Learning and The Brain Conference
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LEARNING AND THE BRAIN CONFERENCE, Boston, November 18-20, 2011
A Summary by David S. Martin, Ph.D.,
Critical and Creative Thinking Program, University of Massachusetts at Boston
A special 3-day conference brought together leading scholars from many places on this subject and enrolled 1600 participants (largely classroom teachers) at the Westin Hotel in Boston. Following is a summation of the key points that would be of greatest direct interest to members of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program community, as well as to school leaders and teachers who are committed to enabling students to acquire critical and creative thinking in their lives.
It is further recommended that the Connecticut State Task Force on Eliminating Achievement Gaps give particular attention to the implications of all of these points for the curriculum of all of the state’s schools and the legislation that will support education. These points particularly align well with the recent C.A.P.S.S. Report from the state’s superintendents of schools.
The presenters’ names, backgrounds, presentation titles, and summary points now follow below:
7 Survival Skills for Careers, College, and Citizenship
Prof. Tony Wagner, Harvard University, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Center
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving are essential
Collaboration across networks makes it happen
Characteristics needed:
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination
Effective Oral and Written Communication
5 Habits of Mind— Weighing Evidence
Awareness of Varying Viewpoints
Seeing Connections
Speculating on Possibilities
Assessing Value, socially and personally
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Neuroplasticity in the Brain
Helen Neville, Ph.D., Brain Development Laboratory, University of Oregon
Training parents in cognitive strategies will change their parenting behaviors and stress levels.
A New Essential for a New Time
Heidi Jacobs, Ph.D.
Two myths:
We’re better off if we all think alike—and not too much
Too much creativity is dangerous—and the arts are frills
21st Century Skills: The Imperative for Teaching Creativity and Innovation in Schools
Charles Fadel, MBA
We are educating students for a future and for problems that we haven’t even heard of yet.
Most young people today want to learn SOCIALLY.
Tips for Enhancing Creativity in the Classroom
Shelley Carson, Ph.D., Harvard University Department of Psychology
Creative cognition includes: divergent thinking, forming associations between distantly-related
items, thinking in metaphors, using mental visualization, and imagination.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch from one thinking style to another—a hallmark of
creative thinking.
Creative process involves preparation, incubation, insight, solution, evaluation, elaboration, and
implementation.
21st Century Learning: Implications for Teaching
Christopher Dede, Ph.D., Harvard University
Digital Life outside of class:
all information is instantly available
distance and time don’t matter
multi-tasking is how people work
machines have “intelligence”
powerful tools for creative work are taken for granted
options are abundant
multimedia interactive entertainment is omnipresent
change is constant and rapid
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A New Culture of Teaching for the 21st Century
Stone Wiske, Ph.D.
We need three networks—recognition, use of strategies, and affect—all need to be engaged
How Visual Arts Teaching Can Promote Disciplined Habits of Mind
Ellen Winner, Department of Psychology, Boston College
Relationship between academic skills and classroom activities in the arts:
Classroom drama improves verbal skills
Listening to music improves spatial reasoning
Making music improves spatial reasoning
The Development of Argument Skills in Students
Deanna Kuhn, Ph.D.
The development of argument skills requires peer dialogues
Argument skill development leads to increasing frequency of using powerful
discourse strategies and improved supports for claims made
Brain-Based Teaching Strategies to Build Executive Functions in Students
Judy Willis, M.D.
Judgment
Prioritizing
Setting Goals, providing feedback, and monitoring progress
Activating prior knowledge and transfer opportunities
Metacognition
Critical Thinking: Why is it so Hard to Teach?
Daniel Willingham, Ph.D., University of Virginia
Critical thinking is not a set of skills—it is a type of thought
3 types of thinking—reasoning, making judgments, decision-making
3 key features of critical thinking –effectiveness, novelty, self-direction
Critical thinking should be taught in the context of subject matter
Strategies should be made explicit and be practiced regularly
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Future Minds and Skills
Ellen Galinsky, M.S.
Seven skills essential to success
focus and self-control
perspective-taking
communicating
making connections
critical thinking
taking on challenges
self-directed engaged learning
Panel discussion—how to teach critical thinking
increase length of school day
more teacher content knowledge
change policies
scaffold
focus on functions
model the skills
Creativity and Education
Mark Runco, Ph.D., California State University at Fullerton
Creativity is not always problem-solving
Both convergent and divergent thinking are needed
Tactics—shift perspectives, work backward, enlarge or reduce its size,
take time and put problem aside temporarily,
change the problem, question assumptions, modeling;
ego-strength or self-confidence is needed
Creativity is basically an individual accomplishment and is
not the result of group brainstorming
How is Critical, and How can we Teach it?
Robert Swartz, Ph.D., Director of National Center for the Teaching of Thinking
A thinking skill results from engaging in one or another type of thinking
3 domains or types of thinking—generating ideas, clarifying ideas,
assessing the reasonableness of ideas
We operationalize skillful thinking by teaching students a set of questioning strategies
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Brain-Targeted Teaching Model
Mariale Hardiman, Ph.D.
Targets—Emotional Climate
Physical Environment
Learning Design
Teaching for Mastery
Teaching for application
Evaluating Learning
Five Minds for the Future
Howard Gardner, Ph.D., Harvard University; author of Multiple Intelligences
4 Megatrends as the context for the Five Minds—
globalization
biological revolution
digital revolution
lifelong learning
The 5 Minds—Disciplinary: steady work, becoming expert, learning major ways of thinking (history,
math, etc.), focus on the traditional disciplines; learning to think probably CAN’T
be done on-line
–Synthesizing: lots of information, different kinds of syntheses; methods involve
mind-mapping, equations, narratives, images, schemata, taxonomies,
metaphors, systems
–Creating: mastering a discipline (usually takes ten years), synthesizing, going beyond
the known, asking good questions, being judged by the field, risk-taking,
innovation; creativity is partly personality-based
–Respectful: diversity is everywhere; moving beyond mere tolerance, understanding
others’ perspectives, learning from bottom-up, conciliation
–Ethical: a higher level of abstraction than the Respectful Mind, conceptualizing the self
as a good worker and citizen, acting appropriately, moving around fear and greed.
In the Digital Age:
Disciplinary depth could lose out to breadth
Synthesis of too much information
Creativity is inhibited by the young being averse to risk-taking; web 2.0 is promising
Respectful and Ethical require moving beyond the inner circle
Figure-Ground Struggle
The figure—will it be test scores and counting comparative school rankings?
Or instead, the kind of individual and society that we really need?