Learning Sciences Institute makes local connections for national impact
by Melanie Moran

“We are defining the learning sciences and selling our definition as the national definition,” said Andrew Porter, director of the institute and the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy. “As the only university with three national education research centers – the National Center on School Choice, the National Center on Performance Incentives and the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center – Vanderbilt and its Peabody College are very visible and in a true position of leadership.”

How we learn is studied by researchers in some way nearly everywhere on the Vanderbilt campus, from how our brains store and process information, to how best to teach middle schoolers math, to how we can teach robots to “learn” and work for us. However, bringing these diverse researchers together has always been a challenge, one that the LSI was designed to meet.

“Everyone is fascinated with how the brain works. I think a study of the learning sciences with a connection to medical, education, biomedical engineering and computer science is the way of the future for us,” said Virginia Shepherd, LSI’s co-associate director and a professor of pathology and medicine. “The major function and advantage of the LSI is creating a connection between researchers that they wouldn’t have otherwise. My own role in the center is to ensure a strong connection between the medical center and the university’s other schools. We’re trying to stimulate as many cross-connections as possible.”  “We are always seeking to identify boundary-crossers – people willing to work at the borders of their own work and cross borders into other areas of work,” Porter said. “It’s not easy, but when it does work, it’s spectacular.”

One such collaboration is under way between Norbert Ross, assistant professor of anthropology, LSI co-associate director Thomas Palmeri and former Vanderbilt computer scientist David Noelle on a project that combines computer modeling, psychology and anthropological field work to better understand cultural and conceptual change. The LSI facilitated both the collaboration and the National Science Foundation grant that funds the project. Some of the ways Porter and his staff have worked to facilitate these collaborations are by bringing people together for a colloquium series and a visiting scholar series, through their award-winning newsletter and Web site, and through interdepartmental opportunities for investigators and graduate students. 3/6/2007 http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/newspub/gEg252?id=32636&mode=print   “We created an affiliation category for faculty called LSI Investigators,” Porter said. “The investigators hail from five Vanderbilt colleges and 18 departments. The goal is to build a true community of scholarship in the learning sciences.”

A critical component of this goal is recruiting top students and securing research and training grants. These two pieces have won the institute a legion of fans across campus. “The grant part is wonderful,” said Palmeri, who also is an associate professor of psychology. “Some departments have resources to help with preparing, submitting and administering grants, but many departments don’t have the personnel to do so. For these departments, the LSI’s support has become critical for what they do,” Ross concurred. “The LSI takes care of all of the administrative details of grant writing, budgeting and administration,” said Ross, who is currently conducting research in Chiapas, Mexico. “I just submitted another grant proposal, and with the LSI’s assistance I was able to do the entire thing from Mexico.”

The institute also has been working on a variety of fronts to recruit graduate students. “The LSI started a topping-up award program to help recruit high-quality graduate candidates. It offers additional funding on top of departmental stipends,” Palmeri said. “It has allowed us to successfully recruit the students we really want to be part of the Vanderbilt learning sciences community.”

Looking forward, LSI leaders hope to establish a learning sciences minor for doctoral students, add more senior faculty and become more active in education reform efforts. “We need to continue to build bridges between basic research in neuroscience and psychology and applied research in education,” Porter said. “Thanks to the Vanderbilt administration’s foresight in creating the LSI, the university has placed itself at the forefront of this rapidly growing field.”

Though he is stepping down as LSI director to become dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education in the fall, Porter said he is confident the LSI will continue to shape the direction and character of learning sciences research. “The LSI’s journey is just beginning,” he said. “There is much more work to be done.” The LSI Colloquium Series continues this spring semester, with Doug and Lynn Fuchs speaking on “Responsiveness-to-Intervention: A Framework for the Prevention and Identification of Learning Disabilities” on March 21, and Gordon Logan speaking on “The Mysterious Story of Cognitive Control” on April 18.

To learn more about the LSI and watch a video about its work, visit peabody.vanderbilt.edu/LSI.xml.
3/6/2007 http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/newspub/gEg252?id=32636&mode=print