Humans of Learning Sciences

About Humans of Learning Sciences

Humans of Learning Sciences aims to amplify the diverse perspectives of scholars in the Learning Sciences. Rather than focusing on interviewee's research agendas or scholarly accomplishments, Humans will foreground what's typically unspoken: Why we do what we do, what inspires and challenges us, and what we have learned about ourselves and others by studying and supporting learning across settings. Humans of LS is co-produced by Dr. Mon-Lin Monica Ko and Andrew Gregory Krzak, with generous support from the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Publisher

Humans of Learning Sciences

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Jan 2022

Latest episode

20 Dec 2023

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Dec 2023

   Dr. Antti Rajala - University of Eastern Finland and Dr. Moises Esteban Guitart - University of Girona: Employing Utopian Methodologies in Research and Practice

   When you hear the word Utopia - what comes to mind? The images that it conjures up for you may seem unimaginable in the context of ecological crises, multiple wars, political strife, and the pandemic that characterizes our world. Today, I get to talk with two scholars who are working to help us understand this idea of utopian methodologies – a research approach that can help us envision, implement, sustain, and critically evaluate educational activity systems – an approach that can help us take concrete, actionable steps that can guide us toward a more just future in our work as learning scientists. My guests today are Drs. Antti Rajala and Moises Esteban Guitart. Antti is a Senior Researcher at the School of Educational Sciences and Psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. Moises is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Institute of Educational Research of the University of Girona. ------------------- Works Discussed: Esteban-Guitart, M., Iglesias, E., Serra, J. M., & Subero, D. (2023). Community Funds of Knowledge and Identity: A Mesogenetic Approach to Education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 54(3), 307–317. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12451 (https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12451) Esteban-Guitart, M. & Moll. (2014). Funds of Identity: A new concept based on the Funds of Knowledge approach. Culture & Psychology, 20, 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X13515934 (https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X13515934) Rajala, A., Cole, M., & Esteban-Guitart, M. (2023). Utopian methodology: Researching educational interventions over multiple timescales. Journal of the Learning Sciences. Rajala, A., Jornet, J., & Accioly, I. (2023). Utopian methodologies to address the social and ecological crises through educational research. In C. Damsa, A. Rajala, G. Ritella, & Brower, J. (Eds.), Re-theorizing learning and research methods in learning research, New Perspectives on Learning and Instruction, London: Routledge.

2. 

   23 Aug 2023

   Dr. Thomas M. Philip - University of California at Berkeley and Dr. Jeremy Roschelle - Digital Promise: Humanism at the dawn of the AI age: teacher roles as generative AI enters the classroom

   If you’ve been listening to the news over the last few months, you know that there’s been incredible interest, debate, and lots of speculation about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the years to come. I’ve been really interested in the kinds of verbs and metaphors that have been used to describe the relationship between humans and AI - as collaborators, as replacements, or as a form of surveillance, for instance. And, I've been curious about the view that learning scientists take on these emerging technologies. I’m thrilled to be bringing together two scholars who have been thinking about this –  both the opportunities and challenges that arise as AI technologies make their way into schools and classrooms. Today, we’ll be in conversation with two scholars whose works I’ve LONG admired. We’ll be talking with Drs. Jeremy Roschelle and Thomas M. Philip. Jeremy is the Executive Director of Learning Sciences Research at Digital Promise, and Thomas is Professor and Director of the Teacher Education program at the University of California, Berkeley. --- Works Discussed: Philip, T.M., Souto-Manning, M., Anderson, L., Horn, L., Carter Andrews, D., Stillman, J., & Varghese, M. (2018). Making justice peripheral by constructing practice as “core”: How the increasing prominence of core practices challenges teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(3), 251-264. Philip, T.M., Gupta, A., Elby, A., & Turpen, C. (2018). Why ideology matters for learning: A case of ideological convergence in an engineering ethics classroom discussion on drone warfare. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 27(2), 183-223. Philip, T.M., Olivares-Pasillas, M. C., & Rocha, J. (2016). Becoming racially literate about data and data literate about race: A case of data visualizations in the classroom as a site of racial-ideological micro-contestations. Cognition and Instruction, 34(4), 361-388. Roschelle, J. (2020). A review of the International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 2021. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 15(4), 499–505. Roschelle, J., Mazziotti, C. & Means, B. (2021). Scaling Up Design of Inquiry Environments. In C. Chinn & R.G. Duncan et al (Eds.), International Handbook on Learning and Inquiry. Routledge. ISBN 9781138922600 Roschelle, J. (1992). Learning by collaborating: Convergent conceptual change. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(3), 235-276.

