program

First keynote begins at 1:30 PM on Friday, November 18
Download press release, "Top Researchers discuss skills students need for the 21st Century at Learning ghj_amp the Brain Conference" (pdf format)
Today's students adjust to rapid technological and social changes, navigate vast flows of information and learn to work collaboratively with diverse individuals and cultures in a global economy. Discover cognitive tools and teaching techniques to help them cultivate the skills and abilities required to succeed in the new millennium.

Learning Objectives

You will gain knowledge about:

  • Ways to cultivate critical thinking and reflection
  • Teaching, learning and leading in the 21st Century
  • Strategies for creating creative and innovative classrooms
  • Promoting cognitive skills to prepare students for the future
  • How to transform instruction and curriculum for the 21st Century
  • Creative and visual talents in children with learning disorders
  • Connecting cultures, social ethics and global learning
  • Tools for improving attention, thinking and math skills
  • The arts, thinking, giftedness and cognitive skills

Conference Schedule:

Friday, Nov. 18
8:30 AM - 12:45 PM, Pre-Conference Workshops

Friday, Nov. 18
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM, Conference Day 1

Saturday, Nov. 19
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM, Conference Day 2

Sunday, Nov. 20
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Conference Day 3

>>Download Conference Brochure for Educators/Clinicians (pdf)
>>Download Conference Brochure for Speech-Language Pathologists (pdf)

Conference Program Topics with a Distinguished Faculty

FUTURE MINDS: TEACHING 21ST CENTURY COGNITIVE SKILLS
Howard E. Gardner

Five Minds for the Future

Howard E. Gardner, PhD,
John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; Senior Director, Harvard Project Zero; Winner of the MacArthur Prize; Author, The Unschooled Mind (2011), Five Minds for the Future (2009) and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons (2006)

Heidi Hayes Jacobs

Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World

Heidi Hayes Jacobs, EdD,
Executive Director, Curriculum Mapping Institute; President, Curriculum Designers, Inc.; Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Curriculum and Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University; Author, Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World (2010), Active Literacy Across the Curriculum (2006) and Getting Results with Curriculum Mapping (2004)

Alone Together:
A Meditation on the Future of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century


Sherry R. Turkle, PhD,
Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology; Director, MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Author, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011), Simulation and Its Discontents (2009), and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (1997)

Tony Wagner Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the 21st Century

Tony Wagner, EdD,
Innovation Education Fellow, Technology ghj_amp Entrepreneurship Center, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University; Author, The Global Achievement Gap (2008) and Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools (2001); Co-Author, Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools (2006)
Charles Fadel 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times

Charles K. Fadel, MBA,
Global Education Lead, Cisco Systems; Cisco Board Member at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Visiting Practitioner, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-Author, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times (2009), and Bernie Trilling, MA, Former Global Director, Oracle Education Foundation; Co-Chair of the Board, Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Co-Author, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times (2009)

21st Century Learning: Implications for Teaching

Christopher J. Dede, EdD,
Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Technology, Innovation and Education Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Member of the Massachusetts 21st Century Skills Task Force, the 2010 National Educational Technology Plan Technical Working Group, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Co-Editor, Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-based Educational Improvement (2005)

Mind in the Making: The Essential Skills Every Child Needs for the Future

Ellen Galinsky, MS, President and Co-Founder, Families and Work Institute (FWI); Former Faculty, Bank Street College of Education; Director of the national Mind in the Making learning campaign; Author of the highly acclaimed book, Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs (2010), Ask The Children (1999) and Between Generation: The Six Stages of Parenthood (1987)

GIFTED/LD MINDS: USING THEIR CREATIVE TALENTS ghj_amp STRENGTH

Seeing What Others Do Not See: Engines of Discovery for the 21st Century

Thomas G. West, MA
, Author of In the Mind's Eye--Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies (selected as one of the "best of the best" for the year by the American Library Association, translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean, second edition, 2009) and Thinking Like Einstein--Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization (2004)

