About Us

Who We Are

Over the past three decades, a new interdisciplinary field referred to as the ‘Science of Learning’ has gained increasing traction across the globe. Given the existing strengths in educational research, cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Western is uniquely poised to spearhead the growth of interdisciplinary research to deepen our understanding of how we learn. Western University’s Centre for the Science of Learning serves as a vehicle to foster collaboration not only between researchers at Western but also between educators in K-12 educational settings and researchers. By providing a forum for multidisciplinary exchanges, the Science of Learning Centre members will further knowledge of how children learn and how such knowledge can transform educational practice and policy. The Science of Learning Centre will be closely linked with the extant Centre for School Mental Health (CSMH), the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic. In this way, the Centre for the Science of Learning intersects with existing research groups within the Faculty of Education—this leads to effective cross-fertilization of research and translation efforts across different groups within the Faculty of Education.

What We Do

The Centre for the Science of Learning’s primary objectives are:

  1. To create a platform for researchers and practitioners both within Western and across the broader London, Ontario community to interact and collaborate on issues related to the Science of Learning, broadly defined.
  2. To build a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie both typical and atypical learning across domains with a focus on early childhood development.
  3. To facilitate translational research from the research laboratory to the classroom and back by facilitating collaborations between Western researchers, educators and educational policy makers.
  4. To support undergraduate and graduate students in the Science of Learning through Science of Learning seminars as well as professional development opportunities such as workshops on the latest methods in the Science of Learning.
  5. To support the translation of research in the Science of Learning into solutions for the classroom, such as screening tools to identify children at risk of falling behind and interventions to aid students with learning difficulties.
  6. To provide evidence-based outreach such as the development of effective communication of the science of learning for educators, professional development materials, and seminars aimed to facilitate connections between educators and researchers.