GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN THE LEARNING SCIENCES

I. Origin and Purpose

The learning sciences is an interdisciplinary field with its roots in both education and psychology. The goal of research in the learning sciences is to understand the full range of human learning: in school classrooms, but also in informal settings like homes, communities, museums, after-school clubs, sports teams, and performance ensembles. To understand learning in rich, real-world contexts, learning scientists must study not only basic concept acquisition but also the development of interconnected networks of concepts. Learning scientists are interested not only in advancing our scientific understanding of learning, but also in developing the instructional implications of their research—stepping outside of the laboratory, working closely with professional educators, and implementing their ideas and refining their scientific understanding based on what happens in real-world learning environments.  Although only a few universities currently offer doctoral training in the learning sciences—most notably, Stanford, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt—this is a growing research area, and several top universities are increasing their offerings in this area.

Students choosing to pursue the Graduate Certificate in the learning sciences will develop a deep understanding about how people learn. The Graduate Certificate is designed for doctoral students in any department. A better understanding of how people learn would be an advantage for any job candidate in today’s competitive market, because regardless of academic discipline, all professors are teachers. The certificate will be particularly attractive to students in the departments of psychology, education, and romance languages, where issues surrounding cognition and learning are central to both research and practice. 

Graduates will be able to use what they learn while pursuing the Certificate in a wide range of settings after graduation. Perhaps most importantly, graduates will be able to use the knowledge they gain to more effectively prepare courses and teach in university settings. Graduates will also be able to use this knowledge to more effectively mentor their own doctoral students. Finally, graduates will gain a deeper understanding of how they learn, and will be able to use this knowledge throughout their lives as they continue lifelong learning, a fact of life in any academic department. 

The learning sciences Graduate Certificate Program is based on current faculty strengths in several Arts and Sciences departments, centered around the deeper understanding of how learning occurs, and how learning environments (including school classrooms but also many other non-school environments where learning occurs) can be better designed to build on cognitive and educational research and the increasing potential of new technologies. Learning sciences is an interdisciplinary field, based primarily in cognitive psychology and educational psychology, but also drawing on anthropology, sociology, neuroscience and related content areas. The Graduate Certificate complements two other programs in the Department of Education: the proposed new learning sciences undergraduate minor, and the existing learning sciences concentration for doctoral students in the Department of Education.

In order to encourage this kind of scholarship, the Graduate Certificate Program aims to build a community of doctoral students and faculty who share interests in the learning sciences and trade knowledge, methods, and ideas across departmental boundaries. It is hoped that this kind of community-building will promote the cross-fertilizing give and take of ideas that makes graduate study most stimulating. And the program has the potential to bring together faculty across departments, resulting in synergy in research, publication, and teaching.

Ph.D. students who satisfy curricular requirements for 15 credits in learning sciences courses, and a total of 81 units overall, will be awarded the Learning Sciences Certificate concurrently with the award of the Ph.D., when they complete all requirements of their home department and the Graduate School. This is one of the interdisciplinary graduate certificates offered by Arts & Sciences programs, intended as a credential of special competency. The certificate enables its holders to build academic careers including interdisciplinary teaching and distinctive research profiles.

II. Need

The student targeted for this certificate program is the Ph.D. student studying areas in which learning is a central topic. No other graduate program currently satisfies this need at Washington University. For example, in the Department of Psychology, although many courses related to cognition and learning are offered, no formal certificate documenting the completion of multiple courses in this area currently exists. And in the Department of Education, although a learning sciences concentration is available, it does not incorporate the psychology department courses that make this a truly interdisciplinary certificate. All Ph.D. students who are interested in the sciences of learning, whether to enhance their research on psychological or educational topics, or simply to improve their ability to teach in their own university classrooms, will be interested in this certificate.

III. Program Requirements

The certificate consists of five courses for a total of 15 units, of which at least 2 must be core courses.

Whereas the Ph.D. requires a total of 72 units, the Arts and Sciences Graduate School requires of all students receiving a graduate certificate nine additional units, for a total of 81 units. Therefore, nine credit units must be in courses not used to satisfy requirements of the student’s doctoral degree. At least six of the units must be satisfied by core courses offered outside of the student’s doctoral department. 

1. Core courses (at least 6 units outside the student’s doctoral department):

ED 4055: Central Topics in Learning Sciences Research (Sawyer)

ED 4415: Learning Sciences in Math and Science (Confrey)

PSYCH 4302: Cognitive psychology applied to education (McDaniel)

PSYCH 4351: Reading and reading development (Treiman)

PSYCH 5087: Cognitive psychology proseminar (McDaniel and Zacks)

2. Elective courses:

ED 4033: Using digital video technology to analyze learning (Elmesky)

ED 5231  Curriculum and Evaluation in Mathematics (Confrey)

ED 5232  Learning Sciences Practicum (rotating)

ED 5233 Modeling and Inquiry in Mathematics and Science Education (Confrey)

ED 4414 Learning Technologies for Math and Science (Confrey)

PSYCH 5085: Human memory (Roediger)

SPAN 413: Curriculum and Instruction in Modern Foreign Languages-Subtopic:Linguistics and Language Learning (Brantmeier; taught in English)

SPAN 467: Grammar and Vocabulary Acquisition (Barcroft; taught in English)

SPAN 469: Second Language Reading and Writing: Theory, Research and Practice (Brantmeier; taught in English)

SPAN 501: Seminar in teaching of romance languages (Barcroft, Brantmeier; taught in English)

LING 466: Second language acquisition (Barcroft; taught in English)

SPAN 5013: Second language acquisition and pedagogy: Integrating technology into language instruction (Brantmeier; taught in English)

Relevant seminars offered in Education and in Psychology may be approved as elective courses by permission of the program director.

IV. Selection of Candidates and Admission Criteria

1. Ph.D. students in any department in the Arts & Sciences Graduate School will be considered. Students should apply for admission within the first four years of their doctoral study.

2. Applications should be submitted to the program director, and will be reviewed in consultation with the student’s doctoral advisor. The program director will make recommendations for admission into the Graduate Certificate program to the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for final approval. 

V. Certificate Administration

1. The Graduate Certificate in the Learning Sciences will be administered through the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Certificate Committee, described below.

2. The certificate Program Director will be Professor Keith Sawyer in Education.  The Certificate Committee will consist of two professors in education (including the director), two professors in psychology, and one professor in romance languages. 

3. Student performance will be evaluated through coursework and other related projects. The Certificate Committee will meet annually to assess student progress.

VI. Resources and Support

The program draws on existing faculty resources, and the required courses are already offered and have been taught at least once on this campus. No new faculty nor new courses are required.

In order to take the additional 9 units of coursework, Ph.D. students may request tuition remission for the additional units. 

VII. Faculty

Program Director:

R. Keith Sawyer

Program Committee:

Cindy Brantmeier, Spanish and Applied Linguistics
Jere Confrey, Education
Mark McDaniel, Psychology
Henry Roediger, Psychology
R. Keith Sawyer, Education

Affiliated Faculty:

David Balota, Psychology
Joe Barcroft, Romance Languages
Janet Duchek, Psychology
Larry Jacoby, Psychology
Kathleen McDermott, Psychology
Steve Petersen, Psychology
Mitch Sommers, Psychology
William Tate, Education
Rebecca Treiman, Psychology
Jeff Zacks, Psychology

VIII. Endorsements

See the two attached letters from the chairs of the Department of Psychology and the Department of Education.

IX. Administrative Matters

To be handled by the Program Director and the Certificate Committee.