ISLS 2026 Agenda

Thursday, June 18 · 14 sessions

8:00 AM

5 options scroll

Short Paper · ALP 1110

Co-design, creative methods art-based approaches

Six papers explore co-design and creative methods, from tangible classroom models and arts-based climate storytelling to liberatory computational making with Black boys and trust-building in design-based research teams. Threads include reconceptualizing imagination as social practice and using network analysis to improve co-designed online graduate courses.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

6 talks

Symposium · ALP 1300

Renewing Socio-cultural theory in a Networked, Decentralized Supercapitalist Society

Three papers and discussion ask what socio-cultural theory offers for understanding learning amid extremism, online fragmentation, and supercapitalist cultural structures. Cases draw on community partners including Homeboy Industries, academic esports federations, and Indigenous education partners to examine how macro cultural trends shape learning today.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks

Long Paper · ALP 2100

Collaborative problem-solving

A paper session on collaborative problem-solving, modeling how dialogue, metacognitive regulation, and knowledge building unfold during group work in math and other domains. Studies use methods such as ordered network analysis and Hidden Markov Models, and examine collaboration-competition dynamics and the emergence of flexible strategies.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

5 talks

Symposium · ALP 2nd Floor Rear

Broadening the Boundaries of the Learning Sciences: Reclaiming the Territory of Latin American Contributions to Educational Research

This symposium reimagines the Learning Sciences through Latin American epistemologies, weaving studies of Mapuche weaving mathematics, Uruguayan rural futures, and WhatsApp organizing at the Mexico-US border. Empirical work across Colombia, Ecuador, and beyond puts constructionism, ethnomathematics, and decolonial speculation in dialogue with field theories.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks

Short Paper · ALP 3600

Humanities, Civics, and Learning

A short-paper session on humanities, civics, and learning, examining ethical sensemaking, informal learning, and political contestation across global contexts. Topics include mobile-phone learning among Jamaican farmers, children's more-than-human ethical reasoning, young activists comparing the Holocaust to current wars, and school change in India.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

10:00 AM

1 option

Short Paper · ALP 1120

Argumentation, dialogue, and dialogic engagement

Papers examine argumentation and dialogic engagement, from supporting competent outsiders' source evaluation with the AIR framework to a dual preparation model for dialogic teaching in East Asian classrooms. Other talks offer a typology of social bids in math groupwork and interaction analysis of knowledge construction in multilingual Indian science classrooms.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

2:30 PM

5 options scroll

Short Paper · ALP 1120

Embodied Learning

Five short papers on how bodies, movement, and representations mediate learning across science and mathematics. Topics include walking curricula reconnecting students with nature, transnational youth and climate justice, multimodal methods for analyzing embodied geometry, domain-inherent metaphors, and diagrams that bridge real and mathematical worlds.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

5 talks

Symposium · ALP 1300

Scaling Communities of Learners: How Size, Power, and Partnerships Shape Political Learning

A symposium using sociocultural and critical theories of power to examine how community scale shapes political learning for equity and justice. Across four cases ranging from organizational change in graduate education to a youth design-build group, teacher-leaders organizing for integration, and a single teacher-mentor dyad, it traces how transformation is mediated across community sizes.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks

Long Paper · ALP 1700

Teacher Transformation

Four papers on how teachers become agents of transformation through partnerships, mentoring, and boundary crossing. Cases include a composite counterstory of teacher change, science educators reconciling personal beliefs with official scripts, cohort-based research-practice partnerships, and high-coupling encounters bridging maritime and education communities.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

Long Paper · ALP 2100

Art and Politics

Four papers exploring how the arts mediate identity, perspective, and political visibility for youth and learners. Threads include perspective-shifting through filmmaking, manga as counterspaces for queer youth, the director's role in ensemble learning, and how video analysis can racialize the visibility of Black learners.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

Long Paper · ALP 3610

Computer Science Education

Four papers on how programming environments and AI are reshaping computer science education. Topics include balancing usability and expressiveness in block-based modeling, Parsons puzzles paired with self-explanation, teachers' shifting conceptions of AI/ML and algorithmic justice, and norms around when copying code is acceptable.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

4 talks

4:15 PM

3 options scroll

Demo & Interactive · ALP 1700

Demo & Interactive Session

A hands-on demo session showcasing AI-powered learning tools, including GenAI writing platforms, AI tutors for STEM and self-explanation, and teachable agents. Other demos cover collaboration analytics dashboards, agent-based modeling, VR reflection agents, and mobile creative-coding for community contexts.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

23 talks

Poster · Outdoors

CSCL Posters - Thursday Poster Session (In-Person)

An in-person poster session spanning collaborative learning research, with strong threads on AI literacy games, epistemic agency, and knowledge building alongside SEL, VR and maker collaboration, and equity-focused design. Studies range from a Turing-test game and weaving-based ML curricula to ceremonial Indigenous designs and belonging infrastructure in research-practice partnerships.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

19 talks

Poster · Outdoors

ICLS Posters - Thursday Poster Session (In-Person)

An in-person poster session covering wide-ranging learning sciences research, including science and engineering teacher reasoning, AI in classrooms, and equity-oriented design in research-practice partnerships. Topics span heritage-language and algebra apps, urban gardens as educational technology, cognitive presence in MOOCs, and community-engaged research experiences.

Sociocultural & Activity-Theory Frameworks in a talk

91 talks