2. • A new field of research: the science of
learning
• Un4l quite recently, cogni4ve science steered
clear of educa4on, while the sciences of
educa4on tended to ignore cogni4ve science.
• Things have changed over the last few years,
and there is now quite a lot of interac4on
between the two fields.
5. Learning sciences (large view)
• “Learning sciences is an interdisciplinary field that studies teaching and learning.
• … in a variety of se=ngs, including not only the more formal learning of school
classrooms but also the informal learning that takes place at home, on the job,
and among peers.
• The goal of the learning sciences is to beUer understand the cogni?ve and social
processes that result in the most effec?ve learning,
• and to use this knowledge to redesign classrooms and other learning
environments so that people learn more deeply and more effec?vely.
• The sciences of learning include cogni&ve science, educa&onal psychology,
computer science, anthropology, sociology, informa&on sciences, neurosciences,
educa&on, design studies, instruc&onal design, and other fields.” (Sawyer, 2009,
p. xi)
10. Learning sciences
Research fields Applica4on
Objec4ves
fields
BeUer understanding of Cogni4ve and social Formal, informal, non
learning processes processes formal learning
Cogni4ve sciences,
psychology,
Design environments for anthropology, sociology,
beUer learning ar4ficial intelligence,
neurosciences,
educa4onal sciences
(economy, philosophy,
Promote beUer learning history, design)
11. Objec4ves
• Objec?ves: Neutral vision:
design
– Understanding learning environments for
learning beUer
– Building the condi4ons for
beUer learning
– Promo4ng beUer forms of
learning (adapted to XXI Engaged vision:
foster beUer
century needs) learning
12. Methods
In general:
Objec4vity vs
• Experimental: intui4on &
randomized, controlled tradi4on
trials
• Quasi‐experimental:
– correla4onal studies
– Longitudinal studies
More specifically:
• Qualita4ve observa4ons experimental
methods
13. Reason 1. Learning is a pervasive
human ac4vity
• Learning is a human basic,
adap4ve, pervasive
func4on.
• People learn all their life
long, everywhere, in
informal secngs.
• But formal secngs have
been created too.
14. Reason 2. Societal transforma4ons
• From industrial society to
knowledge society:
• the goal of educa4on has
changed
• from instruc4onism
(rote learning, passive
transmission to deep,
ac4ve learning)
• from good taylorist
learners to crea4ve,
collabora4ve, innovators
15. Reason 3. Accumula4on of knowledge
New sciences, new knowledge,
which is meaningful for learning
and educa4on
3.a Disciplinary knowledge
3.b Interdisciplinary knowledge
3.c Transdisciplinary knowledge
(new applica4ve discipline of
educa4on with strong scien4fic
background on learning)
17. 1. Dissa4sfac4on with behaviorism
• Behaviorist psychology
emerges as a reac4on to
introspec4on:
• “Psychology as the
behaviorist views it is a
purely objec5ve
experimental branch of
natural science.”
• Learning a new behavior is
the consequence of
adjus4ng to s4muli in the
environment
• Psychology can become
useful to educa4on, law, … (Watson, 1913)
19. Behaviorism and educa4on: note the
analogies with the new science of
learning (and the disanalogies)
• It becomes the
orthodoxy in educa4on
• What’s wrong with
that?
.
20. What’s missing in the descrip4on of
the learning process made by
behaviorists?
• Hardwired &
sohwired
constraints
– Previous
knowledge
– Func4onal
architecture
21. 2a. Cogni4ve theory of learning
• Construc4vism:
– Jean Piaget
• Knowledge structures of children are
qualita4vely different from adults’
• Developmental stages towards logic
thought
• Adapta4on to the world:
disequilibra4on and re‐equilibra4on via
assimila4on/accomoda4on processes
– Vygotsky: social construc4on of
knowledge
– Jérôme Bruner
• Adapta4on of Piaget’s epistemology
and of Vygotsky social construc4vism to
educa4on, but without stages
– Seymour Papert
• Construc4onism: learning by
construc4on
24. Neuroeduca4on, Educa4onal
neuroscience, Mind, brain, and
educa4on
• “… a mature science of learning will involve
understanding not only that learning occurs but also
understanding how and why it occurs” (Bransford, et
al., in Sawyer, 2009, p. 20)
25. Founda4ons for the new science of
learning
• “The new science of learning has arisen from several
disciplines. Researchers in developmental psychology
have iden?fied social factors that are essen?al for
learning. Powerful learning algorithms from machine
learning have demonstrated that con?ngencies in the
environment are a rich source of informa?on about
social cues. Neuroscien?sts have found brain systems
involved in social interac?ons and mechanisms for
synap?c plas?city that contribute to learning.
