Our program is based on the belief that understanding learning, teaching, and organizations is best undertaken as an interactive system, and that an integrated and coordinated interdisciplinary approach is best suited to understand, design and implement educational change. The program combines disciplines in learning sciences, teaching in the content disciplines, and organization and policy studies with the goal of improving instruction at scale, and is predicated on the idea that successful policy
solutions will require learning on the part of educational professionals at all levels of the system.
Unique Features of the Program:
- Active involvement in ongoing research projects
- Integrated coursework that covers the fields of Learning Sciences, Learning Policy and Organizations, & Content Area Learning
- Rigorous training in quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods
- Policy and design internships with projects including the Institute for Learning, the Learning Policy Center, University of Pittsburgh's Center for Out-of-School Learning Environments (UPCLOSE), Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC), SWoRD, the Design-based Learning Project
- Access to city-wide resources in education and public policy including RAND-Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University
Learning Sciences and Policy program faculty are involved in a range of research projects focused on the following areas:
Professional learning for teachers and school leaders
- Leadership for instructional improvement
- Professional learning in communities of practice
- Teacher learning for managing science instruction
- Role of induction and professional development in quality of instruction
- Effect of instructional coaching on teaching and learning
Instructional design
- Project-based robotics curriculum
- Building innovative learning environments for science, technology, and art
- Creative robotics and the development of technological fluency
- Authentic design-based science activities
- Model-assisted reasoning in science
- Online versus traditional instruction in logics and proofs
- Evaluating the spread and use of Algebra I courseware
- Technology-scaffolded peer evaluation in writing
Improving and measuring instruction
- Knowledge of mathematics needed for teaching
- Reasoning and proving in secondary mathematics
- Classroom discourse for comprehension instruction during text-based discussions
- The effects of differentiated tasks on learning from text
- Effects of comprehensive school reform programs on teaching and learning
- Validity and technical issues in large-scale assessment programs
- Evaluation of assessment and teaching programs
- Developing and validating measures of instruction (teacher logs, observation tools and collection of classroom artifacts)
Learning in out-of-school environments
- Understanding and designing for learning in museums
- Informal learning and community engagement
Developing organizational structures that support learning
- Learning from grantmaking
- Evaluation capacity building for non-profits
- Policies to support instructional leadership
- Organizing to improve mathematics instruction
- Evaluating and interpreting education policies
- Implementation of No Child Left Behind
- Special education in the context of No Child Left Behind
- Effects of high-stakes testing on instruction?School choice
Contact Information
Kevin Crowley
EMAIL: crowleyk@pitt.edu
PHONE: 412-624-8116
Admission Inquiries and Application Materials should be directed to:
School of Education Office of Admissions and Enrollment Management
5500 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
230 S. Bouquet St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
PHONE: 412-648-2230
FAX: 412-648-1899
EMAIL: soeinfo@pitt.edu
ONLINE (preferred): Inquiry Form
APPLICATION: Admissions Application
