Science of Learning Centers(www.nsf.gov/slc)

Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantees Conference

Dec. 7, 2011Soo-Siang Lim, Ph.D

Program Director and Chair of Coordinating Committee

Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences

Science of Learning Centers

Transformative advances through integrated

research on learning

Connections to educational, technological and

workforce challenges

How humans, other animals and machines learn

– Complexity

– Scope and scale

Centers provide enduring intellectual, organizational and physical infrastructure

– Cross-disciplinary

– Longitudinal studies

Current SLC Portfolio2004 Cohort

• CELEST: Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science and Technology (Boston U)

• LIFE: Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (U of Washington)

• PSLC: Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (Carnegie-Mellon U)

2006 Cohort

• SILC: Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (Temple U)

• TDLC: Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center

(UC-San Diego)

• VL2: Visual Language and Learning Center

(Gallaudet U)

Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC)

• PI and Director: Nora Newcombe, Temple University

• Co-Directors: Dedre Gentner (Northwestern University) and Susan Levine (University of Chicago)

• Partner institutions

• Northwestern University

• University of Chicago

SILC Mission

To understand and improve human spatial intelligence for

STEM learning

• Important for STEM

• Malleable and can be improved

• And will broaden STEM pipeline by addressing sex- and SES- linked differences in spatial learning

Spatial Learning is …

Science at SILC• Interdisciplinary integration: cognitive, develop-

mental, neuro-scientific, geosciences, socio-cultural & education research

• Integration to generalize across

• Qualitative and quantitative representations

• An organizing typology for spatial skills

• Use of external symbol systems

• Spatial Analogy

• Learning from action to abstraction

Action to Abstraction

• Gesture helps young children do mental rotation tasks – EveryDayMath

• Experiencing angular momentum by holding a spinning bicycle wheel helps college students understand it

Science and More• Outstanding graduate training activities

• Broad interest in diversity, both as a research topic and as a means to enlarge the scientific workforce

• Development of vital assessment tools – for young children and for specific STEM skills

• Partnership with museums and schools, Teacher Work Circles

• Strong institutional & public support – TILES

• Spatial Network – building an international field of spatial learning

Current SLC Portfolio2004 Cohort

• CELEST: Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science and Technology (Boston U)

• LIFE: Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (U of Washington)

• PSLC: Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (Carnegie-Mellon U)

2006 Cohort

• SILC: Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (Temple U)

• TDLC: Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center

(UC-San Diego)

• VL2: Visual Language and Learning Center

(Gallaudet U)

Locations of SLC Centers & Partner Institutions

LIFE

SILC

TDLC

VL2

CELEST

PSLC

A Scientific Network & Scientific Infrastructure

• 30+ academic institutions, 60+ non-academic institutions, more than 300 researchers, & more than 350 students & post-docs

• Annual meetings within and across centers, plus student & international meetings, workshops

• New infrastructure: neuroimaging, motion-capture, data collection & data mining

SLCs Catalyzing a International Network