The notion of Humanistic Learning Communities (HLCs) (or Humanistic Knowledge Building Communities: HKBCs) emerged out of my close collaboration with my mentor and friend, Prof. Dani Ben-Zvi, as part of my doctoral work under his supervision. The idea rests on the  perspective  that identities and knowledge are inseparable and should be designed for mutualistically. HLCs offer a model for how to do this.

One goal of educational research is to conceive of classrooms that encourage students to go beyond acquiring knowledge, but who learn to participate in and become members of a culture devoted to expanding the frontiers of knowledge. My research on students' identities as knowledge builders, supported by a European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship, aims to develop the theoretical grounds for preparing school students to successfully take part in this new knowledge society. 

While the AR Sandbox is a well known and used augmented reality device that allows users to explore 2D and 3D representations of topographical features together, it is seldom (if ever) used in schools to teach these ideas. Together with Daniel Twersky, we have built several of these AR Sandboxes and put them within classrooms to support students' (distributed) spatial sense-making. This includes the development of a curriculum, where students learn collaboratively (as a community) to advance their ideas. 

I currently have the pleasure of serving as a co-PI, along with four other fantastic researchers and a director, on an initiative (research grant) that seeks the break the boundaries between school and society. In short, Taking Citizen Science to School develops mutualistic partnerships that include schools, educational policymakers, educational researchers, and scientists in a number of disciplines to come together and engage in meaningful, action-oriented projects.