SLC Catalyst: Science of Learning in Urban Educating Institutions

这项可持续发展促进活动的目标是在城市教育机构中建立一个学习科学中心，特别注重以学校为基础的数学和科学学习。在从中学到大学的重要过渡时期，城市学生如何应对日益复杂的学术学习需求，以及更充分地探索他们的心理模型如何促进或阻碍他们的学业进步，这一主题被提出为重点，以形成更连贯的观点。这项工作的科学价值之一是，通过召集来自认知、神经认知和社会文化科学学科的专家团队，将当前对心理模型概念的理解综合成一个理论框架，以指导一系列精心设计的研究，以更好地记录城市青年如何学习数学和科学，从而使当前的心理模型概念更加连贯。这项关于城市学生如何通过心理表征学习复杂学科的研究产生了更广泛的影响，包括发明了新的学习策略，以促进城市学生的学习进步，特别是改善了他们在学术研究中取得成功所需技能的出类拔萃的机会，并为进入大学做好了更好的准备。我们将利用数字技术和远程学习策略来增强基于课堂的教学策略。这项研究的证据将被用于开发新的课程材料和教师教育计划，以确保这项工作得到广泛传播。

The goal of this SLC Catalyst activity is to create a Center for the Science of Learning in Urban Educating Institutions with a particular focus on school-based learning of mathematics and science. The theme of "mental models" is proposed as the focus in developing a more coherent view of how urban students cope with the increasingly complex demands of academic learning in the important transition years from middle school to college, and to explore more fully how their mental models enhance or deter their academic progress. One of the scientific merits of this work is the aim to bring more coherence to current conceptions of mental models by assembling a team of experts from disciplines in the cognitive, neurocognitive, and socio-cultural sciences who will synthesize current understanding of the idea of mental models into a theoretical framework to guide a series of carefully crafted studies to better document how urban youth learn mathematics and science. The broader impacts of the research on how urban students learn complex academic subjects through their mental representations include the inventions of new learning strategies to enhance urban student's academic progress, especially improving their opportunities to excel at skills needed to succeed in academic studies and to be better prepared to enter colleges and universities. We will utilize digital technology and distance learning strategies to augment classroom-based instructional strategies. Evidence from this research will be used to develop new curriculum materials and teacher education programs to ensure that the work is widely disseminated.