Cognitive psychology, which focuses on the learner’s cognitive processes using the terms schemas, naïve concepts, metacognition, learning strategy, and so on, has provided a theoretical foundation for educational psychology. However, the contribution to education was not clear a few decades ago. This was likely due to the fact that the researchers were not participating in educational programs. Cognitive counseling (Ichikawa, 1989) is practical research activity performed by cognitive psychologists in Japan in which the counselor makes a diagnosis and tutors the students with learning difficulties. It was once a local activity but now there are collaborations among research groups, schools, and educational programs. The examples shown in this paper are the seminars for students on study skills based on cognitive psychology and the instructional design called “thinking-after-instruction approach.” Furthermore, these ideas have influenced the national curriculum in Japan through discussions in the central council for education. Several publications and social activities in cognitive and educational psychology were also reviewed in this paper.