3. 

   20 Jul 2023

   Dr. Jennifer Langer Osuna - Stanford University and Dr. Karlyn Adams Wiggins - Portland State University: Classroom collaboration as a site for understanding identity, authority, becoming

   If you’ve ever been a part of a team, you no doubt have had experiences with successful and not-so-successful collaborations.  What makes collaborations fruitful, and, why and when do they stall or dead-end? Our field has been grappling with these questions for quite some time, both in virtual and in-person learning environments. Collaborations typically involve two or more learners who come together to jointly analyze problems and develop a plan or solution to address it. But, my guests today want to problematize this straightforward notion of collaboration, and push us to think about collaboration not just as a process of joint knowledge construction, but as a situated process in which students exercise agency, navigate and even shift power dynamics, and negotiate their social and intellectual authority and identity. Our guests today are Drs. Jennifer Langer Osuna and Karlyn Adams-Wiggins. Jenny is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, and Karlyn is an Associate Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology at Portland State University. --- Works Discussed: Packer, M. J., & Goicoechea, J. (2000). Sociocultural and constructivist theories of learning: Ontology, not just epistemology. Educational psychologist, 35(4), 227-241. Langer-Osuna, J. M., Gargroetzi, E., Munson, J., & Chavez, R. (2020). Exploring the role of off-task activity on students’ collaborative dynamics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(3), 514–532. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000464 Langer-Osuna, J. M. (2018). Exploring the central role of student authority relations in collaborative mathematics. ZDM, 50(6), 1077–1087. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-018-0965-x Stetsenko, A. P. (2020). Critical Challenges in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory: The Urgency of Agency. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 16(2), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160202 Adams-Wiggins, K. R., & Dancis, J. S. (2023). Marginality in inquiry-based science learning contexts: the role of exclusion cascades. Mind, Culture, and Activity, https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2023.2178014 Adams-Wiggins, K. R., & Taylor-García, D. V. (2020). The Manichean division in children’s experience: Developmental psychology in an anti-Black world. Theory & Psychology, 30(4), 485–506. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320940049 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320940049)

4. 

   22 May 2023

   Dr. Antero Garcia - Stanford University and Dr. Nicole Mirra - Rutgers University: Literacy to advocate for justice in an often unjust world

   We talk with Drs. Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia. These two scholars are long-time collaborators, and, if I did the math right, have co-authored 25 books, conference proceedings, journal articles, together. Both of our guests today are associate professors in Graduate Schools of Education on opposite coasts of the United States: Nicole at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and Antero is at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. Their collaboration spans about a decade, and has most recently resulted in a book entitled CIVICS for the World to Come: Committing to Democracy in Every Classroom. Today, I get the wonderful privilege to pick their brains about their collaboration, civic engagement, why its important to center the ingenuity of young people and how to dream up a more just future. Works discussed: Civics for the World to Come: Committing to Democracy in Every Classroom a book by Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia. (2023). https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324030218 (https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324030218) Garcia, A., & Mirra, N. (2023). Other suns: Designing for racial equity through speculative education. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 32(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2023.2166764 (https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2023.2166764) Mirra, N., & Garcia, A. (2022). Guns, Schools, and Democracy: Adolescents Imagining Social Futures Through Speculative Civic Literacies. American Educational Research Journal, 00028312221074400. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312221074400 (https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312221074400) Mirra, N., & Garcia, A. (2020). “I Hesitate but I Do Have Hope”: Youth Speculative Civic Literacies for Troubled Times. Harvard Educational Review, 90(2), 295–321. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-90.2.295 (https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-90.2.295)

5. 

   26 Apr 2023

   Dr. Ann Ishimaru - University of Washington and Dr. Bill Penuel - University of Colorado at Boulder: Building and sustaining partnerships within and across education systems

