Cognitive science in education

Course objectives

The aim of the course is to present findings in cognitive science and their appliacation to education.

The content includes teaching principles based on the nature of learning accompanied with research results and new approaches to instruction (proble and project based learning, knowledge and knowledge transfer, metacognition etc.).

Finally, the course includes cognitive aspects of teaching special needs.

Enrolment requirements and/or entry competences required for the course

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Learning outcomes at the level of the programme to which the course contributes

  • Apply specific knowledge and skills from selected disciplines constituting cognitive science.
  • Integrate insights, methods, and levels of analysis across different disciplines into a unified framework for understanding the human mind and cognition in general.
  • Employ cognitive science insights in developing innovative, human-friendly and sustainable technological solutions.
  • Design and conduct an interdisciplinary research project in cognitive science.
  • Employ diverse disciplinary tools in exploring and describing the nature of cognitive processes.
  • Plan and track personal professional growth.

Course content (syllabus)

  1. L: Cognitive science and education - a two-way impact.
    S: Raising awareness of implicit terms about knowledge, understanding, teaching and learning.
  2. L: Understanding of understanding. Understanding knowledge. Types of knowledge. Concepts – specifying and explanation.
    S: Selection of seminar topics and instructions for working on seminar projects.
  3. L: Describing and structuring knowledge. Differences in structuring knowledge depending on the recipient profile. Knowledge transfer.
    S: Gathering literature and narrowing the seminar topic.
  4. L: Metacognition. Linguistic metacognition.
    S: Presenting the aim of the seminar paper.
  5. L: Decision making. Decision-making strategies. Problem solving strategies.
    S: Preparing the seminar paper, consulting, completing and turning in assignments through the e-learning system.
  6. L: Types of reasoning-logical reasoning. Learning by analogy.
    S: Preparing the seminar paper, consulting, completing and turning in assignments through the e-learning system.
  7. L: Critical thinking, listening and speaking.
    S: Preparing the seminar paper, consulting, completing and turning in assignments through the e-learning system.
  8. L: Learning process: goals, process analysis, incorporating new knowledge, cognitive load.
    S: Preparing the seminar paper, consulting, completing and turning in assignments through the e-learning system.
  9. L: Teaching within cognitive science. Interdisciplinarity, problem and project based learning.
    S: Seminar presentations and discussion.
  10. L: Assessment that fosters understanding and growth in knowledge.
    S: Seminar presentations and discussion.
  11. L: Teaching learners with different cognitive organization (1) - people with visual, hearing impairments, etc.
    S: Seminar presentations and discussion.
  12. L: Teaching learners with different cognitive organization (2) - individuals with visual, hearing impairments, etc.
    S: Seminar presentations and discussion.
  13. L:Cognitive science as a scientific framework of modern education - new insights and research questions.
    S: Seminar presentations and discussion.
  14. L: Cognitive science as a scientific framework of contemporary education - new insights and research issues (2).
    S: Evaluation of seminar presentations.
  15. L: Evaluation of course and its requirements.
    S: Evaluation of seminar presentations.

Student responsibilities

Class attendance. Project assignment (topic selection and conceptualization, presentation and seminar paper).

Required literature

  • Lovett, M., & Shah, P. (Eds.). (2007). Thinking with data. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Reif, F. (2008). Applying cognitive science to education: Thinking and learning in scientific and other complex domains. MIT Press.
  • Sawyer, R. K. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (Second edition). Cambridge University Press.

Optional literature

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