Speakers and Sessions

TEACHING STUDENTS TO KNOW AND TO THINK FOR A COMPLEX WORLD


Students today face a world full of problems, falsehoods, and future careers that require critical thinking and expertise.

Future of Jobs 2020 Report released by the World Economic Forum found that the need for critical thinking, analysis, and complex problem-solving are among the top sought after skills among employers over the next five years. Yet, many students lack these basic skills. A 2019 MindEdge Survey found that 74% of millennials and 69% of college students failed to pass a quiz on critical thinking skills.

2018 study by the MIT Sloan School found that falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than truth. Yet studies show many children lack the basic skills needed to distinguish fact from fiction. A 2019 report  from the Stanford Higher Education Group found the majority of the 9-12th graders in the study lacked basic digital evaluation skills and two-thirds couldn’t tell the difference between real news stories and ads, while a 2019 study by Reboot Foundation revealed that over a third of middle schoolers say they “rarely” or “never” learn how to judge the reliability of media sources. However, learning science research shows these skills can be trained.

This conference will explore the science behind, and strategies for, building knowledge, critical thinking, and expertise. Discover how to hone students' reasoning skills; teach critical and complex thinking; improve reading and media literacy; develop metacognition, executive, math, and problem-solving skills; and gain knowledge about the important role of emotions, embodied cognition, and hand gestures for improving learning, memory, and thinking.

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This conference will be presented as a hybrid conference.  You can either attend in person in New York or participate virtually.  Click here for more details.

Click here for COVID-19 policies at the venue and for COVID-19 cancellation policies.

 

The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge.”
— Daniel T. Willingham, PhD
      University of Virginia


LEARNING OBJECTIVES

You will gain knowledge about:

  • The building blocks of knowledge in the brain
  • Strategies to teach students visible and critical thinking
  • Developing rationality and training reasoning abilities in class
  • Working memory, learning to learn, and knowledge acquisition
  • Promoting practice and expertise and developing expert learners
  • How emotions and embodied cognition improve thinking in the brain
  • Improving learning for all students with unlearning and UDL strategies
  • Teaching metacognition, executive function, and reflection skills
  • Learning media literacy and how to recognize facts vs. fiction
  • The knowledge gap, thinking, and reading comprehension

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Educators, Parents
Curriculum, Staff Developers
Speech-Language Pathologists
PreK-12 Teachers, Administrators
Learning Specialists, Special Educators
Psychologists, School Psychologists, Counselors
Early Childhood Educators, Professionals
Reading, Math, Science, Technology Teachers
Superintendents, Principals, School Heads
Adolescent Educators, Clinicians, Counselors
Administrators, Deans, Curriculum Directors
Guidance, Career, College Counselors
College, University Professors

Featured Speakers

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters

Steven A. Pinker, PhD

The Story Paradox: How Stories Affect Our Brains, Bind Us Together, or Circumvent Rational Thought

Jonathan A. Gottschall, PhD

The Knowledge Gap: Why the Standard Approach to Reading Comprehension Conflicts With Cognitive Science

Natalie L. Wexler, JD

Transforming Education: Critical Thinking in a Media Age

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD

Making Thinking Visible: A Look at Practice and Effect

Ronald E. Ritchhart, EdD

The Unlearning Cycle: Changing Teacher Mindsets to Create Expert Learners

Katie R. Novak, EdD

Why Students Need to Outsmart Their Brains to Succeed at School

Daniel T. Willingham, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia; Member, National Board for Education Sciences; Writer, “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” Column, American Educator; Author, Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy (2023), Why Don’t Students Like School? (2021, 2nd Edition), “A Mental Model of the Learner: Teaching the Basic Science of Educational Psychology to Future Teachers” (2017, Mind, Brain, & Education), The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads (2017), and Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do (2015)

The Neurobiology of Learning to Learn: What We Think, We Become

André A. Fenton, PhD

Solving the Frankenstein Problem: Why All Learning and Thinking Is Social, Emotional, Cultural, and Cognitive in the Brain

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD

Director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE) who has been studying and monitoring the brains of effective teachers to see how they connect with and motivate their students; Professor of Education, USC Rossier School of Education; Professor of Psychology, Brain, and Creativity Institute; Faculty, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California; Member of the Council of Distinguished Scientists at the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, Aspen Institute; Past President, IMBES (International Mind, Brain and Education Society); Recipient of the 2008 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award from the Learning & the Brain Foundation and IMBES; Author, Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience (2015); Co-Author, “Understanding Emotional Thought Can Transform Educators’ Understanding of How Students Learn” (2020, Educational Neuroscience), “Building Meaning Builds Teens’ Brains” (2020, Educational Leadership), “The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development” (2018, Aspen Institute), and "Embodied Brains, Social Minds, Cultural Meaning: Integrating Neuroscientific and Educational Research on Social-Affective Development (2017, American Educational Research Journal)