   Today I get to be in conversation with two scholars who have been working hard to help us think about how partnerships can lead to educational justice. My guests are Dr. Bill Penuel and Dr. Ann Ishimaru. Bill is the Distinguished Professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development in the School of Education and a faculty member at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder.  Ann is the Bridge Family Associate Professor in the College of Education and the Director of the Just Ed Leadership Institute at the University of Washington. Works cited: Farrell, C. C., Penuel, W. R., Allen, A., Anderson, E. R., Bohannon, A. X., Coburn, C. E., & Brown, S. L. (2022). Learning at the Boundaries of Research and Practice: A Framework for Understanding Research–Practice Partnerships. Educational Researcher, 51(3), 197–208. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211069073 (https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211069073) Farrell, C. C., Singleton, C., Stamatis, K., Riedy, R., Arce-Trigatti, P., & Penuel, W. R. (2023). Conceptions and Practices of Equity in Research-Practice Partnerships. Educational Policy, 37(1), 200–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048221131566 (Partnerships. Educational Policy, 37(1), 200–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048221131566) Ishimaru, A. M. (2019). Just schools: Building equitable collaborations with families and communities. Teachers College Press. Ishimaru, A. M., & Bang, M. (2022). Designing with Families for Just Futures. Journal of Family Diversity in Education, 4(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.53956/jfde.2022.171 (https://doi.org/10.53956/jfde.2022.171)

6. 

   15 Dec 2022

   Dr. Matt Brown - Inquirium, LLC: Designing to Support Learning Beyond the Lifespan of a Grant

   Our final episode of season 1 of Humans of Learning Sciences is with Dr. Matt Brown. Matt is a co-director at Inquirium, a design company that works collaboratively with clients to identify learning goals, and then develop custom learning environments and solutions to meet those goals. Inquirium has taken on vastly different projects, from designing exhibits at museums to developing data visualizations to help teachers track student growth. As you’ll find out in today’s conversation, Inquirium’s approach to tackling these TRANSdisciplinary, MUTIimodal problems is grounded in part, grounded in Matt’s experience as a learner, as a teacher, as well as in his training as a learning scientist. He talks about how products that are built through grant funded projects are often fantastic, but typically lack that final 10% of refinement and polish that can really make 90% of the difference in terms of long-term teacher uptake. We also talk about the scariness of starting a company with other burgeoning learning scientist at a time when the field was new – and how they distinguish themselves from other design firms with their focus on learning, and yet, also adopted existing practices and workflows from disciplines like architecture, to streamline their work. You won’t want to miss this one – especially if you love the design aspect of the field and are looking for non-academic positions in which to use your skill set and perspective as a learning scientist. Works Cited https://www.inquirium.net/ (https://www.inquirium.net/)

7. 

   26 Oct 2022

   Dr. Philip Vahey - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: The Productive Messiness of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

   My guest today is Dr. Phil Vahey, the Director of Applied Learning Sciences at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, or HMH. Prior to this role, he was the director of mathematics learning environments at SRI International’s Center for Learning Technologies. There he researched the use of dynamic technologies to help students learn difficult math concepts for over 20 years. If you've ever taught preschool children, you might be familiar with early math with Gracie and friends, or early science with Miko and Nora. Phil had a hand in creating both of these curricula and apps designed to support early mathematics and science learning. Here are two key things that emerge in this conversation that I think are worth paying close attention to. First, Phil talks about how he made his decision to go directly to a research institute out of graduate school. Second, we discuss the different ways we can think about “making an impact” as a learning scientist. We also discuss the challenges that arise when you work in interdisciplinary teams – even when you, a priori, seem to have shared goals and language about the problems you want to address. We get to hear about the messy “behind the scenes” problem solving that is necessarily a part of what it means to work on hard problems, and talk about the design tradeoffs you make as a result alleviating those tensions. This is a particularly fascinating conversation for those of you who are interested in educational technologies and pursuing a career outside of academia. As always, email us with your comments and questions. The source materials will be linked in the episode description. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com). Works Discussed Vahey, P. J., Reider, D., Orr, J., Lewis Presser, A., & Dominguez, X. (2018). The Evidence Based Curriculum Design Framework: Leveraging Diverse Perspectives in the Design Process. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 9(1), 135–148. https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v9i1.23080 (https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v9i1.23080) Vahey, P., Knudsen, J., Rafanan, K., & Lara-Meloy, T. (2013). Curricular Activity Systems Supporting the Use of Dynamic Representations to Foster Students’ Deep Understanding of Mathematics. In C. Mouza & N. Lavigne (Eds.), Emerging Technologies for the Classroom: A Learning Sciences Perspective (pp. 15–30). Springer. (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4696-5_2)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4696-5_ (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4696-5_2)2 Zahner, W., Velazquez, G., Moschkovich, J., Vahey, P., & Lara-Meloy, T. (2012). Mathematics teaching practices with technology that support conceptual understanding for Latino/a students. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 31(4), 431–446. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2012.06.002)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2012.06.00 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2012.06.002)2

8. 

