Towards Sustainable and Scalable Educational Innovations Informed by the Learning Sciences

One of the basic principles that underpin the learning sciences is to improve theories of learning through the design of powerful learning environments that can foster meaningful learning. Learning sciences researchers prefer to research learning in authentic contexts. They collect both qualitative and quantitative data from multiple perspectives and follow developmental micro-genetic or historical approaches to data observation. Learning sciences researchers conduct research with the intention of deriving design principles through which change and innovation can be enacted. Their goal is to conduct research that can sustain transformations in schools. We need to be cognisant of research that can inform and lead to sustainable and scalable models of innovation. In order to do so, we need to take an inter-disciplinary view of learning, such as that embraced by the learning sciences. This publication focuses on learning sciences in the Asia-Pacific context. There are researchers and young academics within the Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE) community who are concerned with issues of conducting research that can be translated into practice.
Changes in practice are especially important to Asian countries because their educational systems are more centralised. That is why there is a need to reform pedagogy in a more constructivist and social direction in a scalable way.