#239: Emergent Structures of Thematic Change Across Decades of Learning Sciences Research 1996-2025

This proof-of-concept study applied complex systems framing and network analysis to trace the thematic evolution of the learning sciences across three decades of International Conference of the Learning Sciences proceedings. We analyzed papers across thematic categories. Network maps reveal the field's trajectory to an increasingly integrated intellectual ecosystem. Equity considerations may have shifted from peripheral to central, while collaborative structures may have become formally theorized.