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.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@learningandtheb / #latb62) for conference updates and news.

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

Cognitive Psychologist; Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University; Member, National Academy of Sciences; Named Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today”; Author, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters (2021), Enlightenment Now (2018), The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (2014), Language, Cognition, and Human Nature (2013), The Stuff of Thought (2007), and How the Mind Works (1997)

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

Jonathan A. Gottschall, PhD

Distinguished Fellow, English Department, Washington & Jefferson College; Contributor, Psychology Today; Writer, The New York Times, Scientific American, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Science, Nature and The Chronicle of Higher Education; Author, The Story Paradox: How Our Love for Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down (2021) and The Storytelling Animal (2015)

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

Natalie L. Wexler, JD

Education Writer; Senior Contributor, Forbes.com; Author, “Building Knowledge: What an Elementary Curriculum Should Do” (2020, American Educator) and The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—And How to Fix It (2019); Co-Author, The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades (2017)

Transforming Education: Critical Thinking in a Media Age

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD

Neuroscientist; Musician; Record Producer; Visiting Professor at Dartmouth CollegeStanford University and University of California, Berkeley; Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities, Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont Colleges; James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Music at McGill University; Author, Successful Aging (2020), A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking With Statistics and the Scientific Method (2019), The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload (2014), and This Is Your Brain On Music (2007)

Making Thinking Visible: A Look at Practice and Effect

Ronald E. Ritchhart, EdD

Senior Research Associate, Harvard Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University; Author, Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools (2015) and Intellectual Character (2004); Co-Author, The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Using Routines to Engage and Empower Learners (2020) and Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners (2011)

The Unlearning Cycle: Changing Teacher Mindsets to Create Expert Learners

Katie R. Novak, EdD

Founder, Executive Director, Education Consultant, Novak Educational Consulting; Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania; Author, Let Them Thrive (2017), UDL Now!: A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today's Classrooms (2016, 2nd edition); Co-Author, UDL Playbook for School and District Leaders (2021), UDL and Blended Learning (2021), Unlearning: Changing Your Beliefs and Your Classroom With UDL (2020), and Innovate Inside the Box (2019)

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

Neuroscientist; Professor of Neural Science, New York University; Director, Fenton Lab, which studies how brains store experiences as memories, and how the expression of knowledge activates information that is relevant without activating what is irrelevant; Active Science Communicator and a Co-Host of "NOVA Wonders" on PBS; Host of the online lecture series, "Reconstructing Memory" Co-Founder, President and Chairman of the Board, Bio-Signal Group Corp; Associate Professor, SUNY Downstate Medical Center; Co-Author, "Cognitive Control Persistently Enhances Hippocampal Information Processing" (2021, Nature)

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

Neuroscientist; Professor of Neural Science, New York University; Director, Fenton Lab, which studies how brains store experiences as memories, and how the expression of knowledge activates information that is relevant without activating what is irrelevant; Active Science Communicator and a Co-Host of "NOVA Wonders" on PBS; Host of the online lecture series, "Reconstructing Memory" Co-Founder, President and Chairman of the Board, Bio-Signal Group Corp; Associate Professor, SUNY Downstate Medical Center; Co-Author, "Cognitive Control Persistently Enhances Hippocampal Information Processing" (2021, Nature)

The Unlearning Cycle: Changing Teacher Mindsets to Create Expert Learners

Katie R. Novak, EdD

Founder, Executive Director, Education Consultant, Novak Educational Consulting; Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania; Author, Let Them Thrive (2017), UDL Now!: A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today's Classrooms (2016, 2nd edition); Co-Author, UDL Playbook for School and District Leaders (2021), UDL and Blended Learning (2021), Unlearning: Changing Your Beliefs and Your Classroom With UDL (2020), and Innovate Inside the Box (2019)

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

Founder, CEO, The Learning Agency & Learning Agency Lab; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Author, “Critical Thinking Is the Key to Repairing Our Social Fabric” (2020, Psychology Today), Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything (2019), which Amazon called "the best science book of the year", “Why Education Research Needs More Development” (2019), “Learning to Learn: Tips for Teens and Their Teachers” (2019, Educational Leadership); “What Do People Know About Excellent Teaching and Learning?” (2017); Co-Author, “Using the Science of Learning to Redesign Schools” (2018, Center for American Progress), “Learning Mindsets and Skills” (2017), and “Revisited: Do Schools Challenge Our Students?” (2017)

