ISLS 2026 Agenda

Wednesday, June 17 · 14 sessions

8:00 AM

3 options scroll

Short Paper · ALP 1100

Maker educations

These maker-education papers examine identity, literacy, and collaboration across making contexts, including crafting and engineering identities, collaborative lore-building between marginalized girls, and computational literacies in an agricultural class. Additional talks probe what multimodal AI sees versus facilitator expertise, reflection quality and self-efficacy, and sustainable 3D clay printing.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

6 talks

Symposium · ALP 2300

Locating Vibes as the Felt Dimensions in Learning

This symposium theorizes 'vibes' as the felt, relational, and often unspoken dimensions of learning ecologies, arguing they are consequential for equitable learning with students from non-dominant communities. Drawing on out-of-school interactions, the papers offer a working theory of vibes, show how the colloquial term shaped intuitive pedagogy, and argue for treating vibes as a legitimate construct in the learning sciences.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks

Short Paper · ALP 2700

Teachers learning and agency

These papers explore teacher learning, agency, and positioning, including reinterpreting project-based learning in Kazakhstan and how inclusive 'we' discourse shapes belonging in science. Further talks treat customization dilemmas, teacher positioning during student game redesign, resistance as a professional resource, and autonomy in informal learning.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

6 talks

10:00 AM

7 options scroll

Practice Paper · ALP 1100

Collaborative Design Structures in Researcher and Practitioner Partnerships

Six practice papers describe how researchers and practitioners co-design educational programs, including a university laboratory school for equitable computing and a community partnership developing urban-agriculture curriculum. Cases also span co-designed embodied games for computational thinking, technology-education pathways, and designing edTech with schools rather than for them.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

6 talks

Short Paper · ALP 1110

Place and land-based learning and education across various modalities

Six short papers explore place- and land-based learning across modalities, including spatial typologies for active-learning classrooms and syncretic game designs interweaving virtual and natural worlds. Others address youth climate storytelling, multispecies discomfort in a STEAM program, identity play through creek science, and scientific practice in an archaeological apprenticeship.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

6 talks

Short Paper · ALP 2200

Collaborative Learning Research Methods

Five short papers advance methods for studying collaborative learning, from reframing social annotation as a text-embedded analytics ecology to AI-powered knowledge graphs that make Knowledge Forum discourse visible. Other contributions theorize transitional space across individual and collective levels, formalize inquiry scripting, and review GenAI tools for collaboration.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

5 talks

Symposium · ALP 2300

Relational Becoming As Global South Side Methodologies

This symposium explores community-based methodologies through the lens of relational becoming in Global South Side contexts, drawing on an ontological approach to design. Across cases in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Denver, and China, presenters study ethnographic and participatory design processes among families, teachers, and students within local learning ecologies.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks

Short Paper · ALP 2500

Role of AI in CSCL

Five short papers interrogate AI's evolving roles in collaborative knowledge work, including students' experience of AI as a creative collaborator and a typological framework for AI's epistemic authority in Knowledge Building. Additional talks examine children's epistemic agency in AI science eBooks, activity theory for human-AI teaming, and a three-year cross-community design study.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

5 talks

Long Paper · ALP 2600

Out-of-school Experiential Learning

Four long papers investigate experiential learning beyond the classroom, including learner pathway analysis for STEM persistence across in- and out-of-school settings and nature-based learning motivation for students with learning differences. Additional work studies prior-knowledge use in outdoor learning and self-regulated learner profiles in flipped project-based courses.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

Long Paper · ALP 3610

Research Practice Partnerships and Design

Four long papers examine research-practice partnerships and design, including the value of scaling science teaching slowly and a Reverse Translation framework that repositions practice as a source of knowledge. Other talks study computing education in refugee support organizations and navigating boundaries when integrating CS in elementary schools.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

11:45 AM

1 option

Social / Networking · ALP 1600

Ignite Talks I

A fast-paced set of Ignite talks featuring auto-advancing slides on emerging ideas and works-in-progress across the learning sciences. Threads include AI in classrooms and teams, joy and wellbeing pedagogies, neurodivergent and inclusive learning, computational thinking, and arts-based methods such as dance and game design.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

12 talks

4:15 PM

3 options scroll

Poster · Online

ICLS Virtual Posters - Virtual Poster Session

A virtual poster session covering a wide range of learning-sciences topics, including making and aesthetics, computational thinking and creative coding, and culturally responsive STEAM across international contexts. Studies also examine generative-AI policies and student-LLM reasoning, field trips, and physics teacher professional development.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

70 talks

Poster · Outdoors

CSCL Posters - Wednesday Poster Session (In-Person)

In-person CSCL poster session dominated by generative AI in collaborative learning, from teacher-in-the-loop essay scoring and AI lesson-planning to constrained GenAI for deeper learning and agency. Other posters cover multimodal and NLP methods for assessing collaboration, conversational agents in shared reading, and AI tools in arts learning.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

39 talks

Poster · Outdoors

ICLS Posters - Wednesday Poster Session (In-Person)

An in-person poster session spanning equity-oriented learning across STEM, computing, and the arts, with threads on multilingual and culturally responsive teaching, integrated STEM+C and AI literacy, and teacher learning in makerspaces and curricular customization. Settings range from family garden activities and afterschool math to climate-change pedagogy and preservice teacher preparation.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

93 talks