The field of the learning sciences is concerned with educational research from the dual perspectives of human cognition and computing technologies, and the application of this research in three integrated areas: *Design: Design of learning and teaching environments, tools, or media, including innovative curricula, multimedia, artificial intelligence, telecommunications technologies, visualization, modeling, and design theories and activity structures for supporting learning and teaching. *Cognition: Models of the structures and processes of learning and teaching by which knowledge, skills, and understanding are developed, including the psychological foundations of the field, learning in content areas, professional learning, and the study of learning enabled by tools or social structures. *Social Context: The social, organizational, and cultural dynamics of learning and teaching across the range of formal and informal settings, including schools, museums, homes, families, and professional settings. Investigations in the learning sciences approach these issues from an interdisciplinary stance combining the traditional disciplines of computer science, cognitive science, and education. This book documents the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2000), which brought together experts from academia, industry, and education to discuss the application of theoretical and empirical knowledge from learning sciences research to practice in K-12 or higher education, corporate training, and learning in the home or other informal settings.

More than a decade has passed since the First International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) was held at Northwestern University in 1991. The conference has now become an established place for researchers to gather. The 2004 meeting is the first under the official sponsorship of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). The theme of this conference is "Embracing Diversity in the Learning Sciences." As a field, the learning sciences have always drawn from a diverse set of disciplines to study learning in an array of settings. Psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, and artificial intelligence have all contributed to the development of methodologies to study learning in schools, museums, and organizations. As the field grows, however, it increasingly recognizes the challenges to studying and changing learning environments across levels in complex social systems. This demands attention to new kinds of diversity in who, what, and how we study; and to the issues raised to develop coherent accounts of how learning occurs. Ranging from schools to families, and across all levels of formal schooling from pre-school through higher education, this ideology can be supported in a multitude of social contexts. The papers in these conference proceedings respond to the call.

ISLS is a professional society dedicated to the interdisciplinary empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings and how learning may be facilitated both with and without technology. ISLS sponsors two professional conferences, held in alternate years. The International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), first held in 1991 and held biannually since 1996, covers the entire field of the learning sciences. The final papers included in the ICLS 2012 Proceedings are for 18 symposia, 60 full papers, 61 short papers, and 62 poster papers, as well as abstracts for the four keynote talks and threespecial sessions, including the invited Presidential Session on The Future of Learning, and nine workshops. The themes reflected in the papers and presentations at ICLS 2012 cover a wide rangeof issues and research areas. Some papers deal with long standing theoretical issues, such as conceptual change and knowledge transfer, whereas other papers report on new learning research in conventional subject areas such as science, mathematics, and literacy. Research is also reported on newer knowledge areas such as complex systems, as well as more recent perspectives on pedagogy and learning such as knowledge building, inquiry, and productive failure. - p. xii.

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.