How People Learn: Introduction to Cognition and Instruction

How People Learn: Introduction to Cognition and Instruction is a Cognitive Science class taught by Laura Wenk.

Course Description
In recent years, as a result of interactions between cognitive psychology and education, we now have many ideas about classroom learning, and approaches to teaching, testing and assessment. We also have strong evidence that implementing these ideas could really improve learning for all children and youth, including those who are under- resourced. In this seminar we will work to understand the findings by reading and discussing a selection of theoretical works from cognitive psychology and examine their practical applications to education through discussion and time observing classrooms and/or working with teachers. We will also learn how to evaluate educational claims. Students will be evaluated on 2-3 shorter papers and a longer final paper. The final paper will be on a topic related to the course that leads to recommendations for a school?s instructional practice. This course can be used to satisfy the Educational Psychology requirement for licensure students. This course satisfies Division I distribution requirements.

Learning Goals

 * Reading
 * Project-based