Educational App-Development Needs to Be Informed by the Cognitive Neurosciences of Learning & Memory

Abstract

Be it intentionally or not: computers, tablets, and smartphones have become ubiquitous in schools and have been transforming educational practices at all ages and levels and almost all over the world. Whether this transformation is for the better or the worse, identifying the factors that distinguish between these two trajectories has been elucidated to a great extent already by many educational studies. By contrast, this topic is only beginning to attract attention from the neurocognitive research of learning and memory. In this piece, we argue that research into the effectiveness and side-effects of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education could profit greatly from established and highly relevant knowledge from the cognitive neurosciences of learning & memory. Solid, large-scale and especially long-term and experimental research into the application of this knowledge using ICT for education and ultimately an adoption of the resulting knowledge in ICT development and educational practice is urgently needed.

Publication
Science of Learning