MIXI Public Talk Series: The Learning Sciences as a Political Intervention Across Learning Contexts
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Dr. Uttamchandani describes how the learning sciences can be rallied to investigate and address ongoing social problems in this hybrid lecture.
As the learning sciences increasingly attends to the political and ethical dimensions of learning, renewed opportunities arise to situate learning theory in ongoing social problems and solutions. In this talk, I first outline four points of entry for equity in the learning sciences related to conceptualization, theory, method, and design. Then, I illustrate these commitments in a multi-year study alongside an LGBTQ+ youth group that delivered professional development experiences to teachers. I discuss the discourse analytic and ethnographic findings of this study, including how youths’ relationships and politics co-developed as they learned in a process I term educational intimacy. Next, I offer examples from my current and future work of how an equity lens to the learning sciences shapes research in other contexts: (1) in classrooms, by supporting ambitious learning through technology design; (2) around the world, through non-western lenses on learning; and (3) in identity-centered ensemble learning contexts. I conclude by positioning learning theory–and the learning sciences broadly–as a tool to productively intervene in complex social and political issues.
About the Speaker
Suraj Uttamchandani (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at Adelphi University. His work centers on political forms of learning, participatory forms of research, and critical qualitative methodologies. He previously was a Visiting Research Scientist at the Center for Research on Learning and Technology at Indiana University (USA), where he also completed his Ph.D. in the learning sciences.
- To attend in-person, please RSVP by emailing nyc-cehs@adelphi.edu
- To attend virtually, please register online at stempart3.eventbrite.com
Presented by Adelphi University’s program faculty in the following programs:
Adelphi University Manhattan Center
75 Varick Street – 2nd Floor
New York, NY