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Few things are as certain as societal changes-and the pressing need for educators to prepare students with the knowledge and ways of thinking necessary for the challenges in a changing world. In the forward-thinking pages of Designs for Learning Environments of the Future, international teams of researchers present emerging developments and findings in learning sciences and technologies at the infrastructure, curricular, and classroom levels.Focusing on ideas about designing innovative environments for learning in areas such as biology, engineering, genetics, mathematics, and computer science, the book surveys a range of learning technologies being explored around the world-a spectrum as diverse as digital media, computer modeling, and 3D virtual worlds-and addresses challenges arising from their design and use. The editors` holistic perspective frames these innovations as not only discrete technologies but as flexible learning environments that foster student engagement, participation, and collaboration. Contributors describe possibilities for teaching and learning in these and other cutting-edge areas: Working with hypermodels and model-based reasoning Using visual representations in teaching abstract concepts Designing strategies for learning in virtual worlds Supporting net-based collaborative teams Integrating innovative learning technologies into schools Developing personal learning communities Designs for Learning Environments of the Future will enhance the work of a wide range of professionals, including researchers and graduate students in the learning and cognitive sciences, and educators in the physical and social sciences. TOC:Invention and Innovation in Designing Future Learning Environments.- MaterialSim: A Constructionist Agent-Based Modelinging Approach to Engineering Education.- Learning Genetics with Dragons: From Computer-Based Manipulatives to Hypermodels.- The Development of River City, a Multi-User Virtual Environment-Based Scientific Inquiry Curriculum: Historical and Design Evolutions.- Design Perspectives for Learning in Virtual Worlds.- Learning to Learn and Work in Net-Based Teams: Supporting Emergent Collaboration with Visualization Tools.- Learning Mathematics Through Inquiry: A Large Scale Evaluation.- Scaffolding Knowledge Communities in the Classroom: New Opportunities in the Web 2.0 Era.- From New Technological Infrastrutures to Curricular Activity Systems: Advance Designs for Teaching and Learning.- Towards a Theory of Personalized Learning Communities.- Afterword: Opportunities for Transformational Learning.

This edited volume with selected expanded papers from CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2009 (http://www.celda-conf.org/) addresses the main issues concerned with problem solving, evolving learning processes, innovative pedagogies, and technology-based educational applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a fast pace and affecting academia and professional practice in many ways. Paradigms such as just-in-time learning, constructivism, student-centered learning and collaborative approaches have emerged and are being supported by technological advancements such as simulations, virtual reality and multi-agents systems. These developments have created both opportunities and areas of serious concerns. This volume aims to cover both technological as well as pedagogical issues related to these developments.

Most learning takes place in communities. People continually learn through their participation with others in everyday activities. Such learning is important in contemporary society because formal education cannot prepare people for a world that changes rapidly and continually. We need to live in learning communities. This volume gathers together all of the scholarly materials directly emanating from a workshop held in August 2005, when a multidisciplinary group of scholars met at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology to discuss ‘learning in communities’. Initially, a sectioned report on the workshop was published as a special section in the Journal of Community Informatics in 2006. Subsequently, a special issue of 5 full papers was published in the Journal of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and a special section of 2 full papers was published in the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.