WISE :
Jason Finley: