Learning Sciences and Technology

Learning sciences and technology (LST) researchers at Georgia Tech seek to understand and improve learning environments in classrooms, homes, workplaces, and other virtual and physical communities. Our broad, multidisciplinary team of faculty and students investigates cognitive, social, and technological aspects of pedagogical design. Information about specific projects, publications and contacts can be found by following the links below.
 
bullet Contextualized Support for Learning
Faculty: Mark Guzdial
  The Contextualized Support for Learning (CSL) lab has as its aim the creation of "collaborative Dynabooks." We are a team of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students who design and implement innovative technology for the goal of improving learning, then empirically explore the benefits and usefulness of the technology with real users.
 
bullet Design & Intelligence Lab
Faculty: Ashok Goel
  The Design & Intelligence Laboratory conducts research into computational design and creativity. The goals of our research are to model human creativity in practical tasks such as conceptual design of complex systems, develop interactive tools for aiding humans in creative tasks, and build creative machines. Our research posits analogical reasoning, visual reasoning, and meta-reasoning as fundamental processes of creativity. Computer-aided design and computer-supported learning provide two real-world domains for exploring analogical, visual and meta-reasoning. Current projects explore analogical reasoning in biologically inspired engineering design, visual reasoning on intelligence tests, meta-reasoning in game-playing software agents, and learning about ecological and biological systems in science education.
 
bullet Electronic Learning Communities
Faculty: Amy S. Bruckman
  Our work is inspired by an educational theory called constructionism – the idea that people learn best when they are making something that is personally meaningful to them. Traditional research on constructionist learning tends to focus on individuals. We are particularly interested in the ways communities of learners can motivate and support one another's learning experiences. Computer networks have the potential to facilitate community-supported constructionist learning.
 
bullet Learning By Design
Faculty: Janet Kolodner
  Learning By Design™ is a project-based inquiry approach to science aimed at the middle school grades - 6th through 8th. Our aim is for students to learn science content deeply and at the same time develop the skills and understanding needed to undertake solution of complex, ill-structured problems. We accomplish this by having students learn science in the context of trying to achieve design challenges.
 
journal Journal of the Learning Sciences
Editor: Janet Kolodner
  A cognitive science journal providing a multidisciplinary forum for the presentation and discussion of important ideas that can change our understanding of learning and teaching.
 
College of Computing Georgia Tech