Cognitive science and military training.

Abstract

The massive scale and diversity of training needs in the military render it an enterprise that offers extensive opportunity for the application of cognitive science. Training in maintenance, in tactics, and in piloting or control of aircraft present several issues of interest to cognitive scientists. Halff and his colleagues use four recently developed military training systems to illustrate the potential for cognitive science to improve military training. These systems include a family of memorization games based on semantic networks; a simulator for steam propulsion plants with a graphic, schematic student interface; a system for training in problems of relative motion that provides explicit representations of spatial concepts and problem-solving procedures; and a method for building a new cognitive skill for air-intercept control based on principles for the development of automaticity. These systems illustrate the importance of making relevant knowledge concrete and explicit, of using problem-solving contexts for instruction in basic principles, and of careful management of information processing during learning.—The Editors

Process analytic models of creative capacities

“…Thus, educational interventions intended to provide individuals with welldeveloped procedural and declarative knowledge structures might also act to enhance creative potential. The development of these knowledge structures appears to be facilitated by providing and illustrating key diagnostic facts and principles (Bromage & Mayer, 1986), along with expert principles for organizing these discrete elements (Halff, Hollan, & Hutchins, 1986). Subsequently, training material might be formulated calling for the active application and elaboration of these knowledge structures (Dinnel & Glover, 1985;Snow & Lohman, 1984).…”

Analysis of Navy Technical School Training Objectives for Microcomputer Based Training Systems

“…Complex systems represented in graphic manipulative models exemplify this potential, although it is also achieved by simply being able to access large amounts of information quickly. Computerized practice environments can be designed to free mental resources and direct attention to the crucial aspects of the tasks to be learned, with knowledge presented in concrete visual form (Halff, Hollan, & Hutchins, 1986). Conceptual difficulty in the to-be-learned material is a particularly good situation to identify for the application of interactive and/or graphic CAI presentations.…”

Metacognitive Instruction in Map Reading

“…Current methods for teaching map reading, at least for the population under investigation in this study, are essentially classroom-based (Halff, Hollan & Hutchins, 1986) and focus upon aspects such as bearings, grid referencing, use of map symbols and magnetic variation. While each of these is obviously important in map reading, such a focus tends to ignore understanding of the relationships between two-and three-dimensionality, a factor which clearly relates to accurate location of positions on the ground.…”