Cognitive Science and Military Training

The massive scale and diversity of training needs in the military render it an enterprise that offers extensive opportunity for the application of cognitive science. Training in maintenance, in tactics, and in piloting or control of aircraft present several issues of interest to cognitive scientists. Halff and his colleagues use four recently developed military training systems to illustrate the potential for cognitive science to improve military training. These systems include a family of memorization games based on semantic networks; a simulator for steam propulsion plants with a graphic, schematic student interface; a system for training in problems of relative motion that provides explicit representations of spatial concepts and problem-solving procedures; and a method for building a new cognitive skill for air-intercept control based on principles for the development of automaticity. These systems illustrate the importance of making relevant knowledge concrete and explicit, of using problem-solving contexts for instruction in basic principles, and of careful management of information processing during learning.-The Editors