Learning sciences

Learning sciences

The term Learning Sciences (LS) refers to an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations. Research in the learning sciences traditionally focuses on cognitive-psychological and social-psychological foundations of human learning, as well as on the design of learning environments. Major contributing fields include cognitive science, computer science, educational psychology, and anthropology. Over the past decade, researchers have also expanded their focus to the design of curricula, informal learning environments, instructional methods, and policy innovations.

As an emerging discipline, Learning Sciences is still in the process of defining itself. Accordingly, the identity of the field is multi-faceted, and varies from institution to institution. However, the International Society of Learning Sciences (ISLS) summarizes the field as follows: "Researchers in the interdisciplinary field of learning sciences, born during the 1990’s, study learning as it happens in real-world situations and how to better facilitate learning in designed environments – in school, online, in the workplace, at home, and in informal environments. Learning sciences research is guided by constructivist, social-constructivist, socio-cognitive, and socio-cultural theories of learning." ISLS has a large worldwide membership, produces the "Journal of the Learning Sciences.", and sponsors the biennial International Conference of the Learning Sciences.

Although controlled experimental studies and rigorous qualitative research have long been and continue to be employed in Learning Sciences, LS researchers most commonly employ Design-Based Research methods in which interventions are conceptualized and then implemented in natural settings in order to test the ecological validity of dominant theory and to develop new theories and frameworks for conceptualizing learning, instruction, design processes, and educational reform. All this allows the generation of principles of practice beyond the particular features of an educational innovation in order to solve real educational problems, giving LS its interventionist character.

History

One of the earliest efforts to create a graduate program in the tradition of the Learning Sciences took place in 1983 when Jan Hawkins and Roy Pea started a joint program between Bank Street College and the New School for Social Research. Called "Psychology, Education, and Technology" (PET), that program had the support of the Sloan Foundation.

Significant events in the history of the Learning Sciences include Roger Schank's arrival at Northwestern University in 1988 to start the Institute for Learning Sciences. In 1991, Northwestern initiated the first Learning Sciences doctoral program under the direction of Roy Pea. The program began accepting students in 1992 and was subsequently led by Brian Reiser.

The Journal of the Learning Sciences was first published in 1991, with Roger Schank as the editor. Janet Kolodner became editor in 1995. Yasmin Kafai and Cindy Hmelo-Silver took over as editors in 2008. The International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning was established as a separate journal in 2006, with Gerry Stahl as editor.

The first biennial meeting of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences took place at Northwestern University in 1994. The International Society of the Learning Sciences was established in 2002.

What distinguishes the Learning Sciences from other related fields?

By integrating multiple fields, the Learning Sciences extends beyond other closely related fields in characteristic ways. For example, the Learning Sciences extends beyond psychology, in that it also accounts for, as well as contributes to computational, sociological and anthropological approaches to the study of learning. Similarly, the Learning Sciences draws much inspiration from Cognitive Science, and is regarded as a branch of cognitive science; however, it gives particular attention to improving education through the study, modification, and creation of various interacting and emergent factors that potentially influence the learning of humans.

It is common for Learning Sciences researchers to employ Design-Based Research methodology, and this greater acceptance of Design-Based Research methodology as a means for study is often viewed as another way in which Learning Sciences can be distinguished from many of the fields that contribute to it. By including Design-Based Research within its methodological toolkit, Learning Sciences qualifies as a Design Science, with characteristics in common with other Design Sciences that employ Design Science (methodology) such as engineering and computer science.

However, it should be emphasized Design-Based Research research methodology is by no means the only research methodology used in the field. Rather, computational modeling, controlled experimentation studies, and so-called "rigorous", non-interventionist (methodology) ethnographic-style qualitative research methodologies have long been and continue to be employed in Learning Sciences.

Associations and Journals

• International Society of the Learning Sciences
• The Journal of the Learning Sciences
• The International Journal of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning

Major Research Centers

• Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center
• LIFE Center (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments)
• Learning Sciences Institute - Vanderbilt
• Learning Sciences Research Institute - University of Nottingham, UK
• National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, CELSTEC, Open University of the Netherlands
• Center for Learning and Knowledge Technologies , CeLeKT, Växjö University

Graduate Programs that Specialize in the Learning Sciences

• Northwestern University
• Stanford University
• Indiana University
• University of California, Los Angeles
• Learning Sciences and Policy Program - University of Pittsburgh
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• University of Wisconsin, Madison
• University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
• CARAT Learning Sciences Program - University of Michigan
• Tufts University
• University of Utah
• University of Washington, Seattle
• Utah State University
• University of California, Berkeley
• The Pennsylvania State University
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Maryland, College Park

Design-Based Research

Design-Based Research (DBR) is a type of research methodology associated with Ann Brown and Allan M. Collins each of whom are foundational members of a movement in education called the Learning Sciences. Within Design-Based Research methodology, interventions are conceptualized and then implemented in natural settings in order to test the ecological validity of dominant theory and to generate new theories and frameworks for conceptualizing learning, instruction, design processes, and educational reform.

Role of Design-Based Research within the Learning Sciences

Methodologically, the Learning Sciences is distinguished from other fields that study learning in humans in its methodological treatment of the subjects of its study, learners, their localities, and their communities. The Design-Based Research methodology is often employed by Learning Scientists in their inquiries because this methodological framework considers the subject of study to be a complex system involving [[emergent properties that arise from the interaction of more variables than are initially known to researchers, including variables stemming from the researchers themselves (Brown, 1992). As such rather than attempting to isolate all the various factors that impact learning or isolate them as in traditional research, the learning sciences employ a designed based research methodological framework which appeals to an approach to the study of learning – in particular human learning both inside and outside of school – that embraces the complex system nature of learning systems. Learning Scientists often look at the interactions amongst variables as key components to study yet, acknowledge that within learning environments the interactions are often too complex to study all or completely understand. This stance has been validated by the findings of Cronbach and Snow (1977) which suggest that Aptitude-Treatment Interactions, where variables are isolated in effort to determine what factors “most” influence learning, will not be informative but rather inaccurate and potentially misleading if used as a ground for educational decisions or educational research of complex learning situations such as those characteristic of human beings in their lived experiences.