Prof. Manu Kapur

Learning Sciences Research Group Consultant

Professor

Department of Humanities, Social, and Political Sciences

ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Manu is currently a Professor and Chair of Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Prior to joining ETH Zürich, he was a Professor of Psychological Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong (EduHK). Manu also worked as the Head of the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Academic Group (CTL AG) as well as the Head of Learning Sciences Lab (LSL) at the National Institute of Education (NIE) of Singapore.

An engineer by bachelors training, Manu was a pre-university mathematics teacher for five years before receiving his doctorate in instructional technology and media from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York, where he also completed a Master of Science in Applied Statistics. He also has a Master of Education from the NIE. Early in his academic career, Manu directed a $50m interactive and digital media R&D program at the Ministry of Education of Singapore to jumpstart research on interactive and digital media in education in Singapore.

Manu conceptualized the notion of productive failure and has used it to explore the hidden efficacies in the seemingly failed efforts of small groups solving complex problems collaboratively in an online environment. Manu has done extensive work in real-field ecologies of mathematics classrooms to extend his work on productive failure across a range of schools in Singapore. Manu’s research has attracted high profile media interest (e.g., TIME, The Australian, The Straits Times, The Times of India, The CONVERSATION, etc.) and approximately US$3m in funding in Singapore and internationally. He has been invited to present major keynote addresses around the world, and his work has been published in the top journals in the field.

Publications:

Journal Publications:

Toh, P. L. L., & Kapur, M. (in press). Is having more prior knowledge better for learning from productive failure. Instructional Science.

Song, Y., & Kapur, M. (2017). How to flip the classroom – “productive failure or traditional flipped classroom” pedagogical design? Educational Technology & Society. 20(1), 292-305.

Kapur, M. (2016). Examining Productive Failure, Productive Success, Unproductive Failure, and Unproductive Success in Learning. Educational Psychologist, 51(2), 289-299.

Jacobson, M., Kapur, M., Reimann, P. (2016). Conceptualizing Debates in Learning and Educational Research: Towards a Complex Systems Conceptual Framework of Learning. Educational Psychologist, 51(2), 210-218.

Kapur, M. (2015). The preparatory effects of problem solving versus problem posing on learning from instruction. Learning and Instruction, 39, 23-31.

Cvencek, D., Kapur, M., & Meltzoff, A. N., (2015). Math Achievement, Stereotypes, and Math Self-Concepts among Elementary-School Students in Singapore. Learning and Instruction, 39, 1-10.

Huang, D., & Kapur, M. (2015). Can “less” create “more” in analogical reasoning? Learning: Research and Practice, 1(2), 133-151.

Kapur, M. (2015). Learning from productive failure. Learning: Research and Practice. 1(1), 51-65.[Inaugural Issue: Includes papers by Professors Deanna Kuhn, James Gee, Mitchell Nathan, Alexander Renkl, Thomas Reeves, and Wolf-Michael Roth]

Sullivan, F., Kapur, M., Madden, S., & Shipe, S. (2015). Exploring the role of “gendered” discourse styles in online science discussion. International Journal of Science Education, 37(3), 484-504.

Kapur, M. (2014). Productive failure in learning math. Cognitive Science, 38(5), 1008-1022.

Cvencek, D., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kapur, M. (2013). Cognitive consistency and math–gender stereotypes in Singaporean children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 117, 73-91.

Kapur, M. (2013). Comparing learning from productive failure and vicarious failure. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 23(4), 651-677.

Kapur, M., & Rummel, N. (2012). Productive failure in learning and problem solving. Instructional Science. 40(4), 645-650.

Kapur, M. (2012). Productive failure in learning the concept of variance. Instructional Science. 40(4), 651-672.

Kapur, M., & Bielaczyc, K. (2012). Designing for productive failure. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(1), 45-83.

Kapur, M. (2011). Temporality matters: Advancing a method for analyzing problem-solving processes in a computer-supported collaborative environment. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), 6(1), 39-56.

Jacobson, M. J., Kapur, M., So, H-J., & Lee, J. (2011). The ontologies of complexity and learning about complex systems. Instructional Science. 39(5), 763-783.

