Conference: A Proposal to the National Science Foundation for Support of the Seventh Annual Inter-Science of Learning Centers (iSLC) Student / Postdoctoral Scholar Conference

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The purpose of this proposal is to obtain funding for the seventh annual inter-Science ofLearning Centers (iSLC) Conference entitled "Navigating the Future of the Science of Learning. This conference organized by students and postdoctoral fellows of the six Science of Learning Centers in the Science of Learning Centers (SLC) Program will be hosted by the NSF-funded Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC) in March, 2014. The funds will be used to cover participants' costs of attending the conference, including conference registration, travel, per diem, and accommodations as well as use of facilities at Carnegie Mellon University. The 2014 Conference will build upon the previous Conferences by including cross-Center presentations in both symposia and methodology workshops. In addition, the conference will feature special programming to address its sub-goals of supporting intra-center collaboration, promoting inter-center collaboration, and improving collaboration with the broader community. To promote inter-center collaboration, members of the PSLC will present the Knowledge-Learning-Instruction (KLI) Framework, a theoretical taxonomy for categorizing and aligning knowledge, learning processes, and instructional principles. This would be followed by a discussion of how each Center's research fits (or does not fit) into this framework, or how the KLI could be extended to be applicable to a wider range of studies. To improve collaboration with the broader community, the conference will include a workshop on how to design educational museum exhibits for children. This effort will culminate in an exhibit being designed and installed at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.Intellectual Merit:The iSLC Conferences have been and continue to be vital to the education and training of the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who attend them, and to the emerging interdisciplinary Science of Learning field. Research discussions organized around selected themes will facilitate cross-center collaborations and expand the expertise-base of interdisciplinary researchers in the Science of Learning. Broader Impacts:The Conference's focus on networking provides important community-building and access to diverse expertise that is essential for the sustainability of interdisciplinary training that the students/postdocs have experienced at their home SLC. This annual event enables the trainees to learn from the experiences of their peers, while being exposed to new and alternative methodologies, paradigms, and tools used at the other SLCs. In addition, the Centers will benefit from the increased familiarity of their graduate students and postdocs with ongoing work at other SLCs and in other disciplines.