Lecture Notes: Richard Mayer | Psychological & Brain Sciences

Overview

• Position: Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCSB
• Research Area: Cognition, Perception, and Cognitive Neuroscience

Biography

• Focuses on applying the science of learning to education.
• Prior roles:
  • President of Division 15, APA
  • Vice President of AERA for Division C
• Awards:
  • Thorndike Award
  • Scribner Award
  • APA's Distinguished Contribution Award
• Recognized as the most productive educational psychologist in the world.
• Principal Investigator on over 30 grants.
• Editorial roles in several journals.
• Authored over 500 publications including 30 books.

Research Interests

• The intersection of cognition, instruction, and technology.
• Key Topics:
  1. Multimedia Learning: Learning scientific explanations using animations, videos, and simulations.
  2. Computer-Supported Environments: Online pedagogical agents, intelligent tutoring, and virtual reality.
  3. Computer Games for Learning: Enhancing effectiveness and improving cognitive and perceptual skills.
• Motivated by the question: "How can we help people learn to solve new problems?"
• Developed 12 principles for designing online learning environments.

Current Research and Grants

• Studies on:
  • Online tutors in mathematics and science.
  • Educational game features for deep learning.
  • Cognitive impacts of playing computer games.
  • Learning from multimedia using eye-tracking and cognitive neuroscience.
  • Impact of pedagogical agent gestures and voice.

Selected Publications

Books

• Multimedia Learning (3rd ed.)
• Handbook of Game-Based Learning
• How to be a Successful Student
• E-learning and the Science of Instruction (4th ed.)
• Computer Games for Learning

Journal Articles

• Explores game-based training, pedagogical agent gestures, generative learning, and learning from video in second languages.
• Studies the effects of playing educational games on cognitive skills.
• Research on learning in virtual reality and multimedia environments.

Contributions and Impact

• Developed a cognitive theory of multimedia learning.
• Extending work to design educational computer games using social cues.
• Committed to methodologically rigorous studies to improve instructional design principles.
• Ongoing contributions to cognitive science theories of learning.

Note: These notes cover Richard Mayer's contributions and research focus areas, providing a high-level overview useful for understanding his impact in the field of educational psychology.