DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Applying Cognitive Science to the Teaching of Science

The Role of Communication in Learning to Model
Edited by Paul Brna, Michael Baker, Keith Stenning, and Andrée Tiberghien. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. 337 pp. Cloth, $69.95.

Cognitive science should have much to offer education. If cognitive science has truly enhanced our understanding of mental representation and cognitive processes, then that enhanced understanding should surely support numerous teaching applications. In truth, however, applications of the results, and even the methods, of cognitive science to education are few and far between. It is thus refreshing to see an edited collection that deals explicitly with cognitive science and education. This collection, which stems from a conference held in Corsica in 1999, consists of a mix of chapters that apply cognitive science approaches to the understanding of learning in a variety of scientific domains and chapters that present and assess different computer-assisted learning environments.