Your education will be interdisciplinary
Many learning scientists study school classrooms, and develop research-based innovations for use in schools. But our studies extend far beyond classrooms. Learning scientists study learning everywhere that it happens — science centers, workplaces, apprenticeships, communities and social contexts, virtual and technology-mediated environments, and beyond. You will have opportunities to learn about these contexts and the exciting opportunities for research they afford.
Because we study a broad variety of learning environments, we also use a broad range of methodologies. Some of us design controlled laboratory experiments and use quantitative and statistical methods. Others study learning in the real-world contexts where it happens, and they use qualitative methods to analyze what’s going on, such as ethnography and interaction analysis. However, most of us use mixed and multiple methods across contexts, ensuring that the research question drives the research design and analysis, not the other way around. You will have opportunities to learn and utilize each of these methodologies.
You will learn theories and methods used in psychology, but also anthropology, sociology, computer science, and language and communication studies, among others.
You will be prepared for a career as a researcher
You will learn how to make original contributions to scientific knowledge, using a full range of research tools. You will receive training in how to successfully pursue rigorous research, including, how to design a research study; how to gather data; how to analyze data within a theoretical framework; how to discuss your findings and explore the real-world implications of your research; and how to build theory from empirical work and vice versa.
We are a member of NAPLeS, the Network of Academic Programs in the Learning Sciences , an initiative sponsored by the International Society of the Learning Sciences. As a member program, our students and faculty have access to resources and expertise from a worldwide network of peer scholars and institutions.
You will develop your own research agenda
In the first two years of the program, you will choose a specific focus, under the guidance of our research faculty. You have many options from which to choose. We will work with you to help you identify your own research path, including scholarship done during your academic program through your comprehensive exam and dissertation research project, and then, continuing in your research career, in academia or outside of it, after graduation. We will help you develop your own interests into a compelling research topic that can make a difference in the field and in the world.
You’ll select a specific age of learner; a specific content area to be learned (it could be science, math, language arts, music, history, or workplace skills); and a specific context where that learning happens (a school classroom; a smartphone app; a robotics design competition; a museum-based or summer-camp program). You’ll then identify a research question — something that we want to know about learning, but that no scientist has yet discovered.
If this sounds challenging, it is! But our professors are leading experts, and we’ll guide you to master these research skills. We’re in the business of creating new knowledge!
You will join a community of leading researchers
You will work closely with our team of research professors, as both advisors and as collaborators. Our professors have written influential books; have published significant research in scientific journals; and speak at academic conferences regularly, both in the United States and internationally. We often collaborate with professors at other leading research universities in the United States and internationally.
Our research is funded by competitive grants from the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, and others. Our books and research articles have been translated into many different languages, connecting us to an international community of scholars.
By working through our program, we’ll connect you with a large network of scientific researchers. We’ll introduce you to the leading scholars who are most interested in your own chosen research topic.
Your research will help improve lives
We believe that the best way to improve education is to ground it in the latest scientific research. We are evidence-based. We believe in the potential of scholarship to improve lives. We challenge assumptions. We develop educational innovations that work, because they’re based in rigorously developed knowledge.
We hope you will join us in the important work of using scholarship to improve education for all.