What Do We Teach When We Teach the Learning Sciences? A Document Analysis of 75 Graduate Programs

Abstract

The learning sciences, as an academic community investigating human learning, emerged more than 30 years ago. Since then, graduate learning sciences programs have been established worldwide. Little is currently known, however, about their disciplinary backgrounds and the topics and research methods they address. In this document analysis of the websites of 75 international graduate learning sciences programs, we examine central concepts and research methods across institutions, compare the programs, and assess the homogeneity of different subgroups. Results reveal that the concepts addressed most frequently were real-world learning in formal and informal contexts, designing learning environments, cognition and metacognition, and using technology to support learning. Among research methods, design-based research (DBR), discourse and dialog analyses, and basic statistics stand out. Results show substantial differences between programs, yet programs focusing on DBR show the greatest similarity regarding the other concepts and methods they teach. Interpreting the similarity of the graduate programs using a community of practice perspective, there is a set of relatively coherent programs at the core of the learning sciences, pointing to the emergence of a discipline, and a variety of multidisciplinary and more heterogeneous programs "orbiting" the core in the periphery, shaping and innovating the field.The learning sciences as an academic community started to grow some 30 years ago, when the idea of investigating learning and teaching in the real world brought together scientists from various research areas. Stemming from fields like psychology, sociology, computer science, design studies, science, mathematics or medical education, social work, and the young field of cognitive science, these scientists had different academic backgrounds regarding both theory and methods (Hoadley & Van Haneghan, 2011). Thus, from the very beginning, a characteristic of the learning sciences was and continues to be its multifaceted nature, originating from the involvement of diverse scientific fields, each contributing to research on learning and supporting learning in its own way.Since then, an academic community has evolved and flourished, which has increased considerably regarding its scientific impact and popularity. Today, there are many universities across the globe offering graduate programs in learning sciences. Still, up to now little has been known about the disciplines involved in offering these programs and the theories, concepts, and (research) methods they teach. As Yoon and Hmelo-Silver (2017) point out, knowing the extent to which learning sciences programs align might be crucial knowledge to understand both the current status of learning sciences and its future development, which depends on what future learning scientists learn in these programs (Nathan, Rummel, & Hay, 2016). The present study aims to answer the question of the current alignment of graduate learning sciences programs and thereby adds to and extends the...

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