Interdisciplinary teams of researchers from around the country will undertake the projects. Their combined efforts will help develop a deeper understanding of how learning occurs in humans, animals and artificial systems. Researchers will also explore how to develop new learning methods that integrate linguistic, behavioral, biological, cognitive and educational approaches with new interactive, collaborative and multisensory technologies.
Access is one thing, however.
Intelligently absorbing, refining and analyzing his information to glean useful knowledge is quite another. Six NSF directorates are collaborating on the LIS initiative, covering areas of engineering, computer and information sciences, mathematical and physical sciences, biological sciences, social and behavioral sciences and education. We are reminded by many historical examples that knowledge resides in different dialects, alphabets and character sets. In this first leg of the KDI process, researchers exploring LIS will tap into how learning is best accomplished through a combination of learning and research tools and experimental technology test beds. Future research will explore integration of knowledge from different sources and the tools needed to model, simulate, analyze and understand complicated phenomena, as well as how to deal with massive volumes of data in real time.