Cognitive Lab by Educator Today

Choose your focus

What would you like to improve in your classroom?

Tell us a little about your class. We will suggest where to start, and every module stays open to you.

Suggested route

Choose a classroom challenge to see which modules address it most directly. You can also open any module from the route below without choosing anything.

How these suggestions are made

Each challenge maps to the module that addresses it directly.
Each challenge also maps to one adjacent module, with the reason shown.
Your subject can add one related module, if it is not already listed.
Your goal decides which tab each link opens on.
If your goal is to understand the research, Orientation comes first.
School level adds a note about age bands. It never changes the modules.

These are fixed rules, written by the Cognitive Lab team. There is no AI and no scoring. They are a starting point, not a diagnosis of your classroom.

The route

Orientation, five modules, application

Follow the route in order, or go straight to the stage you need. Select a stage to see what it covers and to record the steps you have done.

Suggested from your choices
Step you recorded
Stage in progress

Orientation · Scientific evidence and neuromyths

Reading the evidence

How do you tell a well-supported claim from an appealing one?

Types of evidence, how Cognitive Lab labels its claims, and the popular brain-based ideas that research does not support.

Open Foundations

Your steps

Not started

Content explored
You have read the explanation and looked at the diagrams. Read Foundations of the science
Knowledge check attempted
You have answered the questions and read the feedback. Try the Academy warm-up questions
Reflection recorded
You have written down what happened and what you would change. Answer the Foundations reflection prompts

Tick a step only when you have done it. Opening a page does not count. Already studied this elsewhere? Tick the steps you have covered and move on.

Warm-up · retrieve what you know

Supported by research, or not?

Commit to an answer before you read the feedback. Your answers are not saved or scored.

1Rereading notes several times is usually a better way to study than testing yourself.
2Students learn best when lessons match their preferred learning style, for example visual or auditory.
3Adding more information to a slide generally helps students understand a topic.
4For novices, studying worked examples can be more effective than solving the same problems unaided.
5If students are busy and active, they are thinking deeply.
6Students are usually accurate judges of how well they have learned something.

How each module works

From research to classroom, in seven stages

Every module follows the same cycle across its seven tabs, so once you know one module you can find your way around the others.

1DiagnoseSurface what you already believe and where your class struggles. Tab: understand
2ExplainLearn the idea, the evidence behind it and its limits. Tab: understand
3VisualizeSee the structure of the idea in a diagram. Tab: visualize
4RehearsePractise the move on realistic scenarios, with feedback. Tab: experience
5ImplementPlan it for a real lesson, class and age group. Tab: teach
6EvaluateCheck understanding, then look for evidence in student work. Tab: measure
7RefineDecide what to keep, adjust or stop. Tab: reflect

This cycle is Cognitive Lab's instructional design framework. It organises the learning in each module. It is not a validated neurological model of how the brain learns.

Worked exampleOne teacher, one cycle (illustrative)

Diagnose
Ms Rivera notices her Grade 8 science class does well on Friday quizzes but cannot explain photosynthesis three weeks later.
Explain
In Module 1 she learns why recall strengthens memory more than rereading, and that the effect depends on getting feedback.
Visualize
The forgetting and spacing diagrams show her why one review session is not enough.
Rehearse
She uses the retrieval lab to try writing questions that ask for recall, not recognition.
Implement
She plans a five-minute, no-stakes recall starter, three times a week, revisiting older topics.
Evaluate
After four weeks she compares unit-test answers on older topics with last year’s, and reads exit tickets.
Refine
Recall improved on older topics, but explanations stayed thin, so she adds a “why” question each starter.

The teacher is fictional. The example shows the shape of a cycle, not a guaranteed outcome.

Your progress

A record of what you have done

Each tick is a step you have told us you completed. Nothing is recorded just because you opened a page.

Self-reported Academy steps, by stage
Stage	Content explored	Knowledge check attempted	Teaching rehearsal completed	Classroom application planned	Reflection recorded	Status
OrientationReading the evidence	–	–	n/a	n/a	–	Not started
Module 1Retrieval Practice	–	–	–	–	–	Not started
Module 2Cognitive Load	–	–	–	–	–	Not started
Module 3Dual Coding	–	–	–	–	–	Not started
Module 4Cognitive Engagement	–	–	–	–	–	Not started
Module 5Metacognition	–	–	–	–	–	Not started
ApplicationPlan, implement, evaluate	n/a	–	n/a	–	–	Not started

This record is self-reported and stored only in this browser. It does not sync between devices, it is not checked by anyone, and it is not a certificate of professional development.

Teacher Studio

Tools for the application stage

Turn what you learned into a plan, a simple measure, and a running record of what happened.

Lesson blueprintTurn a principle into a concrete lesson plan.Impact checkCompare a simple measure before and after.Implementation journalNote what happened, lesson by lesson.Printable resourcesExit tickets, retrieval grids and prompts.

Evaluate the learning

Record the cycle and look carefully at the evidence

Both tools save in this browser only. There is no account, and you should never enter student names.

PrototypeDraft programme. The scientific content in each module is still awaiting independent review, and the Academy does not award certificates or verified professional-development credit.

The Science of Effective Teaching