About ALSiNG

Faculty and students in ALSiNG (Advancing Learning Sciences for a New Generation) collaborate to develop interdisciplinary research that identifies the cultural strengths of learning by children and students from historically underserved populations and ways to leverage those strengths in formal and informal settings for learning. 

Ideas about learning for children and students from historically underserved backgrounds have often been based on assumptions, values, and research with middle-class European American groups.  Research and practice often overlook or even undermine the strengths that children and students from underserved backgrounds bring to learning, and instead use a deficit perspective. Learning opportunities for these populations are often insufficient or inappropriate due to a complex set of individual, social, cultural, and structural approaches to learning and instruction.  

The faculty and students in ALSiNG come from all five divisions of disciplines at UC Santa Cruz, including Social Sciences, Physical and Biological Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, and the Arts. ALSiNG is currently funded by the Spencer Foundation and the UC Santa Cruz Campus Fund. At this time, ALSiNG provides graduate student support to fuel research that will contribute to inclusive learning.