INSPIRING INNOVATIVE STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS

According to researchers at the University of Oxford, 47 percent of current jobs will become obsolete over the next 10-20 years due to computers and automation, and that many of the remaining jobs will require creativity and social skills. New findings from the brain, behavior, organizational, and social sciences have shown that creativity and innovation can be trained. Discover the research behind the “Science of Innovation,” new strategies to train creativity and innovation, ways to develop innovative mindsets, schools, and leaders, and why promoting imagination and daydreaming can improve student achievement.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Explore the brain science of innovation, creativity, and curiosity

Discover the academic benefits of mindfulness and mind wandering

Teach innovation with technology, design thinking, and improvisation

Examine the brain science of creative thinking, reflection, and daydreaming

Apply an innovator's mindset to students, teachers, professors, and leaders

Discover how to inspire kids, create innovative schools, and promote change

Explain the creative mindsets of creative geniuses and innovative teachers

Connect creativity and visualization to dyslexia, math, and STEM education

Investigate the brain science and power of play, literacy, and storytelling

Examine ways to promote risk-taking, imagination, and critical thinking

Use technology, collaboration, making, and art for creative classrooms

Featured Speakers

David M. Eagleman, PhD

Neuroscientist; Guggenheim Fellow; Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Director, Laboratory for Perception and Action, Stanford University School of Medicine; Host of the Emmy-nominated PBS Series, The Brain; Writer for The Atlantic, New York Times, Discover Magazine, Slate, Wired, and New Scientist; Regular Guest on National Public Radio and BBC to discuss both science and literature; Internationally Bestselling Author of The Brain: The Story of You (2017) and Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (2012); Co-Author, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World (2017)

Alison M. Gopnik, DPhil

George Couros, MEd

Innovative Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Consultant, George Couros Consulting; Adjunct Instructor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania; Former Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning, Parkland School Division, Alberta, Canada; Former Classroom Teacher; Author, The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity (2015); Co-Author, What Makes a Great Principal (2024), Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learning Through UDL and the Innovator's Mindset (2023), Because of a Teacher, Volume II: Stories From the First Years of Teaching (2022), and Because of a Teacher: Stories of the Past to Inspire the Future of Education (2021)

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD

Fahmy and Donna Attallah Professor of Humanistic Psychology; Professor of Education, Psychology, and Neuroscience, who pioneered novel approaches to the study of child and adolescent social-emotional and brain development; Founding Director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE), University of Southern California; Author, Emotions, Learning & the Brain (2015); Co-Author, “Diverse Adolescent Transcendent Thinking Predicts Young Adult Psychosocial Outcomes Via Brain Network Development” (2024, Scientific Reports), “The Brain Basis for Social-Emotional Learning Also Supports Academic Learning” (2021, UNESCO), and “The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development” (2018, Aspen Institute)

Larry Robertson, MBA

Charles K. Fadel, MBA

Jonathan A. Gottschall, PhD

Todd B. Kashdan, PhD

The Science of Innovation: How Our Brains Create & Innovate

The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World and Education

David M. Eagleman, PhD

"You're Doing It Wrong" - What We Know and What We Miss About Creativity and Innovation

Larry Robertson, MBA

A Scientific Framework of Curiosity and Agility

Todd B. Kashdan, PhD

Jump-Starting Our Innovating Mind

Wilma Koutstaal, PhD

The Creativity Challenge in Schools: How We Can Recapture American Innovation

KH Kim, PhD

The Neuroscience of Creativity: From Bird Brains to Human Genius

Robert M. Bilder, PhD, ABPP-CN

The Science of Creativity Through the Lens of Divergent Thinking

Rex E. Jung, PhD

The Science of Imagination: How Daydreaming Improves Learning

The Wandering Brain: Daydreaming, Creativity, and Cognitive Flexibility

Kieran C. R. Fox, PhD

The Default Network: How Social-Emotional Imagination Facilitates Deep Learning and Creativity

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD

The Science of Imagination: New Measures, Brain Networks, and Openness to Experience

Rex E. Jung, PhD

The Middle Way: Finding the Right Balance Between Mindfulness and Mind Wandering for Creativity and Achievement

Jonathan W. Schooler, PhD

Mindsets, Creativity, and Innovation: Creating Energetic, Flexible Learners Who Are Attracted to Complexity

