Introduction to the Cognitive Psychology in Education Division

DIVISION OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Our division was founded in 1949 as Divisions of Educational Psychology and Audio-visual Instruction in the Faculty of Education. In 1998, the division was reformed into Division of Cognitive Psychology in Education, the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University. Currently in our division, there are four faculty members, about 30 graduate students and four postdoctoral researchers with research agenda concerned with basic research in cognitive development, human learning and memory, thinking and problem solving, language, and emotion, as well as with applications of this basic research to everyday settings. The research activities of the division cover a wide range of cognitive psychology which focuses on educational phenomena using observational, experimental and questionnaire methods.

The division, which is organized into four different laboratories, meets together as a whole every Friday for presentations of members’ research plans and reports of research results. In addition, the different laboratories meet regularly on a weekly basis for intellectual discussions and internal exchange of ideas about the development of their researches as well as for discussion of the latest scientific journal articles. The division has excellent facilities with several experimental rooms and testing facilities, and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology providing students with the most suitable environment for learning and research development. Students are encouraged to study and do research with a broad multidisciplinary perspective, and to develop their own program of research in an area of their choosing. The Cognitive Psychology in Education division is highly interactive and encourages research and discussion representing diverse viewpoints within the field.

RESEARCH PROJECT

In FY2007, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) established the "Global COE (Center of Excellence) Program" providing funding support for establishing education and research centers that perform at the apex of global excellence to elevate the international competitiveness of the Japanese universities. Adoption of the Global COE program was quite limited and the Graduate School of Education of Kyoto University was one of the twelve Centers in the country to be awarded the Global COE Program in the humanities area. The project entitled “Revitalizing Education for Dynamic Hearts and Minds”, started in the FY2007 and will continue for five years. The Cognitive Psychology in Education division is actively engaged in the Global COE Program, regularly organizing international symposia, lectures by renowned Japanese and foreign researches, research meetings, as well as carrying out several research projects toward the objectives of the Global COE Program.

PERIODICAL

The commitment of the Cognitive Psychology in Education division with research and international exchange is also expressed in its international journal of psychology entitled “Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychological Sciences”, which is published in English. The first volume of Psychologia was issued in 1957 by Professor Koji Sato. Since then, the chair of the Cognitive Psychology in Education division edits and publishes quarterly the journal that became a channel of communication and feedback from the East to the West and as a forum for international discussions.