Episode 4 -How to Leverage the Science of Learning and Development to Foster Robust Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

It is in five parts, plus a short introduction to the episode. The discussions are with:

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang,

Stephanie Jones,

Annemaree Carol,

Jim Pellegrino, and

Carol Lee.

What also makes these conversations so important is that they bring together many of the leading scholars who have helped define, extend, and translate the science of learning and development across disciplines, institutions, and countries.You will hear from researchers whose work spans developmental psychology, neuroscience, learning sciences, cultural studies, educational policy, assessment, social-emotional development, and human flourishing.

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, for example, is a professor of education, psychology, and neuroscience at the University of Southern California and founding director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education. Her groundbreaking work has transformed how we understand the relationship between emotion, meaning-making, reflection, civic reasoning, and deep learning.

Stephanie Jones, director of Harvard's EASEL Lab and faculty director of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, has helped shape international understanding of social, emotional, and behavioral development and how learning environments can foster wellbeing and thriving from early childhood through adolescence.

Annemaree Carroll is the co-founder and head of the University of Queensland Learning Lab, where multidisciplinary researchers work in partnership with education and industry professionals to identify and address important learning and training priorities.

Her research has helped educators think more carefully about co-regulation, emotional climate, teacher well-being, stress, and the conditions that allow learning communities to function in healthy and sustainable ways. Her cutting-edge research also shows how classroom emotional climate can be measured and addressed in ways that have already improved outcomes for students in Australia.

Jim Pellegrino has been one of the central architects of contemporary learning sciences and assessment research. His work on deeper learning, transfer, adaptive expertise, and the design of meaningful assessment has influenced educational policy and practice around the world. He has chaired or co-chaired multiple National Academy of Sciences committees, including landmark studies on assessment, deeper learning, and educational practice.

Carol Lee, immediate past president of the National Academy of Education, has fundamentally reshaped how educators understand culture, identity, literacy, and intellectual development. Her pioneering work on cultural modeling helped establish the idea that the lived experiences and cultural practices young people bring into classrooms are intellectual resources for rigorous learning. She also co-edited both The Handbook of Cultural Foundations of Learning and the 2023 Review of Research in Education volume focused on the science of learning and development.

And while the first three episodes in this series were primarily U.S.-focused, the conversations that follow are intentionally both American and global in scope.That reflects an essential reality: the science of learning and development is not the work of any one discipline, institution, or nation. It is an evolving international conversation shaped by scholars, educators, and practitioners across the world.You will hear that global dimension reflected throughout this series in the scholarship of our guests, in examples drawn from multiple countries and cultures, and in the growing international dialogue around equity-centered thriving, human development, civic participation, and the future of education.That international conversation is also reflected in two webinars from the Global Science of Learning Network linked on the podcast website, as well as in the 2023 and 2025 volumes of the Review of Research in Education, which examine the implications of the science of learning and development and equity-centered thriving for schools, communities, and democratic societies.Together, these conversations invite us to think not only about how young people learn, but about what kinds of societies, relationships, and futures education can help create.

Please note that the transcripts are AI generated.

Introduction and context setting – David Osher

Introduction

English Transcript

Spanish Transcript

Part A – Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Stephanie Jones

Interview

English Transcript

Spanish Transcript

Part B- Stephanie Jones (in two parts)

Interview 1

Interview 2

English Transcript 1

English Transcript 2

Spanish Transcript 1

Spanish Transcript 2

Part C – Mary Helen Immordino

Interview

English Transcript

Spanish Transcript

Part D – Annemaree Carroll

Interview

English Transcript

Spanish Transcript

Part E – Jim Pelligrino & Carol Lee

Interview

English Transcript

Spanish Transcript

References

References

Cantor, P., Darling-Hammond, L., Little, B., Palmer, S., Osher, D., Pittman, K., & Rose, T. (2020). How the science of learning and development can transform education: Initial findings (Updated May 2020).

Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2020). Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(1), 6–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650

Carroll, A., York, A., Fynes-Clinton, S., Sanders-O’Connor, E., Flynn, L., et al. (2021). The downstream effects of teacher well-being programs: Improvements in teachers’ stress, cognition, and well-being benefit their students. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 689628. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689628

Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(1), 3–10.

Immordino-Yang, M. H., Kundrak, C., & Street, K. (2026). When students think beyond the moment: Enhancing adolescents’ development by engaging their emotions. American Educator.

Jones, S. M. (2023). The science of learning and development: A translational and transactional science in service of human development and well-being. Review of Research in Education, 47(1), 185–193. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X231220271

National Academy of Education & Equity Assistance Center-South. (2026, May 11). The foundations of supportive learning environments [Webinar]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/TLCl3Qkovxs

Rogoff, B., Turkanis, C. G., & Bartlett, L. (2001). Learning together: Children and adults in a school community. Oxford University Press.

Review of Research in Education. (2023). 47(1). SAGE Publications. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/rrea/47/1

The Science of Learning and Development. (n.d.). In P. Cantor & D. Osher (Eds.), The science of learning and development. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003038016/science-learning-development-pamela-cantor-david-osher

Osher, D. (2026). What the science of learning and development now tells us: A translational working paper updated based on the 2023 Review of Research in Education and key documents published 2020–2023. Takoma Park, MD: Author.