   30 Aug 2022

   Dr. Déana Scipio - IslandWood: Working Toward Environmental Justice Through Liminal Learning

   My guest today is Dr. Déana Scipio. Her career has focused on broadening the participation of non-dominant youth in rich meaningful learning, with a focus on environmental education. She's currently Director of Graduate and Higher Education Programming at IslandWood (https://islandwood.org/). If you’ve never heard of IslandWood - you’ll have to do some digging either before or after listening to this episode. It is a residential environmental education nonprofit that offers programming in the Seattle region for people of all ages. The goal of IW is to deepen people’s understanding of the world around them and, in turn, help people understand the impact they can have on their environment. The IslandWood campus is a place that supports learning in ways that are much more expansive than how schools are designed today. If you step on campus, you’ll find students exploring a bog, climbing a tree house, working in gardens, or gathering in a floating classroom; indoors, you’ll see students work in the wet lab or at art studio. Through their exploration in this expansive place, students are learning about science, math, art and social studies – as it is situated, expressed, and manifested in nature. I found myself wanting to bring my family there so I could experience Island Wood first hand! In our conversation today, Dé unpacks what I see as the theory of action that underlies the graduate programming that she directs at Island Wood – and how intersectionality, positionality, and humility are pivotal to shifting the graduate students view of themselves, their environment, and their students – all in support of environmental justice. We talk about her personal and professional experience– as a student at Island Wood, as a graduate student, museum educator, director, and daughter and sister – all contribute to the vision of learning that she aspires to support at Island Wood. The one word I kept coming back to long after the interview was conducted was liminality – the ability to move across boundaries and spaces. It perfectly encapsulates Dé – and that word reminded me that we need to push on the disciplinary silos that we often feel constrained to when we study and support learning. As always, email us with your comments and questions. The source materials will be linked in episode description. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com). Works discussed: Bell, P., Tzou, C., Bricker, L., & Baines, A. D. (2012). Learning in diversities of structures of social practice: Accounting for how, why and where people learn science. Human Development, 55(5–6), 269–284. Thompson, J., Mawyer, K., Johnson, H., Scipio, D., & Luehmann, A. (2021). From Responsive Teaching Toward Developing Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Science Teaching Practices. About IslandWood: (https://vimeo.com/310153084)https://vimeo.com/310153 (https://vimeo.com/310153084)084 and https://vimeo.com/695819281 (https://vimeo.com/695819281) Hayhoe, K. (2021). Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. Atria/One Signal Publishers.

9. 

   21 Jul 2022

   Dr. Carol D. Lee - Northwestern University: Bringing Culture to the Center of the Study of Learning

   Dr. Carol Lee, Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University, is my guest on today’s episode. Carol is - and has been a tour de force in our field, a pioneer who has brought culture to the center of our investigation of learning. You may have seen or read her work on class syllabi, or heard one of her many speeches or remarks at conferences. But what are the life experiences that led her to where she is now? That’s the focus of today’s episode. We talk about her experience as an English teacher in Chicago Public Schools, her involvement with the Black Arts movement, and building, from the ground up, African centered schools – Carol has lived many lives and can tell you how each of these experiences formed her and her approach to studying learning. She recounts, from her perspective, what the beginnings of our field looked like, and what excites her about the future of the Learning Sciences. I love that Carol is, fittingly, a forever learner, who is still digging into new literature across disciplines like biology, philosophy, and neuroscience and pushing herself to think about how we can bring these disparate fields together to inform how we study learning. This is an episode you don’t want to miss! Works discussed: Lee, C. D. (2010). Soaring above the clouds, delving the ocean’s depths: Understanding the ecologies of human learning and the challenge for education science. Educational Researcher, 39(9), 643–655. Lee, C. D., Lomotey, K., & Shujaa, M. (1990). How shall we Sing our Sacred Song in a Strange Land? The Dilemma of Double Consciousness and the Complexities of an African–Centered Pedagogy. Journal of Education, 172(2), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/002205749017200205 (https://doi.org/10.1177/002205749017200205) Nasir, Na'ilah Suad, Lee, Carol D., Pea, Roy, McKinney de Royston, Maxine. Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning (2020). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-the-Cultural-Foundations-of-Learning/Nasir-Lee-Pea-Royston/p/book/9780415839051 (https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-the-Cultural-Foundations-of-Learning/Nasir-Lee-Pea-Royston/p/book/9780415839051 ) As always, email us with your comments and questions. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com).

