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Explorations in Science and Technology

Advancing Education and Learning

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What’s the difference between learning and education? Are exams the best way to measure either one? To answer these and other questions, Pitt researchers are thinking outside the classroom.

Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), directed by Pitt psychologist Charles Perfetti, combines research in social, cognitive, and educational sciences. Researchers study how knowledge is acquired and how education influences thought in the hope of exporting these ideas to advance education.

Pitt’s Institute for Learning, founded by psychologist Lauren Resnick and currently directed by educator Nancy Israel, has worked with millions of students through seminars and training. In addition, senior scientist Janet Schofield helped Bhutan set up its first private college.

Partnerships are equally important. The University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UPCLOSE) revitalized Pitt’s ties to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

The National Science Foundation-founded Science of Learning Center (LearnLab for short) partners Pitt with Carnegie Mellon University to study factors that enhance learning capabilities.

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