Learning science or learning sciences (LS) is an interdisciplinary field that wo

rks to further scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the

design and implementation of learning innovations, and the improvement of instru
ctional methodologies. Research in the learning science traditionally focuses on
cognitive-psychological, social-psychological, and cultural-psychological found
ations of human learning, as well as on the design of learning environments. Maj
or contributing fields include cognitive science, computer science, educational
psychology, anthropology, and applied linguistics. Over the past decade, researc
hers have also expanded their focus to the design of curricula, informal learnin
g environments, instructional methods, and policy innovations.
As an emerging discipline, learning science is still in the process of defining
itself. Accordingly, the identity of the field is multifaceted, and varies from
institution to institution. However, the International Society of Learning Scien
ces (ISLS, [1]) summarizes the field as follows: "Researchers in the interdiscip
linary field of learning sciences, born during the 1990 s, study learning as it ha
ppens in real-world situations and how to better facilitate learning in designed
environments
in school, online, in the workplace, at home, and in informal envi
ronments. Learning sciences research may be guided by constructivist, social-con
structivist, socio-cognitive, and socio-cultural theories of learning." ISLS has
a large worldwide membership, is affiliated with two international journals: Jo
urnal of the Learning Sciences, and International Journal of Computer Supported
Collaborative Learning, and sponsors the biennial Computer Supported Collaborati
ve Learning conference and International Conference of the Learning Sciences on
alternate years."
Although controlled experimental studies and rigorous qualitative research have
long been employed in learning science, LS researchers often use design-based re
search methods. Interventions are conceptualized and then implemented in natural
settings in order to test the ecological validity of dominant theory and to dev
elop new theories and frameworks for conceptualizing learning, instruction, desi
gn processes, and educational reform. LS research strives to generate principles
of practice beyond the particular features of an educational innovation in orde
r to solve real educational problems, giving LS its interventionist character.
Several significant events have contributed to the international development of
learning science. Perhaps the earliest history can be traced back to the cogniti
ve revolution.
In the United States, an important effort to create a graduate program in learni
ng science took place in 1983 when Jan Hawkins and Roy Pea proposed a joint prog
ram between Bank Street College and the New School for Social Research. Called "
Psychology, Education, and Technology" (PET), the program had a planning grant s
upported by the Sloan Foundation. In the end the program would have required new
faculty, though, and the institutions involved never established such a program
. Roger Schank's arrival at Northwestern University in 1988 helped start the Ins
titute for Learning Sciences. In 1991, Northwestern initiated the first learning
science doctoral program, designed by and launched by Roy Pea as its first dire
ctor. The program began accepting students in 1992, and after Pea became dean th
e program directorship was taken over by Brian Reiser. Since that time, a number
of other high quality graduate programs in learning science began to appear aro
und the world, and the field is continuing to be recognized as an innovative and
influential area for education research and design.
The Journal of the Learning Sciences was first published in 1991, with Janet Kol
odner as founding editor. Yasmin Kafai and Cindy Hmelo-Silver took over as edito
rs in 2009, and then Iris Tabak and Joshua Radinsky took over as editors in 2013
. The International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning was est
ablished as a separate journal in 2006, edited by Gerry Stahl and Freiderich Hes
se. These journals, while relatively new in the field of education research, rap
idly escalated and continue to place in upper ranks of the Educational Research

section of the Social Sciences Citation Index impact factor rankings.

The Institute for the Learning Sciences hosted the first International Conferenc
e for the Learning Sciences (ICLS) in August 1991 at Northwestern University (ed
ited by Lawrence Birnbaum, and published by the AACE but no longer available). T
he first biennial meeting of the ICLS also took place at Northwestern University
, in 1994. The International Society of the Learning Sciences was established in
2002.