Cognitive Design
What is cognitive contextual software design and how does it apply to making EdTech applications better?
Cognitive contextual software design can be applied to designing software for learning for elementary school children by considering the student’s cognitive development stage, their learning goals, their interests and motivations, their prior knowledge and experiences, and their social and cultural environment.
Cognitive contextual software design is a strategy that aims to improve the user’s perception of elements of the design. This is done by creating a context with selected conditions, and enhancing cognitive coherence¹.
Cognitive contextual software design can be applied to designing software for learning for elementary school children by considering the student’s cognitive development stage, their learning goals, their interests and motivations, their prior knowledge and experiences, and their social and cultural environment.²³⁴⁵
As creators jump into ideations and design it is imperative that some thought is given to some of topics.
What cognitive developmental stage are you targeting your solution(s) for? How might that impact your design tools, your UI, and your overall purpose? What learning goals are you interested in implementing and why? How can you tap into the diverse interests and motivations of students and educators? What prior experiences and knowledge are you building on? What about the students or educators that don’t have those experiences. How do you help educators nurture the social and cultural environment of their classrooms?
So what can you do as a designer or software developer in EdTech to help? Here are the top 5 tips:
Give clear and specific instructions by stating the goal of a game or task and how to achieve it³. Clear instructions make the learning obvious for the student, and the teacher who is looking for specific learning criteria to engage with their students. Where is the thinking going to happen? How does your design engage the learner to think and not just be entertained. As Peter Liljedahl says, “Engagement without thinking is just entertainment.”
Provide feedback and scaffolding by giving timely responses to children's actions, offering hints or clues when they are stuck, and gradually reducing support as they master a skill³. Your design should encourage an assessment and feedback model that places the educator as a coach; guiding and walking alongside the experiences and learning of the student. True learning and understanding cannot happen with this dynamic.
Use multimodal representations by incorporating different types of media such as text, images, sounds, animations etc. that can appeal to different learning styles and enhance comprehension²⁵. You can even go further and think outside the box of how your solution may encourage and engage students in using their bodies and the outdoors (nature) to engage.
Adapt to children's individual differences by allowing them to choose their own level of difficulty, pace, theme etc. that suit their needs, preferences and abilities²⁴. Differentiation is the key to reaching ALL students. Educators are constantly identifying UDL strategies to help them differentiate to the needs and thematic bents of their students. Likewise, EdTech solutions should support this rather than inhibit it.
Foster social interaction by enabling children to collaborate with peers or adults online or offline who can provide guidance or feedback²⁵. Furthermore build in explicit and implicit avenues of social interaction amongst students and educators in real life. True social interaction has to be nurtured in the classroom through all tools and solutions, and EdTech is no exception.
(1) (PDF) The environment of cognitive-contextual software design: from .... https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338899768_The_environment_of_cognitive-contextual_software_design_from_concept_to_implementation Accessed 2023-03-05.
(2) Researching cognitive development in primary schools: methods and .... https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/researching-cognitive-development-in-primary-schools-methods-and-practical-considerations/ Accessed 2023-03-05.
(3) Designing for Kids: Cognitive Considerations - Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/kids-cognition/ Accessed 2023-03-05.
(4) Cognitive processing features of elementary school children with .... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096522001424 Accessed 2023-03-05.
(5) Digital Screen Media and Cognitive Development - Pediatrics. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/140/Supplement_2/S57/34173/Digital-Screen-Media-and-Cognitive-Development Accessed 2023-03-05.
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