Classrooms are laboratories for teaching
prac?ces.” (Meltzoff, et al., 2009, p. 284)
26. • “Research from cogni?ve psychology has increased understanding of
the nature of competent performance and the principles of
knowledge organiza4on that underlie people's abili4es to solve
problems in a wide variety of areas, including mathema4cs, science,
literature, social studies, and history.
• Developmental researchers have shown that young children
understand a great deal about basic principles of biology and physical
causality, about number, narra4ve, and personal intent, and that
these capabili4es make it possible to create innova4ve curricula that
introduce important concepts for advanced reasoning at early ages.
27. • Research on learning and transfer has uncovered important
principles for structuring learning experiences that enable people to
use what they have learned in new secngs.
• Work in social psychology, cogni?ve psychology, and anthropology is
making clear that all learning takes place in secngs that have
par4cular sets of cultural and social norms and expecta4ons and that
these secngs influence learning and transfer in powerful ways.
28. • Neuroscience is beginning to provide evidence for many principles of
learning that have emerged from laboratory research, and it is
showing how learning changes the physical structure of the brain
and, with it, the func4onal organiza4on of the brain.
• Collabora?ve studies of the design and evalua?on of learning
environments, among cogni4ve and developmental psychologists
and educators, are yielding new knowledge about the nature of
learning and teaching as it takes place in a variety of secngs. In
addi4on, researchers are discovering ways to learn from the ''wisdom
of prac4ce" that comes from successful teachers who can share their
exper4se.
29. • Emerging technologies are leading to the development of many new
opportuni4es to guide and enhance learning that were unimagined
even a few years ago.
• All of these developments in the study of learning have led to an era
of new relevance of science to prac4ce. In short, investment in basic
research is paying off in prac4cal applica4ons. These developments in
understanding of how humans learn have par4cular significance in
light of changes in what is expected of the na4on's educa4onal
systems.” (Bransford, et al., 2000, p. 4)
30. Structuring the field
1991: 1st
1970‐1980: 1987: 2000: Bransford 2002: 2003‐2006: NSF:
Interna4onal 2007 2010
AI and Ins4tute for et al (NRC): How Interna4on 6 Learning
conference IMBES EARLI
educa4on the Learning people learn al Society Centers
on Learning SIG 22
conferences Sciences for the
sciences/
(ILS, R. learning
Journal of 1999 2003
Shank); sciences
the learning OECD‐CERI Mind,
Ins4tute for
sciences Brain Brain
Research on
Learning (J. program 1 Educa4
S. Brown, J. 1991 2002 on
Greeno, D. Decade of OECD‐ (Rome)
Kearns) the brain CERI
Brain 2005
program (Erice)
2
34. Learning beUer
• Crea?ng learning environments:
« Scaffolding is the help given to the
learner that is tailored to that learner’s
needs in achieving his or her goals at the
moment … effec4ve scaffolding provides
prompts and hints that help learners to
figure it out on their own. »
35. Learning beUer
• The importance of building on a learner’s
previous knowledge : « learning always
takes places against a backdrop of exis4ng
knowledge. Students don’t enter the
classroom as empty vessels, wai4ng to be
filled; they enter the classroom with half‐
formed ideas and misconcep4ons about
how the world works … » (Sawyer, 2009,
p. 2‐3)
36. Learning beUer
• The importance of reflec?on. “Students learn beUer when
they express their developing knowledge – either through
conversa4on or by crea4ng papers, reports, and other
ar4facts – and then are provided with opportuni4es to
reflec4vely analyze their state of knowledge.”
• “One of the reasons that ar4cula4on is so helpful to
learning is that it makes possible reflec4on or
metacogni4on – thinking about the process of learning and
thinking about knowledge.” (Sawyer, 2009, p. 12)
37. Learning beUer
• « Computers can represent abstract
knowledge in concrete forms
• … Allow learners to ar4culate their
developing knowledge in a visual and
verbal way
• … allow learners to manipulate and
revise their developing knowledge
• … Internet‐based networks of
learners can share and combine their
developing understandings
…» (Sawyer, 2009, p. 9)