Learning Sciences: Keeping up with the times, battling anachronism, and choosing “How” over “Does” | W2 Q1 | Discussion

Main concerns
Learning sciences is an interdisciplinary field. This meshing of ideas from different schools of thought invariably leads to the emergence of new ideas, new methodologies, and thoughts about how people learn (Sawyer, pg 3). I feel “new” is a keyword here. Although it’s true that Learning Sciences has now been a discipline for 30 years, its nature makes it a dynamic field. The thoughts about how and when learning happens will evolve, develop, and improve constantly. We can now say that Learning sciences help to gain 21st-century skills, but it will probably help learners gain 22nd-century skills and so on. Constructivism, Cognitive science, Educational Technology, Socio-cultural studies, and studies of disciplinary knowledge are considered “early influences” (Sawyer, pg 5) which is also a key phrase, I think. Perhaps Learning Sciences will draw from more fields in the future, perhaps it may prune thoughts or process that may be proved to be no longer relevant. Also according to Sawyer, “Instructionism is an anachronism in the modern innovation economy”. The reason for saying that instructionism isn’t sufficient is not because instructionism is inherently bad, but because “instructionism prepared students for early 20th century” Thus, one can see why Learning Sciences would try to ‘battle’ any instructional strategy that’s in anachronism with the times. I think that is its primary concern.

Design of Learning environments, use of tech, etc.
In addition, it’s interesting to note that most research questions asked in the field seem to start with “How” (Sawyer, pgs 11-14) eg: “How does Learning happen? How can we measure learning? How can we determine which learning environments work best?” instead of “Does xyz measure learning? Does xyz learning environment work?” It seems value authentic agnostic inquiry first, followed by evidence-based implementation. I feel this will lead to a more scientific approach while designing/studying/implementing technologies or other instructional strategies- while also acknowledging the “art” in teaching and a promise to include on-field educators (Sawyer pg 15)