Mark Cracolice

Chemical Education, Cognitive Science

The overarching goal of our research program is to permanently improve our students’ intelligence. We hold the philosophy that the central purpose of American education is the development of the ability to think.

The specific focus of our research group is on thinking skills. Examples include proportional reasoning, i.e., recognizing and applying relationships of the type y µ x, y µ 1/x, y = mx, and y = m ´ 1/x, and comparing proportions; identification and control of variables, i.e., demonstrating the ability to hold n independent variables and one dependent variable in mind while considering the possible effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable; and formation of mental models, i.e., formulating mental representations of natural systems with parts that hold the same relationship to one another as the real thing, including abstract entities that have to be imagined.