10. 

    1 Jun 2022

    Dr. Breanne Litts - Utah State University: Authentic partnerships and bridging cross-cultural contexts through making and design

    Dr. Breanne Litts is an Assistant Professor in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences (https://cehs.usu.edu/itls/) and director of Learn, Explore, Design Lab at Utah State University (https://www.usu.edu/). Breanne’s work explores the ways in which technology can help young people construct their identities through place and story in cross-cultural contexts. She looks at how the work of making, designing, and producing can promote collaborations across disciplines, communities, and cultures. We start our conversation talking about how her experiences in Northern Ireland helped her understand how design and making can serve as a literal bridge across political divides and bring people that hold diverse perspectives together. Breanne conducts her work with Indigenous communities, and consistently positions herself as a learner, team member, and partner alongside tribal leaders and youth. She uses a community driven design to problematize existing technologies and works in collaboration with tribal communities to build new technologies that help indigenous youth capture and tell their histories and stories. What really stood out to me during our conversation is the way in which Breanne upholds partnership. Its inherent in what she does and how she does it. You can see it trickle all the way up and down her approach – from how her IRB is written, to the cultural competency training she requires for those who join her lab, to who gets a say in deciding what questions they ask and who they do it with. We also wrestle with the notion of what it means to make an impact on the world through our work. What does it mean for us to enact change in the world? How do we do that in partnership with communities without always taking away but rather, pouring into the people we work with? I hope this conversation provides you with some fodder for discussion about the ways in which learning scientists can create real change in what, how and why and why we do what we do as we study and support learning. As always, email us with your comments and questions. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com). Works discussed: Litts, B. K., Searle, K. A., Brayboy, B. M. J., & Kafai, Y. B. (2021). Computing for all?: Examining critical biases in computational tools for learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 842–857. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13059 (https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13059) Litts, B. K., Tehee, M., Jenkins, J., Baggaley, S., Isaacs, D., Hamilton, M. M., & Yan, L. (2020). Culturally disruptive research: A critical (re)engagement with research processes and teaching practices. Information and Learning Science, 121(9/10), 769–784. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ILS-02-2020-0019 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ILS-02-2020-0019)

11. 

    8 Apr 2022

    Dr. Kalonji Nzinga - University of Colorado Boulder: A conversation about hip hop culture and oral traditions of knowledge transmission

    Why are so many people around the globe enamored with hip hop culture? How do young people develop morality and ethics through their engagement with rap music? These are questions that Dr. Kalonji Nzinga, an assistant professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado, Boulder, tries to answer through his work. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about: ….hip hop as an art form that comes from African traditions of storytelling, …the differences between oral vs. written traditions in transmitting knowledge within a community, and ...the etymology of the word “woke”. What is fascinating about Kalonji is his ability to push boundaries in ways that allow him to fully live into his multi-hyphenate identity – as a hip hop artist, cultural psychologist, educator, and learning scientist. We’re so excited to bring this conversation to you today. As always, email us with your comments and questions. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com). Episode transcript (https://lsri.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/345/2022/04/nzinga.pdf). Works Discussed: 1. Bâ, A. H. (1989). The living tradition. In UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. I, Abridged Edition: Methodology and African Prehistory (Vol. 1, pp. 166–205). Heinemann Unesco; www.ucpress.edu (http://www.ucpress.edu/) http://repository.out.ac.tz/403/1/Vol_1._Methodology_&_African_Prehistory_editor_J.KI-ZERBO(FILEminimizer).pdf#page=189 (http://repository.out.ac.tz/403/1/Vol_1._Methodology_&_African_Prehistory_editor_J.KI-ZERBO(FILEminimizer).pdf#page=189) 2. Keeping Language Arts On The Low: A Low-Key Rap Verse | Kalonji Nzinga | CU Boulder's Ed Talks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTBcya0YSMA) 3. Kalonji Nzinga: We Can’t Breathe: Prefigurative Artivism as a Means of Returning to Our Breath (https://pt.coursera.org/lecture/health-society-and-wellness-in-covid-19-times/kalonji-nzinga-we-can-t-breathe-prefigurative-artivism-as-a-means-of-returning-QRtgt)

12. 

