Science of Learning: Collaborative Networks (SL-CN)

The goals of the Science of Learning (SL) Program are to: advance fundamental knowledge about learning through integrative research; connect the research to specific scientific, technological, educational, and workforce challenges; and enable research communities to capitalize on new opportunities and discoveries. The program supports projects that emphasize consilience of knowledge, adopting diverse disciplinary approaches to shared research questions.  The program seeks to develop robust and integrated accounts of contexts, mechanisms, and effective strategies of learning.

This solicitation invites proposals for the creation of new research networks to address important integrative questions in the science of learning. Each network must identify an integrative research goal involving convergence of evidence from the diverse disciplinary approaches represented by participants in the network. The proposed research must substantially advance understanding of learning in more than a single discipline. Networks may focus on advancing basic research through experiments and theory, as well as translating findings from basic research on learning to applications in order to benefit society and further inform fundamental theories of learning.  This solicitation is for proposals that do not fit into existing NSF programs, by virtue of the emphasis on interdisciplinarity in service of knowledge consilience and integration.

Each network is expected to engage in both of the following activities:

• Partnership-building activities among the network participants to optimize scientific exchange for the co-design and execution of network goals; and
• Collaborative, integrative research to be conducted by the network participants. Integrative research must address questions of genuine significance across multiple disciplines, or multiples levels of analysis.