REU Site: Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center REU Program

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a pilot REU Site associated with an NSF-funded Science of Learning Center (SLC) at Temple University: the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC). Four faculty members from the developmental, cognitive and learning sciences run this program to mentor a diverse group of undergraduate summer interns. The students participate and get experience in an interdisciplinary team science approach to the science of learning. The PI-team aims to provide students with a research experience that informs them regarding a wide variety of synergistic activities using different methodologies and populations, all coordinated on achieving the overall goals of the SLC: improving spatial learning and, ultimately, STEM learning. This team approach goes beyond the boundaries of Temple, as SILC involves much cross-institutional collaboration. Thus, the REU participants reduce their "degrees of separation" for networking to pursue their own professional goals. Regular activities include lab meetings, social events, mentoring sessions, and ethics modules that are designed to draw the students from various labs together at least once a week. These cohort-building events bring together students from all the labs within the SILC, and involve a mix of social interaction, professional development, and research-oriented events. Because of the wealth of opportunities to connect with other undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members from a variety of labs, the REU experience will be rewarding, both in terms of development of the interns' research knowledge and skills, and in discussing and sharing ideas, solving problems collaboratively, and getting a sense of what it is like to be a part of an academic community. In addition, all REU students will be invited together to the SILC Annual Retreat in October 2015 to present posters based on their summer work. This retreat includes SILC researchers from Northwestern University, University of Chicago and seven other institutions as well as Temple. The scientific merit of the project lies in the advancement of a new science of learning, focusing on spatial learning and cognition. Spatial cognition is a diverse field with many exciting theoretical and translational research directions ripe to be drawn together synergistically. Spatial cognition is central to many vital human activities, including navigation and wayfinding, tool use and design, and scientific and mathematical thinking. Research on spatial cognition draws on many disciplines, including cognitive science, computer science, geography, geographic information science, neuroscience, linguistics, psychometrics, and robotics. Its findings and insights have relevance for education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as in a wide range of professional fields, including medicine and dentistry, urban planning and traffic modeling, and architecture and design. Thus, the REU students are exposed to a very rich research experience and mentored by faculty members and graduate students in these fields. Some of the REU students come from the undergraduate population at Temple University, one of the most diverse American research universities. At least half of the participants come from institutions with limited research opportunities. Given the complexity and size of the SILC enterprise, this pilot REU Site serves as a testing ground for a larger, full-fledged REU Site in the future.