a planning grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. However, the program required hiring new faculty, and the institutions never established such a program. In 1988, Roger Schank's arrival at Northwestern University contributed to the development of the Institute for Learning Sciences. In 1991, Northwestern initiated the first LS doctoral program, designed and launched by Pea as its first director. The program accepted their first student cohort in1992; following Pea's new position as dean, Brian Reiser took over the program directorship. Since that time, many additional high-quality LS graduate programs have appeared globally, and the field continues to gain recognition as an innovative and influential field for education research and design. The Journal of the Learning Sciences was first published in 1991, with Janet Kolodner as founding editor. Yasmin Kafai and Cindy Hmelo-Silver took over as editors in 2009, followed by Iris Tabak and Joshua Radinsky as editors in 2013. The International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning was established as a separate journal in 2006, edited by Gerry Stahl and Freiderich Hesse. Although these journals were relatively new within education research, they rapidly escalated into the upper ranks of the Educational Research section of the Social Sciences Citation Index impact factor rankings. In August 1991, the Institute for the Learning Sciences hosted its first International Conference for the Learning Sciences (ICLS) at Northwestern University (edited by Lawrence Birnbaum and published by the AACE, but no longer available). In 1994, ICLS hosted the first biennial meeting, which also took place at Northwestern University. The International Society of the Learning Sciences was later established in 2002. Distinguishing characteristics By integrating multiple fields, learning sciences extends beyond other closely related fields in distinguishable ways. For example, learning sciences extends beyond psychology, in that it also accounts for and contributes to computational, sociological and anthropological approaches to the study of learning. Similarly, LS draws inspiration from cognitive science, and is regarded as a branch of cognitive science; however, it gives particular attention to improving education through the study, modification, and creation of new technologies and learning environments, and various interacting and emergent factors that potentially influence the learning of humans. Many LS researchers employ design-based research methodology. The growing acceptance of design-based research methodology as a means for study is often viewed as a significant factor that distinguishes LS from many of the fields that contribute to it. By including design-based research within its