学習開発学の展開 : 学習心理学から学習科学へ <巻頭論文>

Learning psychology began as a branch of psychology in the last couple of decades of the nineteenth century, and its history is therefore as long as that of psychology itself. However, learning science is a relatively young discipline: its development may be traced to 1991, when the first international conference was held and Journal of the Learning Sciences was first published. In the short subsequent period, learning science has grown rapidly as an interdisciplinary approach to learning and education, and it encompasses a wide variety of disciplines, such as cognitive science, educational psychology, computer science, anthropology, sociology, information science, neuroscience, and instructional design; its area of research has widened, and this includes both formal school learning and informal learning at home, among peers, and at work. Whereas learning psychology aims to construct an overarching theory of learning, learning science aims to establish a grounded theory of learning in various learning environments. Thus, the goal of learning science is an understanding of the cognitive and social processes that yield the most effective type of learning and to use this knowledge in designing classroom and other learning environments so that people may learn more deeply and effectively. The purpose of the present study is to offer an overview of recent developments in learning science and to examine the implications of learning science for current educational reform in Japan.