Robert Glaser, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, died on February 4, at age 91. He had Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Glaser was director of the university's Learning Research and Development Center from its founding in 1963 until 1997. He is credited with being one of the first people to recognize that cognitive science, by exploring how people acquire knowledge, could be used to improve both learning and teaching.
Mr. Glaser argued that, in testing individuals, "what we really need to know is not who's better than who else but, What did they learn?" said Alan Lesgold, dean of Pittsburgh's School of Education. And beyond that, he said, "What do they need to know?" Mr. Glaser called such assessments "criterion-referenced tests."
