PITTSBURGH, April 2, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor John R. Anderson, whose human thought and cognition research has revolutionized how we learn, is receiving the Association for Psychological Science's (APS) William James Lifetime Achievement Award for Basic Research. The award, APS's highest honor, recognizes Anderson's profound impact on the field of psychological science and his significant intellectual contributions to the basic science of psychology.
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In the 1990s, Anderson led the team that created the first version of Cognitive Tutor® software to teach algebra to high school students. The program was so successful that Carnegie Learning, Inc. developed K-12 and post-secondary mathematics software curricula as a commercial product. To date, more than half a million students in 2,600 schools in the U.S. have used the Cognitive Tutor and the derivative grade 6-8 MATHia® software.
"One of John's many contributions was his recognition that learning theory needed to move beyond the laboratory and into the classroom in order to have an impact on real schools," said Dr. Steve Ritter, chief scientist and co-founder of Carnegie Learning. "From the beginning, Cognitive Tutor technology was well-ahead of its time and was validated in practical application in public schools."
"John Anderson is being recognized both for the importance of his theoretical contributions and for his success in transitioning his theories into widely used applications having great societal impact," said John Lehoczky, dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. "It is entirely fitting that John would be selected for the William James Lifetime Achievement Award, as he is among the very best scholars of psychological science."
Anderson, the R.K. Mellon University Professor of Psychology and Computer Science, has been on the Carnegie Mellon faculty since 1978. His work combines cognitive psychology and computer science to understand how the brain works, how people learn and how computer-based instructional systems can be used as educational aids.
"There have been a lot of well-intentioned, but unsuccessful efforts at applying computer technology to education," said Randal E. Bryant, dean of the School of Computer Science. "John Anderson, on the other hand, is the real deal. By developing models of how students learn, his cognitive tutoring technology has been remarkably successful. It points the way to how we can make high quality education available to all students."
A notable example of Anderson's impact is the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC), a partnership among Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Learning. The center, which will receive almost $50 million in grant support from the National Science Foundation, uses tutoring software to develop effective new means of teaching and to gather valuable information about the learning process from students in actual classrooms, not laboratory environments.
In 2011, Anderson was named a Franklin Institute Laureate and was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. According to the Franklin Institute website the award was given for development of the first large-scale computational theory of the process by which humans perceive, learn and reason, and its application to computer tutoring systems. Previous honorees of the Franklin Institute's prestigious awards include Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright and Allen Newell, the late CMU professor and one of Anderson's mentors.
Carnegie Learning is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL).
About Carnegie Learning, Inc. (www.carnegielearning.com) Carnegie Learning is a publisher of innovative, research-based mathematics software and textbooks for middle school and high school students aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Providing differentiated instruction in schools across the United States, Carnegie Learning is helping students to succeed in math as a gateway to graduation, college, and the 21st century workforce. Carnegie Learning, located in Pittsburgh, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) and is the sole source provider of Cognitive Tutor® and MATHia® software for students in grades 6-12.
About Apollo Group, Inc. (www.apollo.edu) Apollo Group is one of the world's largest private education providers and has been in the education business for approximately 40 years. The Company offers innovative and distinctive educational programs and services both online and on-campus at the undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels through its subsidiaries: University of Phoenix, Apollo Global, Institute for Professional Development and College for Financial Planning. The Company offers programs and services throughout the United States and in Latin America and Europe, as well as online throughout the world. For more information about Apollo Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, call (800) 990-APOL or visit the Company's website.
Carnegie Learning®, Cognitive Tutor® and MATHia® are registered trademarks of Carnegie Learning, Inc.
SOURCE Carnegie Learning