Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 29
New Science of Learning: Exploring the Future
of Education
Myint Swe Khine and Issa M. Saleh
Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Introduction
There is a coherent and strong opinion among educators that education in the future
needs to offer qualitatively different approach to meet the demand of twenty-first
century skills. Many argued that existing pedagogies and practices are unable to
address the new paradigms in education. Profound needs to understand the complex
processes of learning transformed by the emerging technologies and social interac-
tions are widely debated in the academia as learning is becoming ubiquitous. In the
midst of dynamic changes and the confluence of computers, communication, media,
and culture, the notion of learning in schools, communities, and social networking
environments need to be freshly examined with theoretical lenses from interdisci-
plinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. The chapters in this topic reported by
leading educators and researchers from institutions of stellar distinction share their
experiences in providing theoretical frameworks and contemporary research in the
role of cognition, computers, and collaboration in education. In this concluding
chapter the major contributions and salient features are summarized with a view
to inform the readers about the new developments in this area.
Cognition and New Science of Learning
The first part of the topic focuses on cognition and new science of learning. Weigel,
Straughn, and Gardner from Harvard University report the findings from the project
that sought to capture changes in adolescent cognition in Chapter 1. Forty experi-
enced teachers observed youth over time to obtain the data and narratives related to
new digital media and examine how these tools impact the classroom learning. The
educators reported that there is an overall decline in student attention as compared
to the preceding generation. The students seem to respond to multimedia materials
