This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S. - Singapore seminar on envisioning learning environments of the future which will be held in Singapore. The co-organizers are Professor Eric Hamilton in the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Professor Chee-Kit Looi in the Learning Sciences Laboratory at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Dr. Dave Sonntag in the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research's (AFOSR) Tokyo Office. In addition, researchers from other Asian countries will be participating. The researchers plan to focus the intersection of research on the following two topics: 1) interactive digital media in learning and 2) mathematical and scientific modeling in complex reasoning and problem-solving. The studies on the effect of interactive digital media on learning are very timely and important in mathematics and science education literature. However, most of these studies have focused more on the development of the interactive digital media rather than on cognitive aspects (such as modeling or conceptual change) associated with learning with this media. In fact, designers and evaluators of digital media have many ideas concerning how this media can facilitate learning. However, we have little information concerning which digital media features provide the most support for enhancing complex conceptual learning and modeling. Similarly, educational research on modeling has not dealt much with digital media. Integration of these two lines of research is an extremely promising direction for future research as well as for building more effective learning environments. The meeting will address areas such as learning sciences, human and social dynamics, the structure of education environments, preparation of a scientifically sophisticated twenty-first century workforce and the new American Competitiveness Initiative.
The co-organizers have complementary scientific expertise in the field. This enables them to evaluate and attract the best researchers to participate in the meetings. Singapore's Learning Sciences Laboratory (LSL) is Asia's first such center which makes it an ideal partner for the U.S. researchers. The symposium will produce a series of research papers and policy briefs that will be published both in a set of proceedings and in established research literature. In addition, the participants will develop a web site which will include the seminar presentations as well as items of importance following the meeting. Participants also plan to develop collaborative research proposals for submission to funding agencies and prepare chapters for a book. These collaborations between the researchers will likely have a significant long-term impact on future learning environments. Seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve postdocs, graduate students and minorities as participants.
