The Prehistory of the Learning Sciences

The Prehistory of the Learning Sciences Roy Pea     

Foundational View of the learner in Learning Sciences (1) the rejection of the general stage construct, and its replacement with domain-specific levels of understanding, each characterized by a systematic belief system that the learner constructs in making sense of experience (often ‘misconceptions’ as referenced to a communal norm); (2) a positive characterization of competence (not what can’t be done at a certain age or before a certain stage); (3) the generalization of the ‘belief systems’ idea to include not only understanding of the natural phenomena that constitute the objects of science, but [also] the construction of views of the environment (including the teacher, learning tools…), and belief systems regarding the self (as agent or object of learning, prone to fail or succeed…); and (4) the extension of this view to the science teacher (who was ignored before because she was presumed to be ‘formal operational’).

Design based research Hawkins, 1997 Communities of Practice, IRL

“The methodology that Roy and I abstracted from our interviews for the OTA Report was this: real situation, theory, design artifact, explore in real situation, do it again.

Three emphases for Learning Sciences: Cognition, Computing, and Context

learning scientists’ efforts to bridge research and practice (Nathan & Sawyer, 2014)