Applied Cognitive Science

Crawford & Crawford

Consider these two questions:

1. Have you ever wondered what makes people so competent in their jobs or hobbies?

2. How do people learn and become competent?

Let's take a look at how people know and learn in a variety of situations and form a variety of perspectives. These perspectives include traditional information processing cognitive science and artificial intelligence, sociology of scientific knowledge, historical and philosophical approaches to the study of human knowing and learning. The research literature on cognition in everyday contexts includes:

1. doing mathematics in different jobs in dairy factories

2. doing math in supermarket and in schools

3. playing Tetris, bagging groceries in supermarkets, cooking in commercial kitchens

What is Cognitive Science?
- Cognitive scientists study natural and artificial cognitive processes that handle information and knowledge..
  - Cognitive science is one of those disciplines which study human mind or brain.
  - Neural science studies the human neural apparatus, that is the human brain.
  - Cognitive psychology studies human cognitive processes.
  - In artificial intelligence (AI) one studies artificial cognitive processes.
  - Linguistic studies human language.
  - Philosophy gives a huge conceptual framework for talking about the mind in related sciences.
  - Cognitive scientiists view the human mind as a system that receives, stores, retrieves, transforms, and transmits information.
  - Representation is one of the key concepts in cognitive science.
The WWW as a Teaching Tool
- Advantages
  - It's easy.
  - Materials can be updated immediately
  - 24-hour availability
  - Accessible from anywhere
  - No printing necessary
  - Can be linked to directly to remote sources of information
  - Can be used as a lecture aid with a projection device.
  - Can be used by an entire class simultaneously in a lab setting
  - Can use graphics (monochrome or color)
  - Some tpes of Web pages be used interactively
  - Can be used by prospective students to assess your courses or to prepare for them
- Disavdantages
  - Any can copy your work
  - Anyone can inspect, compare, assess, and criticize your work.
  - Instructor must have access to a computer
  - Preparation can be time-consuming
  - Presumes Student Computer Literacy
  - Server Access Require
Student Publishing
- Examples of how the Web can influence schools and vice versa
  - Arbor Heights Elementary
  - The Book Nook
  - The Children's Voice a list on Canada's School Net
  - Edison High School/Fareira Skills Center
  - Fort Rouge School
  - Hillside Elementary School
  - Houghton Mifflin Company
  - Kids Pub
  - LEAP Computer Learning Center
  - Scholastic Network Language Arts
Center for Teaching Materials in the Internet
- Learning and teaching aid (German page)
  - The idea
  - Sorted lists of teaching materials
  - Listes of interest
  - Posibilities for cooperation and the use of the web in schools
    - Discussions
    - Our online authoring program:
    - Software
    - How to prepare transparencies from web pages
    - How to make your material available in the web
    - How to connect yourself and your school to the internet
    - Internet Dictionary
  - World wide serchroutines
History
- People
  - Plato and Aristotle
  - Wilhelm Wundt
  - J. B. Watson
  - George Miller

URLs

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