    11 Mar 2022

    Dr. Suraj Uttamchandani - Indiana University: Using critical qualitative methods to move toward educational equity

    Dr. Suraj Uttamchandani is a visiting research scientist at the Indiana University Center for Research on Learning and Technology. In today’s episode, we’ll discuss his experience as an undergraduate mathematics major and how policies in the United States like Religious Freedom Restoration Act directly informed his scholarship, which is at the intersection of educational equity, the learning sciences, and critical qualitative methodologies. In our conversation, we talk about educational intimacy – a construct that came out of his dissertation, as he was trying to put a finger on the forms of the learning that were happening in an LGBTQ+ youth group. We talk about his participation as a volunteer in the group, and how his methodological training within and outside of the learning sciences prepared him to take on this work. He is currently exploring non-Western orientations to learning and development with the South Asian learning sciences Research collective. What I found most compelling in this conversation with Suraj is the invitational nature of his work, and the connections between his lived experiences and how he goes about his research. We also talk about the revisionist nature of learning – how what we put down on paper is just a mere capture of our current thinking, and how taking a retrospective lens to our own work helps us see how we’ve moved forward or deepened our initial ideas. I hope you enjoy this episode and look forward to your reactions and responses to our conversation. As always, email us with your comments, questions. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com (mailto:HumansLSpod@gmail.com). Episode transcript (https://lsri.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/345/2022/03/utthamchandani_transcript.pdf). Works discussed: Uttamchandani, S. (2018). Equity in the learning sciences: Recent themes and pathways. In J. Kay & R. Luckin (Eds.), International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2018, Volume 1 (pp. 480-487). International Society of the Learning Sciences (https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/892/1/59.pdf). Uttamchandani, S. (2021). Educational intimacy: Learning, prefiguration, and relationships in an LGBTQ+ youth group’s advocacy efforts. Journal of the Learning Sciences 30(1), 52-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2020.1821202 (https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2020.1821202) Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409–428. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15 (https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15)

13. 

    7 Feb 2022

    Dr. Joe Curnow - University of Manitoba: Learning in Social Movements

    In today's episode, we talk with Dr. Joe Curnow, currently an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba. Joe studies the learning that happens as people participate in social movements. Our conversation begins with Joe recounting her early days as an undergraduate student at Northwestern, as an organizer on Chicago's north side, and working on fair trade policies in Washington, DC. She talks about how she became politicized and started to see that the issues she cared about were really just indicators and outcomes of larger societal issues in our economy and trade policies. We focus a good chunk of our time talking about her most recent work, including the article called Politicization and Process: Developing Political Concepts, Practices, Epistemologies, and Identities Through Activist Engagement (https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218804496). That article, among others, came out of her efforts to describe the learning processes she saw happening. We also talk about the relationship between organizing, learning, and taking action. Much of this is contextualized in a book that's been formative for her career called We Make a Road by Walking. The book is a transcript of a facilitated conversation between Myles Horton and Paulo Freire. Episode transcript (https://lsri.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/345/2022/02/humans_curnow.pdf). Works discussed: 1. Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990). We make the road by walking: Conversations on education and social change. Temple University Press (https://tupress.temple.edu/book/3600). 2. Curnow, J., Fernandes, T., Dunphy, S., & Asher, L. (2020). Pedagogies of Snark: Learning through Righteous, Riotous Anger in the Youth Climate Movement. Gender & Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2020.1786014 (https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2020.1786014). 3. Curnow, J., Davis, A., & Asher, L. (2019). Politicization in Process: Developing Political Concepts, Practices, Epistemologies, and Identities Through Activist Engagement. American Educational Research Journal. 56(3) 716-752. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218804496 (https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218804496)

14. 

    27 Jan 2022

    An Introduction to the Series, and to Your Host

    What does it mean to be a learning scientist? What are the unique contributions of learning scientists to the problems we are trying to tackle as a society? How does one find their way to this field? Humans of Learning Sciences aims to stimulate conversations within the field and beyond about the work of studying and promoting learning in a diversity of contexts. We aim to amplify the voices of diverse scholars (in academia, research, industry, and non-profit organizations) at various stages in their careers in order to showcase the range of methods, approaches, and trajectories that define the interdisciplinary field of learning sciences. Dr. Mon-Lin Monica Ko (https://lsri.uic.edu/profiles/ko-mon-lin/) holds a PhD in the learning sciences from Northwestern University. She is a research assistant professor at the Learning Sciences Research Institute (https://lsri.uic.edu/) at the University of Illinois of Chicago. The series is co-produced by Andrew Gregory Krzak (MFA), a multi-modal storyteller and educator.

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