Learning Sciences Textbook Published Today

By Shaaron Comment Closed
We finally did it. The team of learning scientists in the LSRI at the University of Nottingham (Shaaron, Pryce, Peter, Johnny and Lenka) have been working to create an introductory text that explores what the learning sciences can offer for teaching. It's an account of the learning sciences for people who are not, or not yet, learning scientists. We are thinking master's students, advanced undergraduates and teacher education courses (or staff rooms). Introducing the Learning Sciences: Insights and Implications for Teaching It's relatively short, and we hope relatively readable, and tries to introduce key concepts from the learning sciences in ways that empower people to adopt and adapt these ideas. It is grounded in a view that learning is embodied, representational and relational, so it covers classic topics such as cognitive processes, socio-cultural foundations and emotional and motivational considerations. We don't cover the field's history, but we do speculate about where we might be going. We also try to balance coverage of...
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New paper published the International Journal of Science Education

By Shaaron Comment Closed
if you want to know more about how the meaning of scientific research is transformed as it is more widely disseminated, then we can recommend reading this paper just published on line by Pryce Davis. He follows a single piece of research from publication through interactions between the author and a news reporter to its presentation in a popular news story read by a member of the public. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21548455.2025.2575412#abstract Unfortunately this is behind a paywall, so if you cannot get access do feel free to to contact Pryce Davis directly....
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Gabriela Zapata: A busy summer

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Did you see Gabriela this summer? If so you might have been at one of the many conferences wherere she was presenting! She was in Glasgow for the 50th International Systemic Functional Congress and Institute and presented Zapata, G. C., Tzirides, A. O., You, Y.-L., Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2025). Enhancing formative feedback with Generative AI: A Systemic Functional Linguistics discourse analysis. If you missed it, good news the part of a Springer peer reviewed book on AI and education and here’s the reference for the pre-print: Zapata, G. C., Tzirides A. O., Cope, B., You, Y.-L., Kalantzis, M., & Searsmith, D. (2025). A systemic functional linguistics discourse analysis of learner-centered, generative AI feedback in higher education. EdArXiv. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/nuhq2_v1  She was in Granada for the Thirty-Second International Conference on Learning and spoke to this paper zirides, A. O., Zapata, G. C., Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., & Searsmith, D. (2025). GenAi-by-Design framework: Human centered AI integration for feedback and learning in higher education. Finally, you might have...
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Congratulations to Peter

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Article by Dr Peter Woods nominated for best long paper prize The International Conference of the Learning Sciences is currently taking place in Helsinki and we are delighted to hear that Dr Peter Wood's paper: Exclusionary and Emancipatory Learning Praxes of Gender Nonconforming Noise Musicians is nominated for the best long paper prize. Abstract Building on the recent growth of explicitly queer approaches to learning sciences scholarship, this paper explores the learning praxes of gender nonconforming noise musicians. The community of practice (CoP) surrounding noise music, a caustic subgenre of experimental music, provides a fruitful site of research because of its history of tensions related to marginalized gender identities. Through this study, I address the following research questions: What exclusionary practices do gender nonconforming musicians recognize in noise music scenes? And how do gender nonconforming noise musicians challenge those issues to produce a safer and more just informal learning environment? In analyzing interviews with 36 globally dispersed musicians, I discuss a series of exclusionary and liberatory learning praxes...
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Shaaron Ainsworth to Lead EWC’s Professionally Speaking 2024 event

By Johnny Comment Closed
There is still time to register to hear Shaaron give the EWC annual keynote address on Wednesday. She will be "unlocking the mysteries of learning" at 4pm online and you can register here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/education-workforce-council/professionally-speaking-2024-unlocking-the-mysteries-of-learning/e-kdamqz The EWC are the independent, professional regulator for the education workforce in Wales, covering teachers and learning support staff in school and further education settings, youth/youth support workers, and work-based learning practitioners....
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Peter Woods: New publications on educational practices of experimental music scenes

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Furthering his research into the educational practices of experimental music scenes, LSRI member Peter Woods recently had two new papers published that examine this informal learning context through a critical lens. In The Pedagogy of Gear Touchers, Woods argues that aspiring musicians in do-it-yourself (DIY) music venues use the lack of an audience/artist barrier to talk about music technology with performers. However, these conversations amplify the overtly masculine framing of technology in society at large and further marginalize women, trans, and non-binary participants in these scenes. Woods therefore raises questions about the kinds of informal pedagogies that surround technology outside of schools (i.e., the constructionist approach to learning found in maker spaces). You can find the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231190498 And in Conceptualizing Anti-Racist Pedagogies Within Experimental Music's Community of Practice, Woods presents new findings drawn from an experimental music venue's recent DEI initiative focused on addressing issues of white supremacy within their organization. In exploring how the board of this venue conceptualized their efforts, Woods argues that community organizers in all contexts can look to...
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