Using Electrophysiological and Neuroimaging Tools for Early Autism Identification and Treatment

Charles A. Nelson III, PhD,
Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Research Director, Developmental Medicine Center, Lab. of Cognitive Neuroscience, Children's Hospital Boston; Co-Author, "EEG complexity as a biomarker for autism spectrum disorder risk" (2011, BMC Medicine)
Thinking Outside the Box: Connections Between ADHD and Creativity

Holly A. White, PhD,
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Eckerd College; Researcher on creative thinking and divergent thinking in adults with ADHD; Co-Author, "Creative style and achievement in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder" (2011, Personality and Individual Differences)

Maximizing Success with Autism: Using Our Strengths to Achieve a Fulfilling and Productive Life

Stephen M. Shore, EdD,
Assistant Professor of Special Education, Adelphi University; Co-Author, Understanding Autism for Dummies (2006) and Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome (2003)
David A. Sousa

How the Gifted Brain Learns in the 21st Century

David A. Sousa, EdD,
Consultant; Member, Cognitive Neuroscience Society; Author, How the Brain Learns (2011, 4th Edition), What Principals Need to Know about the Basics of Creating Brain-Compatible Classrooms (2011) and How the Gifted Brain Learns, (2009, 2nd Edition); Editor, Mind, Brain and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom (2010)

Edward M. Hallowell Shine: Using Brain Science to Get Imagination and the Best from Your Students

Edward M. Hallowell, MD,
Child and Adult Psychiatrist; Founder of The Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health; Former Faculty, Harvard Medical School; Author, Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People (2011), Overloaded Circuits (2009), Superparenting for ADD (2008) and CrazyBusy (2006)

Helping Struggling Students Develop Their 21st Century Minds

Erich Engelhardt, MA, EdD,
candidate, Boston University School of Education; Clinician/Counselor, CASTLE (Clean and Sober Teens Living Empowered), High Point Treatment Center; Counselor /Mentor, WestBridge Community Service

Autistic Brains: Visual Talents, Intelligence and Reasoning Skills

Isabelle Soulieres, PhD, Research Fellow in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Researcher, Centre for Excellence in Pervasive Development Disorders, University of Montreal; Co-Author, "Enhanced visual processing contributes to matrix reasoning in autism" (2009, Human Brain Mapping) "Enhanced perception in savant syndrome: Patterns, structure and creativity" (2009 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, Biological sciences) and "The level and nature of autistic intelligence" (2007, Psychological Science)
CREATIVE MINDS: INSTRUCTING INNOVATION ghj_amp IMAGINATION
Shelley H.  Carson

Creative Brains: Maximizing Imagination and Innovation in Students

Shelley H. Carson, PhD,
Research Psychologist; Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Psychology, Harvard University; Researcher on creativity; Blogger, Psychology Today; Author, Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life (2010)

Mark Runco

Innovative Teaching: Implications of Creativity Research for the Classroom

Mark Runco, PhD,
Director, Torrance Creativity Center; E. Paul Torrance Endowed Professor, Creative Studies and Gifted Education, University of Georgia, Athens; Editor, Creativity Research Journal; Co-Editor, Encyclopedia of Creativity (2011); Author, "Creativity and education" (2008, New Horizons in Education) and Divergent Thinking (1991)

The Creative-Artistic Brain: Education in the 21st Century

Mariale M. Hardiman, EdD,
Co-Director, Neuro-Education Initiative, Johns Hopkins University School of Education; Former Principal, Baltimore City Public Schools; Author, Brain-Targeted Teaching for 21st Century Schools (2012), Connecting Brain Research with Effective Teaching (2003), and "Connecting brain research with dimensions of learning" (2001, Educational Leadership)

Charles Fadel

21st Century Skills: The Imperative for Teaching Creativity and Innovation in Schools

Charles K. Fadel, MBA,
Global Education Lead, Cisco Systems; Cisco Board Member at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Visiting Practitioner, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-Author, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times (2009)

