Dr. Erin Higgins
(202) 245-6541
Erin.Higgins@ed.gov

The Cognition and Student Learning (CASL) topic supports research that capitalizes on our understanding of how the mind works to inform and improve education practice in reading, writing, mathematics, and science, and study skills.

Through this topic, the Institute is interested in applying theories of how the mind acquires, processes, and uses information to the improvement of education practice, including study strategies (e.g., the timing and ordering of studying, the type of practice), instructional tools (e.g., optimal ways to present information, the role of feedback and error correction), curricula (e.g., the type and order of content presented, optimal activities and assignments), and assessment (e.g., the optimal format for questions). Under the CASL topic, the Institute also supports exploring the cognitive processes underlying the acquisition of one or multiple content areas, such as reading, writing, mathematics knowledge and skills, and science knowledge and skills.

The long-term outcome of this research will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., instructional approaches, curricula, assessments) based on principles of learning and information processing gained from cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience and documented to be efficacious for improving learning in authentic education settings.