Using Technology to Promote Experiential and Reflective Cognition

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

How we can use the power of technology to promote meaningful learning in math and science? PFSMETE research project consists of testing the hypothesis that rich experiential environments and reflective interactions are both necessary conditions for effective educational technology. To promote experiential cognition, students should be exposed to realistic and varied experiences in order to ensure the ability to use what they have learned to understand new and ecologically valid situations. To promote active learning through reflection, students should be asked to reflect as new concepts are being introduced in the lesson with the help, for example, of a pedagogical agent or by self-evaluation. The proposed studies set out to test the main hypothesis in two different domains (science and math), for two different student populations (elementary and college students), and with the primary dependent measure being the number of acceptable solutions that students generate for divergent problem-solving questions.