Week 4, Option #1: Educational psychology contributes greatly to our understanding of the cognitive science area of the learning sciences. Cognitive science is the scientific study of the mind from an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience (MIT). The following link is from the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, which explain the foundations of cognitive science in further detail: https://bcs.mit.edu/research/cognitive-science 

A primary element of cognitive science comes from psychology in general, but educational psychology in specific. This is because educational psychologists study how humans learn and remember knowledge, which is an essential puzzle piece for cognitive scientists to understand how the mind works. There is a lot of overlap between these two disciplines that should not be taken-for-granted. The following link is from American Psychological Association (APA) which explains the core principles and aims of educational psychology - notice the similarities between it and the cognitive science page from MIT: https://www.apa.org/action/science/teaching-learning/ 

One principal theory that educational psychology greatly contributed to is Piaget's theory of cognitive development - a theory which is indispensable to cognitive scientists' understanding of how the mind develops as one ages. The stages of cognitive development laid out by Piaget, and expanded on over decades of educational psychology research, propose important concepts for cognitive science, and learning sciences in general. This includes the idea that children cannot accomplish certain tasks until they are psychologically mature enough to do so (Atherton, 2011). This consideration of psychological maturation, which flexibly corresponds with brain development, in increasing the capacity of children to understand the world is a major contribution to the field of cognitive science (Filipatali, 2013). The implications for this perspective are far-reaching, but include the notion that psychological maturity is closely related to, but still distinct from, biological/brain development. This tugs at the age-old debate regarding "the brain vs the mind" in which thinkers ponder if and how they are the same or different entities. This is still a robust conversation in the academic community and a major area of interest for cognitive science. 

The concept of "productive struggle" that Dr. George Reese discussed in the course video may be another source of insight regarding learning sciences. I imagine a study which can conduct brain scans while students are academically engaged in "productive struggle" in order to identify what parts of the brain may be active in these tasks, compared to traditional academic activities focused on memorization. This would be an absolute blending of educational psychology and cognitive science. Specifically, cognitive learning theorists are most interested in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, the processing of information, and the creation and maintenance of mental structures (Chunk, 2012). These researchers often assert that learning is best accomplished by doing, which fosters multiple levels of thinking - believing that directly engaging with the information is the best way to truly learn (Aggarwal, 2004). Therefore, a study such as the one I described would be optimal for engaging students academically in order to study learning from an interdisciplinary approach which blends cognitive science with educational psychology. 

References

Aggarwal, J. C. (2004). Essentials of Educational Psychology: (6th Edition). Delhi: Vikas Publishing House PVT.

Atherton, J. S., (2011). Learning and Teaching; Piaget's developmental theory retrieved May 20, 2019 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm

Chunk, D. H. (2012). Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective. (6th Edition). Boston. Pearson Education, Inc.

Filipatali, T. (2013). Learning Theories. Their Influence on Teaching Methods, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/293498