The goal of this SLC Catalyst activity is to bring together leading researchers in the fields of education, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and mathematics to develop plans for a Science of Learning Center that pursues research on embodied mathematical cognition, technology, and learning. The Center will develop theory and empirical research that can encompass (a) the rapid emergence of new technologies and types of professional work that involve mathematical description and analysis, (b) the challenges of providing all students with equitable access to powerful forms of mathematical thinking, and (c) the need to prepare learners for the increasingly unpredictable demands of work and public life.

Center participants bring active research agendas in these areas to the catalyst project. Drawing from a broad array of new research in the social, behavioral, and brain sciences, the Center will develop a coordinated program of research on interactive, physical, and embodied aspects of participating in purposeful mathematical activity. These include field and laboratory studies of how vision, gaze, touch, body motion, gesture, drawing, and symbolic derivation are involved in mathematical analysis and argumentation. These studies will pay particular attention to the role of physical/computational devices in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

The Center will conduct three on-site workshops, starting at Vanderbilt University and then on university campuses in southern and northern California. Leading up to these workshops, Center participants will engage in three online seminars. The purpose of these seminars is to review relevant literature in participants' home disciplines, to use shared empirical cases to ground theoretical discussion (e.g., cases drawn from prior research in classroom, workplace, and laboratory settings), to develop a set of theoretical papers that will frame the work of center participants, and to develop a coordinated research program on embodied mathematical cognition for a multi-year science of learning research center.

SLC catalyst participants can access project resources at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/oak/.