Kapur, M. (2011). A further study of productive failure in mathematical problem solving: Unpacking the design components. Instructional Science, 39(4), 561-579.

Kapur, M. (2010). Productive failure in mathematical problem solving. Instructional Science, 38(6), 523-550.

Kapur, M., & Kinzer, C. (2009). Productive failure in CSCL groups. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), 4(1), 21-46.

Kapur, M. (2008). Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 379-424.

Kapur, M., Voiklis, J., & Kinzer, C. (2008). Sensitivities to early exchange in synchronous computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) groups. Computers and Education, 51, 54-66.

Kapur, M., & Kinzer, C. (2007). The effect of problem type on interactional activity, inequity, and group performance in a synchronous computer-supported collaborative environment. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 55(5), 439-459.

Bielaczyc, K., & Kapur, M. (2010). Playing epistemic games in science and mathematics classrooms. Educational Technology, 50(5), 19-25.

Books:

Cho, Y. H., Caleon, I. S., & Kapur, M. (2015). Authentic Problem Solving and Learning in the 21st Century. Singapore: Springer.

Kaur, B., Yeap, B. H., & Kapur, M. (2009). Mathematical Problem Solving, Singapore: World Scientific.

Book Chapters:

Kapur, M., & Toh, P.L.L. (2015). Learning from Productive Failure. In Y. H. Cho, I. S. Caleon, & Kapur, M. (Eds.). Authentic Problem Solving and Learning in the 21st Century. Singapore: Springer.

Cho, Y. H., Caleon, I. S., & Kapur, M. (2015). Authentic learning research and practice: Issues, challenges, and future directions. In Y. H. Cho, I. S. Caleon, & Kapur, M. (Eds.). Authentic Problem Solving and Learning in the 21st Century. Singapore: Springer.

Cho, Y. H., Caleon, I. S., & Kapur, M. (2015). Authentic problem solving and learning for 21st century learners. In Y. H. Cho, I. S. Caleon, & Kapur, M. (Eds.). Authentic Problem Solving and Learning in the 21st Century. Singapore: Springer.

Collins, A., & Kapur, M. (2015). Cognitive Apprenticeship. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Cambridge University Press.

Kapur, M., & Toh, P.L.L. (2013). Productive failure: From an experimental effect to a learning design. In T. Plomp, & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational design research – Part B: Illustrative cases (pp. 341-355). Enschede, the Netherlands: SLO.

Kapur, M., & Lee, H. W. (2013). Enacting teach less, learn more in mathematics classrooms: The case of Productive Failure. In D. S. Zongyi, S. Gopinathan, & C. Lee (Ed), Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum: From Policy to Classroom (pp.), New York: Springer.

Bielaczyc, K., & Kapur, M., & Collins, A. (2013). Building communities of learners. In C. E. Hmelo-Silver, A. M. O’Donnell, C. Chan, & C. A. Chinn (Eds.), International Handbook of Collaborative Learning (pp. 233-249). New York: Routledge.

Jacobson, M. J., & Kapur, M. (2012). Learning environments as emergent phenomena: Theoretical and methodological implications of complexity. In D. Jonassen & S. Land (Eds.), Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments (Second ed., pp. 303-334). New York: Routledge.

Kapur, M., Voiklis, J., & Kinzer, C. (2011). A complexity-grounded model for the emergence of convergence in CSCL groups. In S. Puntambekar, G. Erkens, & C. E. Hmelo-Silver (Eds.), Analyzing Interactions in CSCL: Methodologies, Approaches and Issues (pp. 3-25). New York, NY: Springer.

Kapur, M. (2009). Moving beyond the pedagogy of mathematics: Foregrounding epistemological concerns. In B. Kaur, B. H. Yeap, & M. Kapur (Eds.), Mathematical Problem Solving (pp. 265-271), Singapore: World Scientific.

Kapur, M. (2009). The role of productive failure in mathematics teaching and learning. In B. Kaur, B. H. Yeap, & M. Kapur (Eds.), Mathematical Problem Solving (pp. 43-68), Singapore: World Scientific.