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

Lila Davachi, PhD

Professor of Psychology; Director, Davachi Memory Lab, Columbia University; Co-Principal Investigator of the “Optimizing Memory Using Neural Information” Project; Recognized with the prestigious “Young Investigator Award” from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in 2009; Co-Author, “Mnemonic Prediction Errors Promote Detailed Memories” (2021, PsyArXiv)

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

Jonathan Bassett, EdD

History Teacher at Match Charter Public High School in Boston; Co-Creator of the Four Question Method; Co-Author, From Story to Judgement: The Four Question Method for Teaching and Learning Social Studies (2021)

Gary Shiffman, PhD

Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, Brookline High School; Former Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego; Co-Creator of the Four Question Method; Co-Author, From Story to Judgement: The Four Question Method for Teaching and Learning Social Studies (2021)

Dive Into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners

Kendra Grant, MET, OCT, CDTP

Owner, Kendra Grant Consulting; Co-Founder and Former Chief Education Officer, Sublime Learning; Past President of Inclusive Learning Network, ISTE: Co-Author, Dive Into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners (2022, 2nd Edition)

Luis F. Pérez, PhD

Technical Assistant Specialist, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST); Apple Distinguished Educator; Google in Education Certified Educator; President Elect of the Inclusive Learning Network of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which named him the 2020 winner of the Making It Happen Award and named him its 2016 Outstanding Inclusive Educator; Co-Author, Dive Into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners (2022, 2nd Edition) and "Universal Design for Learning and Online Learning" (2016, ISTE)

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

Cognitive Psychologist; Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University; Member, National Academy of Sciences; Named Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today”; Author, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters (2021), Enlightenment Now (2018), The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (2014), Language, Cognition, and Human Nature (2013), The Stuff of Thought (2007), and How the Mind Works (1997)

Making Thinking Visible: A Look at Practice and Effect

Ronald E. Ritchhart, EdD

Senior Research Associate, Harvard Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University; Author, Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools (2015) and Intellectual Character (2004); Co-Author, The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Using Routines to Engage and Empower Learners (2020) and Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners (2011)

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

Silvia A. Bunge, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley; Member, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child; Founder, Frontiers of Innovation; Director, Building Blocks of Cognition Laboratory; Co-Author, "How Does Education Hone Reasoning Ability" (2020, Current Directions in Psychological Sciences); “Scientific Insights Into the Development of Analogical Reasoning” (2018, Developmental Science), "Fronto-Parietal Network Reconfiguration Supports the Development of Reasoning Ability" (2014), and "Intensive Reasoning Training Alters Patterns of Brain Connectivity at Rest" (2013)

How Multiple Choice Questions Can Improve Critical Thinking

Benjamin A. Motz, PhD

Cognitive Scientist, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; Director, eLearning Research and Practice Lab, Indiana University; Co-Founder, Chief Research Officer, Boost; Researcher in memory and critical thinking; Co-Author, "Learning to Call Bullsh*t via Induction: Categorization Training Improves Critical Thinking Performance" (2021, PsyArXiv), "Generalizability, Transferability, and the Practice-to-Practice Gap" (2021, PsyArXiv), and “A Dissociation Between Engagement and Learning: Enthusiastic Instructions Fail to Reliably Improve Performance on a Memory Task” (2017, PLoS ONE)

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

Director of the Education Program, Neuroscape; Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco; Research Scientist, Stanford University; Director of the EF+Math Program; CEO and Co-Founder, Institute for Applied Neuroscience and the Nonprofit "Science of Good" Program; Leader of the Multi-University “Science of Learning Network”; Contributing Author, The Science of Learning and Development: Enhancing the Lives of All Young People (2021); Co-Author, “Development of Executive Function in Middle Childhood” (2021, PsyArXiv), “The Science of Learning and Learning Engineering: Advancing the Relationship Between Learning Sciences and Teaching Practice” (2019, Learning Sciences), and “Design Considerations for Conducting Large-Scale Learning Research Using Innovative Technologies in Schools” (2019, Mind, Brain and Education)

There Is No Learning Without Thinking

Derek A. Cabrera, PhD

Cognitive and Systems Thinking Scientist; Faculty, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University; Senior Scientist, Cabrera Research Lab; Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) for the Study of Complex Systems and the National Science Foundation; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Systems Thinking; Co-Author, Systems Thinking Made Simple (2018) and Thinking at Every Desk: Four Simple Skills to Transform Your Classroom (2012); Featured in the Documentary Film, “RE:Thinking” for his work in schools to teach thinking skills