Reflecting on Research: Being Curious, Skeptical, and Critical About Brain-Based Teaching Advice

Andrew C. Watson, MEd

Classroom Teacher; Founder/President of Translate the Brain, a professional development consultancy; Author, The Goldilocks Map: A Classroom Teacher’s Quest to Evaluate ‘Brain-Based’ Teaching Advice (2021), Learning Grows: The Science of Motivation for the Classroom Teacher (2019), and Learning Begins: A Teacher's Guide to the Learning Brain (2017); Blogger, Learning & the Brain Blog

1) THE SCIENCE OF BUILDING KNOWLEDGE: DEVELOPING EXPERT LEARNERS

The Neurobiology of Learning to Learn: What We Think, We Become

André A. Fenton, PhD

The Unlearning Cycle: Changing Teacher Mindsets to Create Expert Learners

Katie R. Novak, EdD

Why Students Need to Outsmart Their Brains to Succeed at School

Daniel T. Willingham, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia; Member, National Board for Education Sciences; Writer, “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” Column, American Educator; Author, Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy (2023), Why Don’t Students Like School? (2021, 2nd Edition), “A Mental Model of the Learner: Teaching the Basic Science of Educational Psychology to Future Teachers” (2017, Mind, Brain, & Education), The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads (2017), and Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do (2015)

Better Learning: The Myths and Major Principles of the Science of Learning

Ulrich J. Boser, BA

The Building Blocks of Knowledge: a Neuroscience Guide to Enhance Learning

Lila Davachi, PhD

Questioning for Learning: The Science of Curiosity and the Acquisition of Knowledge

Lindsay Portnoy, PhD

Cognitive Scientist; Associate Teaching Professor in the Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, Doctor of Education Program, Northeastern University; Former Teacher; Co-Founder of Immersive Science Learning Company, Killer Snails; Author, “An Opportunity for an Improved Post-Pandemic Education” (2021, Age of Awareness), Game On? Brain On! The Surprising Relationship Between Play and Gray (Matter) (2020) and Designed to Learn: Using Design Thinking to Bring Purpose and Passion to the Classroom (2019)

Building Knowledge Through Stories, Puzzles, and Open Inquiry in the History and Social Studies Classroom

Dive Into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners

2) THE SCIENCE OF THINKING: TEACHING REASONING & CRITICAL THINKING

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters

Steven A. Pinker, PhD

Making Thinking Visible: A Look at Practice and Effect

Ronald E. Ritchhart, EdD

How Does Reasoning Ability Support Schooling -- and Vice Versa?

Silvia A. Bunge, PhD

How Multiple Choice Questions Can Improve Critical Thinking

Benjamin A. Motz, PhD

Why the Most Important Question a Teacher Can Ask is Often the One Left Unsaid

Jim Heal, EdLD

Director of Impact Academy, Deans for Impact, who is development research-to-practice strategies for schools and school systems; Former Director of Practice, Research Schools International, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Former Senior Facilitator, Public Education Leadership Project, Harvard University; Former Teacher, Upper School Principal, and Specialist Leader in Education; Co-Author, How Teaching Happens (2022); Contributor, “Mobilizing Aspiring Teachers as Tutors: Policy Solutions to Accelerate Student Learning and Strengthen Teacher Pipelines” Report (2023, Deans for Impact), “Practice With Purpose: The Emerging Science of Teacher Expertise” Report (2016, Deans for Impact) and “The Science of Learning” Report (2015, Deans for Impact)

Untapped Levers: Using Educator-Centered Research and Development (R&D) to Build Executive Function Skills During Math Learning

Melina R. Uncapher, PhD

There Is No Learning Without Thinking

3) EMBODIED THOUGHT: HOW EMOTIONS & GESTURES HELP THINKING

Solving the Frankenstein Problem: Why All Learning and Thinking Is Social, Emotional, Cultural, and Cognitive in the Brain

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD

Director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE) who has been studying and monitoring the brains of effective teachers to see how they connect with and motivate their students; Professor of Education, USC Rossier School of Education; Professor of Psychology, Brain, and Creativity Institute; Faculty, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California; Member of the Council of Distinguished Scientists at the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, Aspen Institute; Past President, IMBES (International Mind, Brain and Education Society); Recipient of the 2008 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award from the Learning & the Brain Foundation and IMBES; Author, Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience (2015); Co-Author, “Understanding Emotional Thought Can Transform Educators’ Understanding of How Students Learn” (2020, Educational Neuroscience), “Building Meaning Builds Teens’ Brains” (2020, Educational Leadership), “The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development” (2018, Aspen Institute), and "Embodied Brains, Social Minds, Cultural Meaning: Integrating Neuroscientific and Educational Research on Social-Affective Development (2017, American Educational Research Journal)

