In this interdisciplinary field, which includes cognitive science, educational psychology, computer science, anthropology, sociology and neuroscience, researchers show educators how to design effective teaching environments from classrooms to online distance learning and after-school activities. In this collection of 34 articles, contributors introduce the field and its precepts as well as discuss applications. They describe the theoretical foundations of the learning sciences and their growth into workable ideas, the methodologies of the field's unique research approaches that go beyond experimentation, information about the nature of knowledge and how it applies to the new information society, approaches to making visible the deep knowledge students need to learn, the means of collaborative education including those conducted through new technologies, and ways to deal with real-world issues that affect the classroom such as equity for all students and educational innovations that change school structures and the position of the school in society. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)