Research

RESEARCH - In the Learning and Cognition Laboratory, we conduct research to bridge basic cognitive science research and complex classroom learning in the mathematics and science domains. Interfacing between these literatures enables empirical studies that both inform theories of classroom practice and build on and extend the existing science. We currently focus on analogical reasoning and strategies for promoting relational/ abstract thinking. We explore these cognitive practices through studies designed to facilitate learners’ conceptual understanding of specific math and science standards.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES - We are currently looking for research assistants in our lab! If you are interested, please contact Dr. Richland (lerich@uci.edu)

CURRENT PROJECTS - With support from the Office of Naval Research and the Institute of Education Sciences, current projects investigate (1) development of cognitive skills, or the factors underlying children’s development of inferential reasoning skills and long-term consequences for math achievement; (2) learning math by comparison, or teachers’ use of analogies and comparisons (potent reasoning opportunities) to promote students’ conceptual development in math; and (3) learning science by comparison, or the use of analogies and comparisons in design of science instructional environments.

Development of Cognitive Skills
Projects investigate factors underlying children’s development of inferential reasoning skills and long-term consequences for math achievement.

• Children’s development of basic analogical reasoning is examined from ages 3-14. Picture-based analogy tasks assess the contributory effects of knowledge acquisition, working memory development, and ability to control attention. The project seeks to develop a comprehensive theoretical model for explaining widely observed patterns in the development of children’s analogical reasoning.

• Parents and teachers contribute in different, important ways to children’s development of academically important thinking and learning skills. While much research has focused on identifying high quality classroom pedagogies, much less is known about the parental contribution. Little is known about how parents scaffold their children’s thinking, whether their practices are related to their child’s cognitive development, and whether their practices are related in specific ways to academic achievement. This project explores these questions using longitudinal, repeated-measures data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a prospective study of 1,364 children and families from birth through 15 years. The project assesses mothers’ and fathers’ home scaffolding practices while helping their child solve complex problems at five time periods from when the child was 36 months to fifth grade. Structural equation models (SEM) will test the longitudinal association between parental scaffolding and math skills (Muthén & Muthén, 2004) both directly and through the child’s cognitive skills. Ethnicity, income, and maternal education will be included in the model in order to determine whether the effects of parental scaffolding mediate known contributions of these variables to the math achievement gap. The project therefore has the potential to gain novel insights into the achievement gap, math learning, and the development of analytical skills and cognition more generally.

Learning Math by Comparison
Studies assess classroom teachers’ use of analogies and comparisons (potent reasoning opportunities) and explore novel ways to use these to promote students’ conceptual development in math.

• Cross-cultural differences in the everyday use of teaching comparisons were assessed in United States, Hong Kong, and Japanese mathematics classrooms using the TIMSS-R video dataset. Teachers in all three countries frequently used comparisons (about twenty per lesson). However, there were striking differences in how teachers actually produced them instructionally. U.S. teachers were least likely to use pedagogical techniques that are thought to reduce processing demands and increase the likelihood that novices notice and benefit from relational comparisons. Specifically, they were less likely to use all of six identified strategies: using familiar sources, imagery, comparative gestures, and several kinds of visual cues to show and elaborate the representation of the sources. Teachers in Hong Kong and Japan teachers were significantly more likely to use all of these strategies. U.S. students seriously underperform on international mathematics achievement tests compared with students from Hong Kong and Japan, and this may be related to U.S. teachers’ lower support for encouraging students to perform complex reasoning and problem solving (Gonzales et al, 2000).

New! Cross-cultural differences in teachers' use of analogies in classroom mathematics lessons may shed light on international achievement differences on TIMSS mathematics tests. Results published in Science.

• Experimental studies assess the math learning impact of cognitive support strategies identified in the cross-cultural video analysis and recommended by empirical research on analogy. Studies focus on teaching the mathematical concepts of permutation probabilities, operations with fractions, and eliminating misapplications of the linearity assumption. The studies use videotaped instruction to manipulate the nature of the teachers’ support for an instructional comparison, though the instructional content is always the same across conditions. Results to date suggest that systematically supporting learners’ comparative thinking leads to more robust, conceptual understanding. Conversely, less supported comparisons lead to adequate procedural knowledge but less robust understanding.

Learning Science by Comparison
A design framework is used to assess the role of comparative and analogical reasoning opportunities in an online environment for learning basic biological concepts. Specifically, this project investigates interactive prompts and visualizations that support learners in making comparisons. These are manipulated within online instruction of biological reproduction (mitosis and meiosis) in the context of evolution. The instructional materials are modified versions of modules developed in the Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (http://wise.berkeley.edu) as part of the Center for Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS).