The LIFE Center: Learning in Informal and Formal Environments

这是一个关于更新位于西雅图华盛顿大学的LIFE中心的提案，LIFE中心是一个多大学、多年、跨学科的项目，致力于研究学习中的社会因素，这是学习科学中一个未被充分认识的元素。该中心目前已经结束了第5年的支持，计划继续努力“开发和测试关于人类在非正式和正式环境中学习的社会基础的原则，包括人们如何在当代社会中学习创新，以提高人类从婴儿期到成年期的学习能力。”下一阶段的研究项目包括：(1)语言学习中的社会因素——尤其是在婴儿中；(2)通过识别和利用社会互动和“社会信念”，即人们与他人互动的感知，来通过媒体和技术加强学习的新设计，无论这是否正确；(3)对社会认同和刻板印象学习的影响；(4)科学学习中的社会实践；包括社会环境下非正式科学学习的人类学研究，(5)对加强专业知识、转移和评估的新观点和努力，(6)促进学习的工作场所社会实践，以及(7)父母、同伴和导师非正式教学的重要性。除了证明社会因素对学习的强大影响外，《生活》杂志的研究人员还将寻求一个整体理论问题的答案：“社会是什么有力地促进了学习？”不仅仅是一个研究中心，LIFE参与者还致力于本科生、研究生和博士后的教育；增加教师、学生和未来科学家的多样性；并将研究成果转化为教育和工作场所的实践。

Proposal NSF 0835854: The LIFE CenterABSTRACTThis is a proposal to renew the LIFE Center, situated at the University of Washington in Seattle, a multi-university, multi-year, interdisciplinary project devoted to the study of social factors in learning, an underappreciated element of the science of learning. Now concluding its 5th year of support, the center proposes to continue its efforts "to develop and test principles about the social foundations of human learning in informal and formal environments, including how people learn to innovate in contemporary society, with the goal of enhancing human learning from infancy to adulthood."Among the research projects to be pursued during the next phase of investigation are (1) social factors in language learning--especially in infants, (2) new designs to enhance learning via media and technology by identifying and utilizing social interaction and "social belief", the perception that one is interacting with a human being, whether or not this is true, (3) effects on learning of social identity and stereotyping, (4) social practices in science learning, including an anthropological study of informal science learning in social settings, (5) new views of and efforts to enhance expertise, transfer and assessment, (6) social practices in the workplace that foster learning, and (7) the importance of informal teaching by parents, peers and mentors.In addition to demonstrating strong effects of social factors on learning, the researchers in LIFE will pursue answers to the overall theoretical question: "What is it about the social that powerfully enhances learning?"More than just a research center, LIFE participants are also committed to the education of undergraduates, graduate students and post-docs; to increasing diversity among faculty, students and future scientists; and to the transfer of research results to practice in education and workplaces.