Emily A. Diehl, BA

Education Consultant, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt; Director of School Partnerships, Revolution Prep; Director, K-12 Professional Learning and Curriculum Design, Mindset Works; Author, “Growth Mindsets for Learning: Effective Effort” (2017, Optimizing Learning Outcomes)

Memory Activation During Learning and (Mental) Rest Promotes Reasoning

Alison R. Preston, PhD

Being Creative is a Choice

Daniel L. Schwartz, PhD

I. James Quillen Dean; Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Educational Technology, Stanford Graduate School of Education; Director of Stanford’s "Transforming Learning Accelerator," a major interdisciplinary initiative advancing the science and design of learning to bring effective and equitable solutions to the world; Director, AAALab, Stanford University; Co-Host of the Stanford podcast and SiriusXM radio show School’s In; Co-Author, 'The Relation Between Academic Achievement and the Spontaneous Use of Design-Thinking Strategies" (2020, Computers & Education), "Educating and Measuring Choice" (2019, Journal of the Learning Sciences), "Cognitive Science Foundations of Integer Understanding and Instruction" (2019, Constructing Number), The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, and When to Use Them ( 2016), and Measuring What Matters Most (2013)

Empowering Students to LAUNCH Their Ideas

A.J. Juliani, MSEd

Founder, Adaptable Learning; Director, Learning and Innovation; Instructor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania; Author, Meaningful and Relevant: Engaging Learners in An Age of Distraction (2025), Adaptable: How to Create an Adaptable Curriculum and Flexible Learning Experiences That Work in Any Environment (2021), The PBL Playbook (2018), Intentional Innovation (2017), Learning by Choice (2015), and Inquiry and Innovation in the Classroom (2014); Co-Author, Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning (2017) and LAUNCH (2016)

The Innovator's Mindset: Teaching to Create, Innovate, & Invent

The Innovator's Mindset: Empowering Teaching and Leading a Culture of Innovation

George Couros, MEd

Innovation is Not Brain Surgery: Demystifying the Creative Process

Tina Seelig, PhD

So, What is Design Thinking and Why is it Valuable?

Sandy Speicher, MA, BFA

Creativity and Improvisation in the Classroom

Katherine S. McKnight, PhD

How to "Teach" Innovation: No Buzzwords, No Theory, Actual Student Results.

Don Wettrick, BS

Building the Habitudes of Creativity for All Learners

Angela Maiers, MA

The Creator's Code – How Six Essential Skills Empower the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

Amy Wilkinson, MBA

Cultivating a Culture of Innovation

Brad Gustafson, EdD

4-D Education for an Age of Artificial Intelligence: Teaching Creativity, Curiosity, and Collaboration

Charles K. Fadel, MBA

Creative Mindsets and Approaches: Learning from Successful, Creative Teachers

Danah Henriksen, PhD

The Neuroscience of Creativity and Its Enhancement

Allan L. Reiss, MD

Design Thinking: Fostering Creativity Through Practical Play

Coeylen (Co) Barry, MA

Design Thinking, Improvisation, & the Innovative Mindset

Ellen Deutscher, BA

Design Thinking, Improvisation, & the Innovative Mindset

Dan Ryder, MEd

The Storyteller's Mind: Teaching the Power of Stories & Literacy

The Creative, Storytelling Animal

Jonathan A. Gottschall, PhD

Your Brain on Story: Using the Science of Stories to

Kendall Haven, PhD

Your Memory and Your Senses are But the Nourishment of Your Creative (and Literary) Impulse

Kenneth S. Kosik, MD

The Human "Brain System": Learning, Technology, and Surviving in the 21st Century

James Paul Gee, PhD

Digital Media, Visual Literacies, and Storytelling for Critical Thinking

Amy Burvall, BA, FRSA

Visible Learning in Literacy

Douglas B. Fisher, PhD

Chair, Department of Educational Leadership, San Diego State University; Classroom Teacher, Health Sciences High and Middle College; Co-Author, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers (Forthcoming), Rigor Unveiled (Forthcoming), Teaching Students to Drive Their Learning (2023), The Vocabulary Playbook: Learning Words That Matter (2023), Teaching Reading (2022), Confronting the Crisis in Engagement (2022), and Improving Adolescent Literacy (2011)