Implications of the ACT-strongRstrong Learning Theory No Magic Bullets.pdf

Implications of the ACT-R Learning Theory: 1 No Magic Bullets John R. Anderson Christian D. Schunn Department of Psychology Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 ja@cmu.edu schunn@gmu.edu Anderson, J. R., Schunn, C.D. (2000). In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in instructional psychology (Vol. 5). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 1 Preparation of this paper was supported by grant N00014-96-1-0135 from the Office of Naval Research. 1 From Ebbinghaus onward psychology has seen an enormous amount of research invested in the study of learning and memory. This research has produced a steady stream of results and, with a few mini-revolutions along the way, a steady increase in our understanding of how knowledge is acquired, retained, retrieved, and utilized. Throughout this history there has been a concern with the relationship of this research to its obvious application to education. The first author has written two textbooks (Anderson, 1995a, 1995b) summarizing some of this research. In both textbooks he has made efforts to identify the implications of this research for education. However, he left both textbooks feeling very dissatisfied -- that the intricacy of research and theory on the psychological side was not showing through in the intricacy of educational application. One finds in psychology many claims of relevance of cognitive psychology research for education. However, these claims are loose and vague and contrast sharply with