As an incubator for new ideas and collaborations, our center supports programs that foster community engagement, co-design of practices, tools, and technologies with communities, schools, and families, and learning opportunities such as practice-based or research experiences for students.
Learning Studio
The Learning Studio program facilitates time-limited, collaborative projects between Center researchers and community organizations. It is not a traditional grant program, but a collaborative effort with community partners, rooted in reciprocity and a broad view of learning (including formal, informal, and real-world experiences).
Learning Studio Projects:
- Align with the Center’s mission
- Prioritize reciprocal, relationship-based collaboration
- Address community partner needs and develop shared goals
- Advance equity, inclusion, and justice in learning
- Support sustainability for people and organizations
- Result in a meaningful, tangible deliverable for the partner (e.g. curriculum, tool, evaluation, report)
- Typically last one year or less
Learning Studio Projects are primarily led by steering committee members, however, community organizations or U-M faculty without current connections to the Center may submit an inquiry by email to [email protected]. Proposals are typically considered in spring (March 31 deadline) for projects that begin in summer or fall.
Current Learning Studio Projects
- Curriculum Development for Urban Farming
In collaboration with Detroit farmers and educators Candi and Mark Fentress of Corn Wine Oil Farms, we developed "Sowing Futures," an innovative curriculum blending agriculture, science, and Detroit's community traditions to support young people learning about urban farming in school-based contexts. The curriculum includes units on accessing land, feeding the soil, sowing and growing, garden-to-table, and careers in agriculture. Each unit includes 3-4 lessons with facilitator guides and student-facing resources (e.g., handouts, articles, and graphic organizers).
Collectively, our goal with these curriculum materials is to encourage youth interest in food, farming, and agriculture; integrate agriculture, science, literacy, and math; include indoor and outdoor learning opportunities; and ensure personalized, empowering, culturally-affirming, and transformative learning.
The finished curriculum is available for use under a Creative Commons License, CC BY-NC 4.0: Materials can be used and adapted for noncommercial purposes only, as long as attribution is provided.
Access the Sowing Futures curriculum
- Community Partners: Candi and Mark Fentress of Corn Wine Oil Farms in Detroit
- Faculty: Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl
- Student Fellow: Jess Bautista
- Performing Relational Histories by Embodying an Imagined Otherwise: Examining How Youth Amplify Justice in and through Shakespeare in Detroit
This project examines the arts’ role in learning, communication skills, and sense of belonging through a summer youth conservatory program. It also enhances the organization’s capacity to evaluate their programming and outreach in Detroit K-12 schools.
- Community Partner: Shakespeare in Detroit
- Faculty: Jon Wargo
- Student Fellow: Aine Beale
- AI Avatars in MOOCs
AI tools now make it possible to rapidly create highly realistic instructional videos that are “indistinguishable from real humans”, but the pedagogical implications of doing so remain underexplored. Researchers from the Marsal Family School of Education and the Center for Academic Innovation are designing and testing AI-produced instructional videos for use in Massive Open Online Courses. This work takes a design-based, experimental approach to understanding how learning designers can meaningfully leverage these tools while attending to issues of design decision-making, pedagogical transparency, and learner experience.
- Community Partner: Center for Academic Innovation, U-M
- Faculty: Rebecca Quintana
- Student Fellow: Annie Zhou
Student Programs
- Learning Sciences Student Fellowship
The Learning Sciences Student Fellowship Program connects students with the Center for the Learning Sciences, fostering community through learning, professional development, and research integration. The program provides fellows with hands-on research or practical experiences and facilitates growth in the learning sciences.
- Student fellows are matched with a faculty project and appointed for one semester or academic year, with options to extend into the spring/summer.
- Open to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students, with preference for Marsal students.
- Research Engagement: Up to 5 hours/week on center-supported projects with faculty guidance.
- Additional activities include: Orientation, Bi-semester Learning Sciences Lunch Hours for community and skill-building, and an End of Year Showcase & Celebration
- Fellows may earn either academic credit or an honorarium, and are eligible to apply for funds to support conference travel or additional training related to their work with the center.
Opportunities are announced throughout the year. Sign up for our email list to be notified of student opportunities. Questions can be directed to [email protected].
- Learning Levers
The James A. Kelly Learning Lever Prize Program is run collaboratively between the Center for the Learning Sciences and the Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER).
The competition is designed to challenge University of Michigan students to invent digital tools with the potential to significantly improve student learning. This prize encourages a culture of innovation in education, and rewards the creative, interdisciplinary work of University of Michigan students.
Connect with us
ADDRESS
University of Michigan – Marsal Family School of Education
Eileen Lappin Weiser Center for the Learning Sciences
610 East University Ave, Suite 1323
Ann Arbor, MI 48109