View this PageEdit this PageAttachments to this PageHistory of this PageHomeRecent ChangesSearch the SwikiHelp Guide

Syllabus-2002

Cognition and Education
Spring, 2002
Profs: Janet Kolodner and Jackie Gray
Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 to 11:00

In this class, we’ll be investigating topics in cognition that are important to designing effective learning environments. We’ll look at key topics in cognitive development, including a look at early childhood and adolescent development; sociocultural theories of learning; and the cognition involved in transfer. We’ll also look at the processes involved in several kinds of reasoning important for literacy, including scientific reasoning and reading and writing. And we’ll look at some of the history of cognitive science and cognitive psychology. Throughout, we’ll have a focus on extracting "design rules of thumb." That is, we’ll always be focusing on understanding the implications of what we are learning for promoting productive learning and designing environments where productive learning can happen. To promote that understanding, we’ll spend time in class moving back and forth from reading the theoretical work to reading about learning environments where the theory has been applied well and trying to extract rules of thumb in three areas: activities for promoting transfer, design of scaffolding, and ways of fostering a community culture conducive to deep and lasting learning. We’ll use several technologies in the classroom, the most important ones being a class CoWeb (http://swiki.cc.gatech.edu:8080/cae) and the "Rules of Thumb" tool in SMILE (http://????). There will be three kinds of assignments: reading (for each class), summarizing and extracting rules of thumb (weekly), and a project (design of an environment for learning based on what’s been read and discussed). Grading will be based 20% on class participation, 40% on weekly homework assignments, and 30% on the project, with an extra wildcard 10% that can be awarded for extra special excellence in any one of those areas or others.

Topics Major Readings Applications
Illustrations Rules of Thumb
You need a Theory to Design A Good Learning Environment Activities for promoting transfer Design of scaffolding Fostering a culture
A Well-Designed Learning Environment Campione, Shapiro & Brown, 1999;
Kolodner, 1997 FCL, LBD
Introduction to Cognition and Instruction Bruer, Gardner, 1985, chaps. 2 and 5;
Neisser, 1976, chap 1; Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999, intro and chap. 2 Tudge, Gray & Hogan, 1997.
Transfer Bransford et al., 1999a, chap 3; Bransford et al., 1999b; Schank, 1999; Kolodner, Gray & Fasse, 2002 Anchored Instruction (Jasper), LBD, GBS
Cognitive Development and Knowledge Construction Flavell et al., 1993; Piaget, Vygotsky, Scardamalia & Bereiter;
Early Childhood Flavell, et al., chap 3; Bransford et al., 1999, chap. 5
Adolescent and Middle School Flavell, et al., chap 4; Kuhn, Piaget, Vygotsky
Cognition in Action: Scientific Reasoning and Inquiry Kuhn & Pearsall, Zimmerman, Dunbar, Anderson LBD, Thinkertools, KIE/WISE
Cognition in Action: Reading and Writing Bruer, Scardemalia & Bereiter, Palinscar & Brown CSILE, Reciprical Teaching



Partial Reading List
The Cognitive Revolution:
Gardner, H. (1985). The mind's new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 2, pp. 10 - 27 and Chap. 5, pp. 89 - 137.
Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and Reality: Principles and implications of cognitive psychology. New York: Freeman. Chapter 1, pp. 1 - 8.
Cognition and Instruction: An overview
Bruer, J. T. (1993). Schools for thought: A science of learning in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 1, pp.1 - 18; Chapter 3, pp. 51 - 80.

Cognitive development:
Flavell, J. H., Miller, P. H., & Miller, S.A. (1993). Cognitive development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Chapter 1, pp. 1 -21.
Methods for understanding cognition:
Need to find the other one?
Mekos, D. and Chubb, P. (1997). The value of comparisons in developmental psychology. In J. Tudge, M. Shanahan, and J. Valsiner (Eds.). Comparisons in Human Development: Understanding time and context. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Early Childhood:
Flavell, et al., Chapter 3, pp. 76 - 127.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Part II, Chapter 4, pp. 67 - 115.
Middle School and Adolescence:
Flavell, et al., Chapter 4, pp. 131 - 169.
Kuhn, D. (see Jen, she has my book). Piaget and Vygotsky…
Scientific Reasoning: An exemplar of cognition:
Dunbar paper
Anderson paper
Kuhn, D. and Pearsall, S. (2000). Developmental origins of scientific thinking. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1, 113- 127.
Zimmerman, C. (2000). The development of scientific reasoning skills. Developmental Review, 20. 99-149.

Transfer:
Bransford, et al., (1999), Part II, Chapter 3, pp. 39 -66
Kolodner, J. L., Gray, J. & Fasse, B. (in press, 2002). Promoting Transfer through Case-Based
Reasoning: Rituals and Practices in Learning by Design™ Classrooms. Cognitive Science Quarterly, 1.

The big questions: You need a theory to design instruction:
Kolodner, J.L. (1997). Educational Implications of Analogy: A View from Case-Based Reasoning. American Psychologist, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 57-66.
Tudge, J., Gray, J. T. & Hogan, D. (1997). Ecological perspectives in human development:
A comparison of Gibson and Bronfenbrenner. In J. Tudge, M. Shanahan, & J. Valsiner (Eds.) Comparative approaches in developmental science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Examples of cognition and instruction: Anchors, artifacts and cases
Reciprocal teaching
Jasper
Learning by Design




Assignments
1. Weekly readings will form the basis for class discussions, and students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions drawing from the readings. Some readings will be required, and others will be suggested for those interested in greater depth or detail.
2. A weekly writing assignment will be required at the end of each week that analyzes the readings and raises issues around the themes and applications addressed in class. This will be posted on the CoWeb. Students will also use SMILE (software to be described in class) to record design rules of thumb each week. Students will be expected to read each other’s submissions and respond to classmates’ writings and rules of thumb development.
3. The project for this class, due during finals week, will be described in greater detail in class. Basically, each student will select a theoretical perspective to guide the design of a learning environment for a targeted population (early childhood, middle school, high school, college, graduate school) and for a particular set of domains (scientific reasoning, reading, other subject matter). This project will include a review of relevant research on the topic area and a full description of the elements of the learning environment. Drawings and other support materials are encouraged to fully articulate your design.
Weekly assignments will be averaged for 40% of the grade; the project will count 30% and 20% will be calculated from class participation. The last 10% will be for extraordinary work in any of these.