The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are sharing a $25 million federal grant aimed at unlocking some of the mysteries of how students learn best.

"The way the brain works and the way we learn is one of the most important and fundamental mysteries of science. This will help us to better understand that and dramatically improve education," said Kenneth Koedinger, associate professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon, after the announcement yesterday.

Koedinger and Kurt VanLehn, Pitt computer science professor and senior scientist at Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center, are co-directors of the new center called the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. It is one of three science of learning centers in the nation to win grants from the National Science Foundation. The others are at Boston University and jointly at the University of Washington and Stanford University.

The $25 million award, to be used over five years, is among the larger grants the universities have received. By comparison, it is larger than the $20 million the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave Carnegie Mellon.

Through a facility dubbed LearnLab, the researchers will use technology to track the student process, develop approaches and technologies to improve learning, and build a scientific base for what works.

The need for scientifically proven instructional techniques is in the forefront because the federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for schools to use proven techniques to improve academic performance.

The researchers will begin with an algebra and a geometry class at each of three local high schools, yet to be named, as well as classes of physics and English as a second language at Pitt and chemistry, Chinese and French at Carnegie Mellon.

The researchers will be able to test various theories in real classrooms, as opposed to laboratory settings.

For example, Koedinger said, researchers may be able to track data to see which students ask for help when they need it, which don't ask for help and which ask for too much.

Then, the researchers could find ways to help students to seek the help they need.

"The neat thing is because we're tracking students before the intervention and after, we can get a much richer picture of who benefits and how they benefit," said VanLehn.

VanLehn said the changes will not be wholesale nor will the students be guinea pigs.

"Every quality teacher does a certain amount of trial-and-error kind of experimentation in their class every year. They try out new things and see if they work," he said.

Koedinger said the changes won't be sweeping changes.