The Neuroscience of Creativity, The Arts and Learning

Kenneth S. Kosik, MD,
Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute; Harriman Chair and Professor of Neuroscience Research, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

THINKING MINDS: PROMOTING PROBLEM SOLVING ghj_amp REASONING SKILLS

Critical Thinking and 21st Century Skills

Daniel T. Willingham, PhD,
Cognitive Scientist; Professor of Psychology; Faculty, Center for the Advance Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia; Author, Why Don't Students Like School (2009), "Can critical thinking be taught?" (2007, American Educator), and Cognition: The Thinking Animal (2006)

Education for Thinking

Deanna Kuhn, PhD,
Professor of Psychology and Education, Dept. of Human Development, Teachers College, Columbia University; Author, Education for Thinking (2008) and The Skills of Argument (1991; Co-Author, "The development of cognitive skills to support inquiry learning" (2000, Cognition and Instruction)

Creating Critical Explorers in the Classroom

Eleanor R. Duckworth, PhD,
Cognitive Psychologist; Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Former student and colleague of Jean Piaget; Developer of the teaching approach "Critical Exploration in the Classroom" and a new website for teachers: criticalexplorers.org; Author, "Helping students get to where ideas can find them" (2009, The New Educator), "The Having of Wonderful Ideas" (2006, 3rd Edition) and "Critical exploration in the classroom" (2005, New Educator)

Empowering Students with Networked Learning for Critical Thinking and Collaboration

Martha Stone Wiske, EdD,
Lecturer on Education, Technology, Innovation, and Education Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-Founder of WIDE World, an online professional development program; Director, Education with New Technologies, a networked learning environment to support teaching with new technologies; Author, "Unleashing the power of networked learning" (2011, Innovations in Education, Harvard Business Review) and Teaching for Understanding with Technology (2005)

Habits of Mind Taught in the Art Studio: Do They Transfer?

Ellen Winner, PhD,
Director, Arts and Mind Lab; Professor and Chair, Dept. of Psychology, Boston College; Senior Research Associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-Author, "The relationship between creativity and studio thinking" (2011, The Routledge International Handbook of Creative Learning); Author, Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education (2007); Co-Author, "Visual thinking: Art students have an advantage in geometric reasoning" (2011, Creative Education)

Grounding 21st Century Learning in Good Thinking


Robert J. Swartz, PhD, Director, The National Center for Teaching Thinking; Emeritus Professor; University of Massachusetts; Co-Author with Art Costa, Thinking-Based Learning: Promoting Quality Student Achievement in the 21st Century (2010), Thinking-Based Learning: Activating Students' Potential (2007) and Infusing The Teaching Of Critical and Creative Thinking Into Secondary Science: A Lesson Design (1998)

ETHICAL/GLOBAL MINDS: CONNECTING CULTURES, SOCIAL VALUES ghj_amp IDEAS
Kurt W. Fischer

Global Minds ghj_amp Brains: Educating Students as Citizens of the World

Kurt W. Fischer, PhD,
Director, Mind, Brain, and Education Program (MBE), Harvard University Graduate School of Education; Past President, International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES); Editor, Mind, Brain and Education Journal; Co-Author, "Directions for mind, brain, and education: Methods, models, and morality" (2011, Journal of Educational Philosophy and Theory), and "Mind, brain and education in the era of globalization" (2007, Learning and Living in the Global Era)

Dogmatism in the Global Age: The Warping and Stunting of Creativity, Intelligence and Morality

Don Ambrose, PhD,
Professor of Graduate Education, College of Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences, Rider University; Editor, Roeper Review; Author, Expanding Visions of Creative Intelligence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration (2009); Co-Author, How Dogmatic Beliefs Harm Creativity and Higher-level Thinking (2011) and Morality, Ethics, and Gifted Minds (2009)

Teen Brains: Thinking, Culture and Reflection in a Global World

Thomas J. Cottle, PhD,
Professor of Education, School of Education, Boston University; Sociologist; Licensed Clinical Psychologist; Author, Sense of Self: The Work of Affirmation (2003), Beyond Self Esteem (2003), and Mind Fields: Adolescent Consciousness in a Culture of Distraction (2001)

