Philip Bell: Osher Fellows

Phil Bell is a professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. His research focuses on how and why people learn about science and technology and how it relates to what they want or need to accomplish in their lives.  He also investigates everyday learning, cognition, and expertise in science; children's argumentation; the use of digital technologies within youth culture; the design and use of novel learning technologies; and new approaches to inquiry instruction in science. He directs the ethnographic and design-based research of the Everyday Science and Technology Group, which is part of the larger NSF-funded Learning in Informal and Formal Environments Research Center (aka LIFE). His past work includes building web-based learning platforms and the design and review of K–12 science curricula. Currently, he is conducting learning ethnographies of youth and families across social settings. His academic studies were in human cognition and development, science education, electrical engineering, and computer science.