Embodied Minds and Memory: How The Arts, Movement, and Dance Help Students Retain Science Knowledge and Content

Mariale M. Hardiman, EdD

Co-Founder and Director, Neuro-Education Initiative (NEI); Professor, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University; Author, The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model for 21st Century Schools (2012) and Connecting Brain Research With Effective Teaching: The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model (2003); Co-Author “The Effects of Arts-Integrated Instruction on Memory for Science Content.” (2019, Trends in Neuroscience and Education)

The Wisdom of the Body: Creating a Movement in Education With Embodied Cognition to Alter Ways Students Think, Learn, and Behave

Erik Shonstrom, MFA

Assistant Professor, Champlain College; Author, The Wisdom of the Body: What Embodied Cognition Can Teach Us About Learning, Human Development, and Ourselves (2020), The Indoor Epidemic (2017), Wild Curiosity: How to Unleash Creativity and Encourage Lifelong Wondering (2015), and “How Can Teachers Foster Curiosity?” (2014, Education Week)

Embodied Understanding: How Our Hands Help Us Learn, Think, and Communicate

Susan Wagner Cook, PhD

Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms: Connecting Stress, Mind, and Body to Better Teaching and Learning

Marcia L. Tate, EdD

Chief Executive Officer, Developing Minds, Inc.; Former Executive Director of Professional Development, DeKalb County School System; Author, Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms: Twelve Brain-Based Principles to Avoid Burnout, Increase Optimism, and Support Physical Well-Being (2022), Preparing Children for Success in School and Life (2022, 2nd Edition), and Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites (2015)

The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

Annie Murphy Paul, MS

Journalist; Writer; Fellow, Learning Sciences Exchange, New America, and The Jacobs Foundation; Served as Senior Advisor at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale University; Awarded the Mental Health Journalism’s “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship”; Author, The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain (2021), "42 Ways to Boost Learning By Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings, and Relationships" (2021, MindShift), Origins (2011), and The Cult of Personality Testing (2005)

4) KNOWING WORDS, STORIES, & FACTS: TEACHING READING & MEDIA LITERACY

The Story Paradox: How Stories Affect Our Brains, Bind Us Together, or Circumvent Rational Thought

Jonathan A. Gottschall, PhD

The Knowledge Gap: Why the Standard Approach to Reading Comprehension Conflicts With Cognitive Science

Natalie L. Wexler, JD

Transforming Education: Critical Thinking in a Media Age

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD

From Cortex to Classroom: Refining Professional Knowledge to Build Capacity in Reading Instruction

Carolyn H. Strom, PhD

The Science of Reading: A Whirlwind Tour

Daniel T. Willingham, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia; Member, National Board for Education Sciences; Writer, “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” Column, American Educator; Author, Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy (2023), Why Don’t Students Like School? (2021, 2nd Edition), “A Mental Model of the Learner: Teaching the Basic Science of Educational Psychology to Future Teachers” (2017, Mind, Brain, & Education), The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads (2017), and Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do (2015)

Teaching Students to Decode the World: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum

5) REFLECTIVE MINDS: USING EXECUTIVE & METACOGNITION SKILLS

Reflecting on Research: Being Curious, Skeptical, and Critical About Brain-Based Teaching Advice

Andrew C. Watson, MEd

Classroom Teacher; Founder/President of Translate the Brain, a professional development consultancy; Author, The Goldilocks Map: A Classroom Teacher’s Quest to Evaluate ‘Brain-Based’ Teaching Advice (2021), Learning Grows: The Science of Motivation for the Classroom Teacher (2019), and Learning Begins: A Teacher's Guide to the Learning Brain (2017); Blogger, Learning & the Brain Blog

Metacognition, Reflection, and Curiosity

Janet Metcalfe, PhD

Executive Function and Dysfunction: Understanding and Developing the Brain's Command and Control System

William R. Stixrud, PhD

The Metacognitive Students: Teaching Emotionally Thriving Thinkers in Every Content Area

Richard K. Cohen, MA

Metacognition: The Neglected Skill Set for Empowering Students

Think Smart: Mindsets, Metacognition, and Intelligence

Kathleen M. Kryza, MA

Master Teacher; CIO, Infinite Horizons; Co-Author, Transformative Teaching: Changing Today's Classrooms Culturally, Academically, and Emotionally (2015), Developing Growth Mindsets in the Inspiring Classroom (2011), Inspiring Elementary Learners (2008), Inspiring Middle and Secondary Learners (2007), and Differentiation for Real Classrooms (2009)