Hot Topic Workshop: Diversity as a Research Construct: Learning, Culture, Language and Socioeconomic Status
Bringing issues of culture, race, diversity, and language into the mainstream of learning science research is a fundamental driving theme in LIFE’s mission and organization. These issues were at the forefront of the LIFE Center’s second Hot Topics workshop, which was held January 11-12, 2008 at the University of Washington.
The conference grew out of LIFE’s longstanding commitment to diversity. The concept is woven into projects by including subjects from a range of ethnic and economic backgrounds, and by emphasizing opportunities for women and minorities and the institutions where they study or work. LIFE also collaborates with external partners, such as schools and universities, which enable research in economically and racially diverse populations. In 2007, LIFE’s Diversity Panel and the University of Washington’s Dr. James Banks outlined several principles for diversity in a report titled “Learning In and Out of School in Diverse Environments: Life-Long, Life-Wide, and Life-Deep.”
“We’re seeing that diversity gives you innovation and creativity,” said LIFE Co-Director John Bransford. In some arenas, “diversity is seen as a problem. We see it as an opportunity if people can break through the barriers and see things that are invisible to one group that are visible when people come together and share experiences.”
To that end, participants at the recent Hot Topics workshop on diversity were asked to share relevant findings from their own work and juxtapose them with findings of other participants in order to identify points of agreement and disagreement. Participants generated key questions for conceptualizing the context of learning science research and discussed how these questions could shape the design of new learning environments.
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