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Cognition and Student Learning

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Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science

Year: 2002
Name of Institution:
University of California, Los Angeles
Goal: Development and Innovation
Principal Investigator:
Bjork, Robert
Award Amount: $496,884
Award Period: 3 years
Award Number: R305H020113

Description:

Co-Principal Investigator(s): Linn, Marcia

Purpose: At the time of this study, laboratory research indicated that interventions that appeared to make learning more difficult and slowed the rate of learning were often effective in enhancing long-term retention of information. This research team planned to determine whether the benefits of these "desirable difficulties" demonstrated in laboratory tasks could be generalized to realistic educational materials and contexts. The subjects of this study were middle school and college students using the Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment program.

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

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Book chapters

Bjork, R.A., and Bjork, E.L. (2006). Optimizing Treatment and Instruction: Implications of a New Theory of Disuse. In L.G. Nilsson and N. Ohta (Eds.), Memory and Society: Psychological Perspectives (pp. 109–133). Hove and New York: Psychology Press.

Linn, M.C. (2003). WISE Research: Promoting International Collaboration. In D. Psillos, P. Kariotoglou, V. Tselfes, E. Hatzikraniotis, G. Fassoulopoulos, and M. Kallery (Eds.), Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society (pp. 297–308). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Linn, M.C. (2005). WISE Design for Lifelong Learning: Pivotal Cases. In P. Gardenfors, and P. Johansson (Eds.), Cognition, Education, and Communication Technology (pp. 223–256). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Linn, M.C. (2006). The Knowledge Integration Perspective on Learning and Instruction. In R.K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 243–264). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Linn, M.C. (2006). WISE Teachers: Using Technology and Inquiry for Science Instruction. In E.A. Ashburn and R.E. Floden (Eds.), Meaningful Learning Using Technology: What Educators Need to Know (pp. 45–69). New York: Teachers College Press.

Linn, M.C. (2007). Knowing When, Where, and How to Study Student Learning. In J.C. Campione, K.E. Metz, and A.S. Palincsar (Eds.), Children's Learning in the Laboratory and in the Classroom: Essays in Honor of Ann Brown (pp. 137–162). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Linn, M.C. (2008). Teaching for Conceptual Change: Distinguish or Extinguish Ideas. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change (pp. 694–718). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Linn, M.C., and Eylon, B.S. (2006). Science Education: Integrating Views of Learning and Instruction. In P.A. Alexander and P.H. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of Educational Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 511–544). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Richland, L.E., Linn, M.C., and Bjork, R.A. (2007). Chapter 21: Instruction. In F. Durso, R. Nickerson, S. Dumais, S. Lewandowsky, and T. Perfect (Eds.), Handbook of Applied Cognition (2nd ed., pp. 555–583). West Sussex, England: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

Journal articles

Bjork, R.A., and Linn, M.C. (2006). The Science of Learning and the Learning of Science: Introducing Desirable Difficulties. The APS Observer, 19(3): 29–39.

Casperson, J.M., and Linn, M.C. (2006). Using Visualizations to Teach Electrostatics. American Journal of Physics, 74(4): 316–323.

Kornell, N., and Bjork, R.A. (2007). The Promise and Perils of Self-Regulated Study. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 6: 219–224.

Linn, M.C., Husic, F., Slotta, J., and Tinker, R. (2006). Technology Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS): Research Programs. Educational Technology, 46(3): 54–68.

Linn, M.C., Lee, H.S., Tinker, R., Husic, F., and Chiu, J.L. (2006). Teaching and Assessing Knowledge Integration in Science. Science, 313: 1049–1050.

Proceedings

Richland, L.E., Bjork, R.A., Finley, J.R., and Linn, M.C. (2005). Linking Cognitive Science to Education: Generation and Interleaving Effects. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1624). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Richland, L.E., Finley, J.R., and Bjork, R.A. (2004). Differentiating the Contextual Interference Effect From the Spacing Effect. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1624). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.