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Learning Sciences

Our Academic Programs

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PhD in Learning Sciences

In this full-time program, students become qualified as researchers, developers and practitioners who advance the scientific understanding and practice of teaching and learning.

Program Details
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PhD in Computer Science + Learning Sciences

In this full-time program, students build on enduring and growing connections between research on learning and computation.

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MSED in Learning Sciences

The Learning Sciences concentration prepares master's students to advance the understanding and practice of teaching and learning.

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Undergraduate Concentration in Learning Sciences

The Learning Sciences concentration provides undergraduate students an opportunity to choose from three specializations: Learning in Schools, Out-of-School Learning, and Design of Learning Environments.

Program Details

In Our Students Words

Hear from former Learning Sciences students.

Jessica Umphress

Where else but SESP could I have access to such an incredible array of top-notch opportunities and experts in their fields, all under one umbrella? Without this diversity of voices and support, it would have been incredibly hard to put together my research.”

Jessica Umphress
Learning Sciences PhD program, class of 2015
Peter Meyerhoff

Learning sciences is unique in that our research is active and dynamic. Traditionally in education, you develop an intervention, put it into place, and don’t touch it. We take a different approach. If something isn’t working, we’ll talk with the participants, change it, study the change, and revise again. It’s the creative, collaborative dimension to learning sciences that makes it exciting.”

Peter Meyerhoff
Learning Sciences PhD program, class of 2020

Why Learning Sciences Matters

Penelope Peterson

Out-of-school learning will become increasingly important in the coming decades as workers can now expect to pursue more than one career and change jobs many times over their lifetimes. Accordingly, we need to prepare college graduates who can serve as leaders in helping to design innovative environments that effectively nurture and support learning both in school and in many different informal contexts including after-school programs, museums, community centers, online environments and workplaces.”

Penelope Peterson
Former Dean of the School of Education and Social Policy and former professor of Learning Sciences