ABSTRACT
Experimental methods in cognitive psychology allow us to draw causal conclusions about learning. These conclusions need to be communicated carefully to educational stakeholders, so that the findings are not distorted. What does it mean to be "evidence based" in one's approach to education? After all, there are many different types of evidence that one can use to make decisions, or support the decisions one has already made. The chapter focuses specifically on cognitive psychology, which is an experimental discipline and thus provides the strongest evidence for causal conclusions. It starts by running experiments in a lab and then increases the relevance of the materials and settings involved in the study, eventually taking our research to the classroom. A very simple explanation of the differences between cognitive psychology and neuroscience is that cognitive psychology focuses on explanations related to the mind, whereas neuroscience is concerned with figuring out what happens in the brain.
