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Current SCIL Research Projects

The Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning acts as the umbrella organization for numerous research projects ranging from interdepartmental collaborations to studies undertaken by visiting scholars from around the world. The fourth floor of Wallenberg Hall provides incubator space to the SCIL-based projects highlighted here.

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PROJECT: LIFE Center: A collaboration among Stanford University, SRI International and the University of Washington, the LIFE Center seeks to understand and advance formal and informal learning through the exploration of interdisciplinary theories and collaborative research.

Principal Investigators: Brigid Barron, Associate Professor of Education; Roy Pea, Professor of Education; Byron Reeves, Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication
Affiliated Faculty: Jeremy Bailenson, Assistant Professor of Communication; Shelley Goldman, Associate Professor of Education; Na’ilah Nasir, Assistant Professor of Education; Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Funding: National Science Foundation
Web link: http://life-slc.org/

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PROJECT: Collaborative Research: Exploring the Value of Learning by Teaching: This work explores how to capitalize on the adage that people learn quite well by teaching others with a twist. Students teach computer software programs called Teachable Agents.

Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Funding: National Science Foundation
Web link: http://aaalab.stanford.edu

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PROJECT: Video Tools for e-Learning: DIVER (Digital Interactive Video Exploration and Reflection) is SCIL-developed software that allows users to “make movies within movies” by creating virtual pathways through existing video content. In using DIVER as a new form of information technology researchers on this project are helping to increase access to high-quality academic content.

Principal Investigator: Roy Pea, Professor of Education
Funding: Hewlett Foundation
Web link: http://diver.stanford.edu/what.html

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PROJECT: Think Quest and Oracle Academy: An evaluation of three programs underway at the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, this study will measure the effectiveness of the Oracle Academy and Think Quest, two technology programs that teach research, design and technical skills to low-income youth.

Principal Investigator: Brigid Barron, Associate Professor of Education
Funding: Oracle
Web link: http://www.stanford.edu/~barronbj/

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PROJECT: Effects of Action and Knowledge on Spatial Inference: There are many competing claims about the use of hands-on activities in education. Researchers on this project seek to develop relevant evidence while addressing fundamental questions about the role of the physical body in problem solving and learning.

Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Funding: National Science Foundation
Web link: http://aaalab.stanford.edu

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PROJECT: How External Representations Propel Development and Future Learning: Written symbols and representations have a profound influence on scientific discoveries. This study is exploring the question of whether symbols and representations also have a profound influence on children's abilities to acquire higher-order thinking skills.

Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Funding: National Science Foundation
Web link: http://aaalab.stanford.edu

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PROJECT: English Language Acquisition; National Professional Development: By developing online multimedia curriculum for teachers of English Language Learners this project aims to broaden the availability of such training, and to improve the quality of it by offering video classroom case studies.

Principal Investigator: Guadalupe Valdes, Professor of Education, Spanish, and Portuguese
Funding: Title III
Web link: http://ellib.stanford.edu/

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PROJECT: Teaching History with Online Resources: This three-year project to create resources for teachers and students in basic U.S. history survey courses taught in public high schools and community colleges is working to develop web-based resources to promote academic literacy in history.

Principal Investigator: Sam Wineburg, Professor of Education
Funding: Hewlett Foundation
Web link: http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/contents/sam_wineburg.html

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PROJECT: Biological Bases of Alphanumeric Learning Interventions: This work explores how the brain learns (and how to help the brain learn) to associate written symbols with their meaning in foundational educational domains.

Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education; Roy Pea, Professor of Education
Funding: National Science Foundation
Web link: http://aaalab.stanford.edu

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PROJECT: Can a Stanford University Political Science Course Be Taught in Russia? A collaborative research project to evaluate the effectiveness of a Stanford political science course offered online to Russian college students, this is a joint program of SCIL and the Stanford Institute for International Studies.

Principal Investigator: Stig Hagstrom, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Emeritus in collaboration with the Freman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Funding: Mellon Foundation
Web link: http://idl.stanford.edu/

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PROJECT: ePortfolios, Idealogs, and Folio Thinking: Since 1998, this ongoing research effort has focused on the use of ePortfolio pedagogy and practices to support reflective thinking and student learning in higher education. Current projects focus on the use of wikis, idealogs, and other social software to support portfolio-related activities in engineering education.

Principal Investigator: Larry Leifer, Professor Mechanical Engineering, Director, Center for Design Research
Funding: National Science Foundation, Wallenberg Global Learning Network and Adobe Systems
Web link: http://scil.stanford.edu/research/projects/folio.html

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PROJECT: MobileMedia: A community-based data collection service for "invisible" populations in developing countries. MobileMedia collects data from people in order to connect them to currently inaccessible services while generating local employment.

Principal Investigator: Terry Winograd, Professor of Computer Science
Funding: Kellogg Foundation
Web link: http://mobilemedia.stanford.edu

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Media X (Industry Affiliates) Projects at SCIL

Projects are also funded through SCIL’s Media X Industry Affiliates program, and are headed by SCIL-affiliated faculty members.

PROJECT: DIVER ROMP: Research on Online Media Personalization
Principal Investigator: Roy Pea, Professor of Education
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/diverromp.html

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PROJECT: User Interface Principals for Mobile Diving
Principal Investigator: Roy Pea, Professor of Education
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/mobilediver.html

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PROJECT: Group Diving: Distributed Collaborative Work on Video
Principal Investigator: Roy Pea, Professor of Education
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/groupdiving.html

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PROJECT: The Benevolent Demon: A hidden conductor for orchestrating learning interactions
Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/benevolent.html

PROJECT: Interactive and Networked Toys: Using Sensing Technologies to Create Social Awareness
Principal Investigator: Byron Reeves, Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/sesametoys.html

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PROJECT: Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Principal Investigators: Byron Reeves, Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication; and B.J. Fogg, Consulting Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Web link: http://sums.stanford.edu/mediax/site.v3/projuects/csli.html

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PROJECT: Stratman: A teachable Agent for Strategy Learning
Principal Investigator: Dan Schwartz, Associate Professor of Education
Web link: http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/contents/daniel_I_schwartz.html

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PROJECT: User/Agent/Avatar Modeling Framework for Multiple Contexts: Psychology and Design of Phase II Project
Principal Investigators: Byron Reeves, Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication; Clifford Nass, Professor of Communication and, by courtesy, of Computer Science and Sociology; Mark Bolas; Ian McDowall; Deanne Perez-Granados, Assistant Professor of Education; Glenda Revelle
Web link: http://mediax.stanford.edu/projects/useragent.html