Jerry Rekart

Position
Professor
Affiliated Departments

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Dr. Rekart is the author of research that examines learning and memory from multiple perspectives, ranging from the molecular to the applied. His book The Cognitive Classroom (Rowman & Littlefield Education) provides evidence-based strategies to improve teaching, something he also touched upon in his TEDx talk on using mental map-making to enhance learning. When not teaching courses on psychology at Berklee, he is founding principal of a consulting firm specializing in the use of social and behavioral science techniques to ensure maximal efficacy and is the chief learning architect of an edtech startup that uses spaced repetition to enhance learning. His previous roles include vice president of research and insight for Southern New Hampshire University’s Office of Product and Program Innovation, and he was a tenured professor of education and psychology at Rivier University.

Career Highlights
  • Author (with R. Baker), "Designing for Original Intelligence in an Artificial Intelligence World," Apress, 2025
  • Author, The Cognitive Classroom: Using Brain and Cognitive Science to Optimize Student Success, Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2013
  • Author, various chapters and articles related to practical applications of basic research, molecular bases of learning and memory, and work identifying neuromyths and describing the problems with them; work is published in journals such as Hippocampus, Learning and Memory, Principal, and Behavioral Disorders
  • Speaker, "Rethinking memory as a feature of map-making," TEDx, 2023
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, McGovern Institute for Brain Research (M.I.T.)
Awards
  • PI and Co-PI on grants from private philanthropic organizations
  • NIH Predoctoral Fellowship, training grant in Neurobiology of Information Storage (Northwestern University)
  • Allen L. Edwards Fellowship in Quantitative Psychology (Northwestern University)
  • Herman B. Wells Merit Scholarship (Indiana University)
In Their Own Words

Though all of us have these incredibly powerful machines within our heads, very few of us know how to find the manual to get the most out of them. For this reason, I want my students to leave my courses knowing how psychology can benefit them and how its use and misuse takes place throughout our lives.