Inquiry-Based Learning: Cognitive Measures & Systems Support (Home)

Meshing Educational Research, Software Development, & Teaching

Although our educational research and software projects could be viewed as freestanding efforts, one goal of our grant is to bring software development and research in education and cognition together within a feasible context of teaching and learning. We are doing this in several ways:

• We have assembled a research team that includes:
  • veteran working faculty members
  • researchers in education and cognition
  • experienced software developers
  By holding frequent meetings of the entire team, we have achieved a constant cross-fertilization of disciplines and ideas.
• Our research on faculty goals, classroom practices, and student outcomes has established a framework for software development and evaluation. The data from classroom observations and the student assessment research also provide benchmarks for software evaluation.
  
  
• Our development projects are generating new challenges for educational and cognitive research as we attempt to use research on software prototypes to guide their further development. The current attempt to assess the CHAT and FOREST prototypes in the classroom in mid-development is one of the most exciting aspects of our project