ongoing work

Network Literacy

Around the globe, there is an increasingly urgent need to provide opportunities for lifelong learners to embrace complexity; to develop the many skills and habits of mind relevant to today’s complex and interconnected world; and to make learning more connected to our rapidly changing workplace and society. This presents an opportunity, not only to leverage new paradigms for understanding the structure and function of teaching and learning communities, but also for promoting new approaches to developing methods, curricular materials, and resources. Network science — the study of connectivity — can play an important role in these activities, both as an important subject in teaching and learning and as a way to develop interconnected curricula.

Since 2010, an international community of network science researchers and educators has come together to raise the global level of network literacy by applying ideas from network science to teaching and learning. Network Science in Education - which refers to both this community and its activities - has evolved in response to escalating activity in the field of network science and the need for all people to be able to access the field through education channels.

In 2012, funding from the National Science Foundation supported a 3-year long research project called Network Science for the Next Generation. During the project period, a global community of network science researchers developed, iterated and refined what became known as Network Literacy: Essential Concepts and Core Ideas. The document has been translated into 19 languages (in addition to English) amd is used around the world.

In addition the 11th annual Satellite Symposium on Network Science in Education will be held as part of NetSci 2022.

More information on Network Literacy and NetSciEd is available here.