The new LIFE Center, short for Learning in Informal and Formal Environments, will be directed by John Bransford, a UW professor of education, who will work with four co-principal investigators at the UW, neuroscientist Patricia Kuhl and psychologist Andrew Meltzoff, co-directors of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, and Philip Bell and Reed Stevens, education professors who direct the cognitive studies in education program.
In addition, the center will collaborate with researchers at Stanford University and SRI International, an independent research institute based in Menlo Park, Calif.
The UW center is one of three being funded by NSF to serve as hubs for a national network of research focused on learning. The two other centers will be headquartered at Boston University and Carnegie Mellon University. Over all, NSF awarded $36.5 million to fund the three centers for three years. Additional renewal funding could raise the total to $69.9 million for five years. Of that, the UW center could receive $24.9 million.
"The LIFE Center is being created to understand and advance human learning through a simultaneous focus on implicit learning and the brain, informal, and formal learning," said Bransford. "I am excited by our team, which involves research scholars from a variety of traditions that have rarely had the opportunity to work collaboratively. Our expertise spans neurobiological, psychological and sociocultural approaches and also incorporates pioneering work in augmenting human learning through new technologies."
Research will be conducted on three intersecting tracks – implicit learning and the brain, informal learning, and formal learning. Implicit learning happens automatically in all kinds of settings and is the way people learn language, social behavior and culture from infancy to adulthood. Informal learning takes place outside of school settings such as in the workplace, in parent and peer interactions and in children's everyday activities. Formal learning occurs in the classroom and this line of research also will focus on designing learning environments and preparing people for future learning.
Other UW researchers involved in the center come from the psychology department and the College of Engineering. Initially, nearly 60 professors, research scientists and graduate students from the UW, Stanford and SRI International will be involved in the center's investigations and that number is expected to increase as the research evolves and attracts new collaborators, according to Bransford. The LIFE Center has an ambitious research agenda that includes 29 separate studies that will be launched in the first year. Others will be added in subsequent years. Among the first-year projects are:
"One of the unique aspects about the Life Center is the breadth of the people who are participating," said Bransford. "We are all committed to creating 'conceptual collisions' that will challenge each of us to look at problems from different perspectives. By juxtaposing different theories, methodologies and tool for research, we believe the center will have a significant impact on people's lives."
For more information, contact Bransford at 206-616-4480 or bransj@u.washington.edu
The National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/home/news/ehr.cfm