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Organizing Fellows: Al Rudnitsky (Education and Child Study) & Glenn Ellis (Engineering)
"This is a new kind of science, with the goal of providing a sound scientific foundation for all education." —R.Keith Sawyer, The New Science of Learning
Is teaching an art or a science? Over the past decade, the "science of learning" has emerged as an area of growing importance in the field of teaching and learning research. Advances in our understanding of how, why and when we learn best are forming the basis of a large literature, mostly shared only among other cognitive scientists. Little of this literature filteres down into classrooms; college and university faculty in fields outside of the learning sciences are rarely exposed to it. Indeed, studies show that pedagogy, especially on the post-secondary level, has changed little over the last decades, even as the body of material generated by "learning scientists" grows in scope and specificity. Researchers in the area of learning science complain that faculty still reduce subject matter to "propositions or procedures that can be directly taught and tested" instead of embracing better strategies—often defined as "teaching for understanding."
In this short-term Kahn project, we wish to explore the question of how and whether the learning sciences can influence and deepen college teaching. What new understandings about the science of learning most closely impact the work of college faculty? Does this literature address pedagogy in one discipline more than others? If this body of research on the science of learning really can help us think more cricially and productively about our teaching, why has it not made its way more commonly into college classrooms where "theory" is—theoretically—most valued and respected?
This project will consist of a series of late-afternoon conversations (from 4:00-6:00pm) during the month of January, each of which will culminate in an evening meal. Each session will be centered on a shared reading that highlights several core ideas in this new literature. We would like to bring together a diverse group of faculty from many fields to consider and critique these theories in light of their own disciplinary perspectives. As a group of college faculty we hope to determine whether the new science of learning has something to offer us. We invite you to participate.
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