Current Perspectives in Social and Behavioral Sciences: Reflections on the Learning Sciences

This volume offers a historical and critical analysis of the emerging field of the learning sciences, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and improving how children and adults learn. It features a wide range of authors, including established scholars who founded and guided the learning sciences through the initial turbulence of forming a new line of academic inquiry, as well as newcomers who are continuing to shape the field. This diversity allows for a broad yet selective perspective on what the learning sciences are, why they came to be, and how contributors conduct their work. Reflections on the Learning Sciences serves both as a starting point for discussion among scholars familiar with the discipline and as an introduction for those interested in learning more. It will benefit graduate students and researchers in computer science, educational psychology, instructional technology, science, engineering, and mathematics.

Michael A. Evans is Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University, where he is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. His numerous articles have appeared in journals such as the International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Educational Technology Research and Development and Computers in Education.

Martin J. Packer is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He is the author of The Structure of Moral Action, Changing Classes: School Reform and the New Economy, and The Science of Qualitative Research. He is also coeditor of Entering the Circle: Hermeneutic Investigation in Psychology (with Richard B. Addison) and Cultural and Critical Perspectives on Human Development (with Mark B. Tappan). He has published in American Psychologist and Educational Psychologist and was founding coeditor of the journal Qualitative Research in Psychology.

R. Keith Sawyer is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 2nd edition; Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation, 2nd edition; and Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.