A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Toward a New Science of Instruction: Programmatic Investigations in Cognitive Science and Education--August 1993

Continuing Investigations

Current Research Projects

Each line of NRCSL research described in this report has posited or helped to confirm and refine some ways in which classroom instruction can help students learn to think and think to learn. Each project has both illuminated the nature of reasoning and learning and raised questions for further investigations that are now under way.

For example, the St. Agnes School project, which developed and implemented discovery-based instruction techniques for the primary grades, is now developing related new teaching methods for the middle called Math3 (Making Mathematical Meaning), has also generated a new line of theoretical research, a qualitative study of Math3 classrooms that attempts to distinguish the features that actually account for the program's positive impact.

Similarly, projects on text comprehension have taken the findings discussed in this report and have begun to apply them to the enrichment of textual resources in the classroom. Researchers who have investigated basic reading skill as a general learning ability now explore the kinds of reasoning that can be fostered through the use of differing or contradictory texts on the same topics. Such reasoning, now being studied in the context of history learning, may also promote learning in other, similarly structured subjects.

In a related vein, the projects on argumentation and on cognitive conflict within small groups have now converged to study the motivational effects of social, as opposed to textual, controversy. Researchers are examining the classroom use of dialectical interaction as a means of both motivating and sharpening students reasoning skills.

The text-revision line of work, meanwhile, is engaging both teachers and students in analyzing and revising texts. Researchers feel that this activity may focus readers inferential processes and nurture the skills that probing and thoughtful readers need in order to get the most out of written material. This project, using a process called "Questioning the Author," suggests that students who learn to identify and correct for textual problems and inadequacies not only gain a deeper understanding of textual content but also refrain from blaming themselves for failed comprehension.

Current NRCSL projects in science learning are likewise broadening earlier work into new research and the development of classroom interventions. One project, which studies the role of explanations in biology learning, is based on findings that when students construct explanations for scientific phenomena they can sometimes overcome difficulty in understanding theoretical concepts. The project will design prototype instructional materials and procedures for assessing students' explanations.

Another science research project expands on the studies of learning in computer laboratories by analyzing and promoting opportunities for reasoning in the science classroom. The researchers focus on how specific classroom activities foster or impede scientific thinking and problem solving. They too are developing instructional interventions that can test emerging theories about science learning under various conditions. These interventions are being developed, piloted, and refined in Pittsburgh public school classrooms.

Finally, classroom-based studies of expert instruction continue to investigate the complex nature of effective teaching. The current work has undertaken a deep analysis of the critical features of teacher explanations that were identified in earlier studies. Researchers are focusing on explanations in geography and their role in student understanding. The project will also work with teachers on the design of effective explanations that take account of subject-matter content and structure.
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