Applying the Science of Learning

This was the underlying theme when a select group of high-powered researchers and academics met at a conference on "Applying the Science of Learning" (ASL) at the Kellogg West conference facility outside of Los Angeles earlier this Spring. Co-chairs Diane Halpern and Milton D. Hakel led the group through a series of discussions to examine gaps in research related to learning, barriers to change in educational institutions and practices, and strategies for implementing new approaches to education based on scientific evidence about the cognitive, individual, social and environmental factors that influence learning.

The ASL conference, which was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Marshall Reynolds Trust Fund, APS and California State University, San Bernardino, is an outgrowth of the 1998 Summit of Psychological Science Societies, where education was identified as a priority. Among the potential initiatives that will be pursued by conferees are a research agenda in the science of learning, and the development of demonstration projects of educational practices based on scientific principles of learning.

A list of participants appears on the next page. Watch for details on the Science of Learning initiative and related activities in future issues of the Observer.

For additional information you can visit the ASL web site at http://asl.csusb.edu/.

	Diane Halpern (left) and Milton D. Hakel address conference participants.
	Bob Bjork encourages ASL attendees to finish dinner so they can get back to work.

CO-CHAIRS
Diane Halpern
Milton D. Hakel

STEERING COMMITTEE
Doug Bernstein
Robert Bjork
Earl Hunt
Alan Kraut
Sheldon Zedeck