The Learning Sciences (LS) is a research community that asks questions about how people learn, how learners and learning ecologies interact, and how learning can be supported and examined. As a field, it was established in 1991, when the first International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) was held and the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) was first published. Scholarship in the field is interdisciplinary and brings together lenses from psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, computer science, environmental ecology, critical theories, and philosophy. Some of the core principles and practices that define the Learning Sciences include:
- Answering questions about learning processes, alongside outcomes.
- Bridging theory and practice, often through research-practice partnerships.
- Privileging iterative design mindset in methodology and pedagogy.
- Explicitness about theories of learning and the assumptions they invite.
- Grounding research in real-world contexts and the multiple dimensions within which learning unfolds (e.g., interactional, technological, institutional, and sociopolitical).
One methodology that has been particularly influential within the LS community is Interaction Analysis (IA; Jordan & Henderson, 1995; Hall & Stevens, 2015). Inspired by similar initiatives across the LS community, we are hoping to soon open the Weizmann Interaction Analysis Lab (WIAL), where students and faculty could come together on a voluntary basis to watch and discuss their video-based data.
References:
- Fischer, F., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Goldman, S., & Reimann, P. (Eds.). (2018). International handbook of the learning sciences. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Hall, R., & Stevens, R. (2015). Interaction analysis approaches to knowledge in use. In A. A. diSessa, M. Levin, & N. J. S. Brown (Eds.) Knowledge and interaction: A synthetic agenda for the learning sciences. Routledge.
- Jordan, B., & Henderson, A. (1995). Interaction Analysis: Foundations and practice. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 4(1), 39–103.
- Nasir, N. S., Lee, C. D., Pea, R., & de Royston, M. M. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning. Routledge.
- Sawyer, R. K. (Ed.). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Cambridge University Press.