By Provost Mark Kamlet

Success stories about U.S. schools are rare. In this issue, you can read one.

Americans are rightly alarmed that our students are falling behind the rest of the world in learning, especially in math and science. We read dismal predictions that our children are unprepared to compete in a global economy. “Unless this country acts [to improve schools],” warned a September 6, 2005, New York Times editorial, “our economy will wind up occupying the same low-performing spot on the global charts that our schools occupy now.”

Carnegie Mellon has no college of education, but few universities are having more impact on improving schooling than we are.

This is not new: for decades we have been studying just how learning happens. Led by professors John Anderson, Ken Koedinger and David Klahr, cognitive scientists are making important progress on big questions. What is really going on when a student grasps concepts in algebra or geometry or genetics? What can we do to help learning happen?

The result is “cognitive tutor” software that teaches by following student thinking patterns and providing problem-solving help at just the right moment. Cognitive tutors are already helping tens of thousands of kids to master algebra and geometry. This works.

It was the success of the cognitive tutor that helped the National Science Foundation in 2004 to select Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh to run a new national Science of Learning research center. We are incorporating the cognitive tutor models into our own online learning courses as well.

This research has the potential to transform American schools. Read about it here, and share our optimism about the future of learning.


Related Links:
Carnegie Learning Inc.
John R. Anderson
Kenneth Koedinger
David Klahr
Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center