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Academic Areas & Divisions
Educational Psychology
Learning Sciences Home | Who We Are | Courses & Program Information | Contact Us
Learning Sciences Program: Overview
What We Do
Learning Sciences is a graduate concentration (M.Ed./Ph.D.) at the University of Washington that focuses on the nature of learning, knowing, and understanding in a variety of settings—from schools to workplaces, museums to computer-based environments—as well as other informal and non-traditional educational settings. We do innovative research, supported by federal, state and private funding sources, around these issues.
Who we are
Across the Core faculty in the College of Education and the Cooperating Faculty in 9 other departments at the Univeristy of Washington, we are an interdisciplinary group with a shared interest
in questions about human learning. Our approaches to these questions are appropriately diverse, ranging from ethnography to laboratory psychology to neurobiology. Despite this diversity, we are unified in our interest and committment to how our work can affect how real people learn in real places.
Who you might be
Our interest in applicants reflects the diversity of our core and cooperating faculty. So who might you be? Possibilities include:
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a recent graduate (B.A. or Masters) in a discipline like mathematics, science, history, english, or computer science who has become interested in questions about learning and knowing in your discipline
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a teacher who has become interested in questions about how your students learn (or don’t)
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a person trained in one discipline but whose interest or experience in education has led you to want a more systematic and interdisciplinary understanding of learning and education
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a technology or curriculum designer who wants to make things to help people learn and understand why what you make works
As part of this program, you could pursue any combination of four intellectual themes:
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Science and Mathematics
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Literacy and Humanities
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Educational Technology
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Teacher Cognition & Learning
Where you would be
In Seattle, one of North America’s most beautiful, intellectually vibrant cities and at the University of Washington where interest in and support for education and cognition extends to the highest levels of the university community.
Degree Options
The Learning Sciences in Education program offers both M.Ed. and Ph.D. degrees. Students who are coming to the program post-bachelors, without a relevant master degree, can apply to either the M.Ed. or Ph.D. programs. Students coming to the program with a relevant masters degree in hand generally apply to the Ph.D. program.
Post-masters admission to the Ph.D. program
Completion of the Ph.D. program requires a minimum of 90 credits hours beyond the bachelors degree; a masters degree from the UW or another institution may be used asa a substitute for 30 of those credit hours. Successful Ph.D. applicants have research experience and/or research potential, as well as research interests that align with faculty expertise. Progress through the Ph.D. program follows steps outlined in the College of Education Ph.D. materials. Click here for more information on the College of Education Ph.D. program.
Post-bachelors admission to the M.Ed. program
Completion of the masters program requires a minimum of 45 credit hours (including 9 thesis/nonthesis credits), as well as a course of study and a masters project that are approved by two members of the graduate faculty.
Post-bachelors admission to prospective Ph.D. work
As noted above, completion of the Ph.D. program requires a minimum of 90 credits beyond the bachelors degree. Post-bachelors applicants to the prospective Ph.D. track are expected to have research experience and/or research potential, as well as research interests that align with faculty expertise.
Post-baccalaureate students working within the prospective Ph.D. track will complete a qualifying paper no later than the quarter in which they complete 45 credits. The qualifying paper is designed to be equivalent to a masters exam or masters thesis in quality and must be evaluated by two members of the graduate faculty.
A qualifying paper of sufficient quality will result in either:
a) recognition of masters equivalent work and admission to continuing study toward the Ph.D., or;
b) upon the determination of the student or the Learning Sciences faculty at large, award of a masters degree and exit from the program, provided the student has completed a course of study that fulfills the M.Ed. requirements.
Students granted admission to continuing study toward the Ph.D. may elect to file for the formal M.Ed. degree by meeting program requirements. Click here for more information on the College of Education Ph.D. program.
Want to learn more?
Follow the links on this site and then contact us at cogstudy@u.washington.edu.
Learning Sciences is currently merging with Human Development and
Cognition to form a new program, Learning Sciences and Human
Development.
Educational Psychology
Faculty
- Abbott, Robert
- Bang, Megan
- Bell, Philip
- Berninger, Virginia
- Bohlander, Amy
- Bransford, John
- Catalano, Richard
- Cauce, Ana Mari
- Cohen, Marilyn
- Cook, Clayton
- Cunningham, Ronald
- Frey, Karin
- Hawkins, David
- Herrenkohl, Leslie
- Hertzog, Nancy
- Jegatheesan, Brinda
- Jones, Janine
- Jones, Diane (Emeritus)
- Joseph, Gail
- Klockars, Alan (Emeritus)
- Kuhl, Patricia
- Li, Min
- Mazza, James
- McCutchen, Deborah
- Meltzoff, Andrew
- Nolen, Susan
- Sanders, Elizabeth
- Schindler, Holly
- Taylor, Catherine