The Social Brain: Implications of Cultural Differences for Education and Learning in the Global Age

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD,
Assistant Professor of Education and Psychology, Rossier School of Education; Assistant Professor, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California; Co-Author, "Perspectives from social and affective neuroscience on the design of digital learning technologies" (2011, Affective Prospecting: New Perspectives on Affect and Learning Technologies), and "Mind, brain and education in the era of globalization" (2007, Learning and Living in the Global Era)
Jerome Kagan

Culture, History and Psychological Fitness

Jerome Kagan, PhD,
Daniel and Amy Starch Professor of Psychology Emeritus, Harvard University; Author, The Temperamental Thread: How Genes, Culture, Time and Luck Make Us Who We Are (2010), The Three Cultures: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities in the 21st Century (2009) and Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change (2006)

Willy Wood Five Facts About the Reading Brain and What These Mean for the Classroom

Willy Wood, MA, President, Open Mind Technologies; Former High School Teacher; Language Arts Consultant; National presenter on brain-based teaching, reading and literacy; Founder, Missouri Reading Initiative (MRI) for grades K-3
Developing the Ethical Minds of Adolescents

Scott C. Seider, EdD, Assistant Professor of Education, Boston University; Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard University; Editorial Board, Journal of Adolescent Research; Author, "Developing the minds of gifted adolescents" (2010, Gifted Education International), and Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless (2010); Co-Author, Instructional Practices That Maximize Student Achievement: For Teachers, By Teachers (2010, 2nd Edition).
TRAINING MINDS: USING BRAIN RESEARCH ghj_amp TOOLS TO MASTER SKILLS
Helen J. Neville

Training Brains: Improving Behavior, Cognition, and Neural Mechanisms of Attention in Lower SES Children

Helen J. Neville, PhD,
Director, Brain Development Lab; Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience; Robert and Beverly Lewis Endowed Chair; Professor of Psychology, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon; Co-Author, "How can music training improve cognition?" (2010, Voices in the Arts), "Parent training interventions enhance selective auditory attention in 3- to 5- year old children" (2009, Cognitive Neuroscience Society) and "Differences in the neural mechanisms of selective attention in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds" (2009, Developmental Science)

Leveraging 21st Century Tools to Meet the Needs of Struggling Math Students

David A. Dockterman, EdD,
Adjunct Lecturer on Education, Technology, Innovation, and Education Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Inc's Tom Snyder Productions; Author, Easy Ways to Make Technology Work for You, Grades 4-8 (2003) and Weaving Technology into Your Teaching (2002)
Learning from Scratch: Training 21st Century Skills

Natalie Rusk, PhD, Research Specialist, Lifelong Kindergarten Group, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Founder, Computer Clubhouse; Lead Developer of Scratch, a programming language that helps students learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively
Technology as Tools to Shape Tomorrow's Minds

Suzy Cox, PhD,
Assistant Professor, College of Education, Utah Valley University; Researcher on how technology can facilitate the development of Gardner's Five Minds for the Future; Co-Author, "Building an online instructional design community" (2003, Educational Technology)
Judy Willis

Brain Research to Help Students Develop Their Highest Cognitive Potential

Judy Willis, MD, EdM,
Board-Certified Neurologist, Adjunct Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara; Author, Learning to Love Math (2011), Inspiring Middle School Minds (2009), Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning (2006), and "Current impact of neuroscience on teaching and learning" (2010, Mind, Brain ghj_amp Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom)

Judy Willis The Promise of Technology in Developing 21st Century Skills

Betsy Hill, MA, MBA, President ghj_amp Chief Operating Officer, Learning Enhancement Corporation, Sara M. Sawtelle, PhD, Director of Scientific Affairs, Learning Enhancement Corporation; and Curtis Boehmer, MA, Speech Language Pathologist, Huron Intermediate School District, Harbor Beach, MI

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