Laura Cabrera, PhD

Co-founder and Chief Research Officer at Cabrera Research Lab.; Professor of Systems Thinking and Modeling and Organizational Design, Change and Leadership at the Institute for Policy Affairs, Cornell University; Senior Researcher at Cornell University’s Family Life Development Center; Co-Author, Systems Thinking Made Simple (2018) and Thinking at Every Desk: Four Simple Skills to Transform Your Classroom (2012); Featured in the Documentary Film, “RE:Thinking” for her work in schools to teach thinking skills

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), and “Informing Pedagogy Through the Brain-Targeted Teaching Model (2012, Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education); Co-Author, “Exploring Changes in Teacher Self-Efficacy Through Neuroeducation Professional Development” (2023, The Teacher Educator) and “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

Associate Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The University of Iowa; Director, Communications, Cognition, and Learning Lab; Co-Author, “Gesture During Math Instruction Specifically Benefits Learners With High Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity” (2020, Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications) and “Enhancing Learning With Hand Gestures: Potential Mechanisms” (2018, Psychology of Learning and Motivation)

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

Distinguished Fellow, English Department, Washington & Jefferson College; Contributor, Psychology Today; Writer, The New York Times, Scientific American, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Science, Nature and The Chronicle of Higher Education; Author, The Story Paradox: How Our Love for Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down (2021) and The Storytelling Animal (2015)

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

Natalie L. Wexler, JD

Education Writer; Senior Contributor, Forbes.com; Author, “Building Knowledge: What an Elementary Curriculum Should Do” (2020, American Educator) and The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—And How to Fix It (2019); Co-Author, The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades (2017)

Transforming Education: Critical Thinking in a Media Age

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD

Neuroscientist; Musician; Record Producer; Visiting Professor at Dartmouth CollegeStanford University and University of California, Berkeley; Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities, Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont Colleges; James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Music at McGill University; Author, Successful Aging (2020), A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking With Statistics and the Scientific Method (2019), The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload (2014), and This Is Your Brain On Music (2007)

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

Carolyn H. Strom, PhD

Clinical Professor of Early Childhood Literacy, School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University; Named one of “67 Influential Educators Who Are Changing the Way We Learn” by Noodle Education; Co-Author, “Seizing the Sounds: Considering Phonological Awareness in the Context of Vocabulary Instruction” (2016, Interventions in Learning Disabilities)

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

Cynthia L. Scheibe, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychology; Faculty, Department of Culture and Communication, Ithaca College; Founder and Executive Director of Media Literacy, Project Look Sharp; Co-Author, Teaching Students to Decode the World: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum (Forthcoming, 2022) and The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World (2012)

Chris Sperry, MEd

Curriculum and Staff Development, Project Look Sharp, Ithaca College; Co-Author, Teaching Students to Decode the World: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum (Forthcoming, 2022)

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

Director, Metacognition and Memory Lab; Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology; Director, Graduate Studies, Columbia University; Author, Metacogniion (2008); Co-Author, “The MAPS Model of Self-Regulation: Integrating Metacognition, Agency, and Possible Selves” (2021, Metacognition and Learning), “Epistemic Curiosity and the Region of Proximal Learning” (2020, Current Opinions in Behavioral Sciences),“Learning From One’s Own Errors and Those of Others” (2018, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review), and Metacognition (2014); Editor, Metacognition: A Special Issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review (2013), The Missing Link in Cognition (2005), and Metacognition: Knowing About Knowing (1996)

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

William R. Stixrud, PhD

Clinical Neuropsychologist, Founder, The Stixrud Group; Faculty Member, Children’s National Medical Center; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, George Washington University, whose work has been featured in media outlets such as NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report, Time Magazine, Scientific American, Business Week, Barron's, New York Magazine, and Vogue; Co-Author, What Do You Say?: How to Talk With Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home (2021), The Self-Driven Child (2019), and The Thriving Child: The Science Behind Reducing Stress and Nurturing Independence (2018)

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

Richard K. Cohen, MA

Assistant Superintendent of Metuchen School District; Co-Adjunct Faculty, Rutgers University; Educational Consultant, Self-Q LLC; Co-Author, The Metacognitive Student: How to Teach Academic, Social, and Emotional Intelligence in Every Content Area (2021)

Metacognition: The Neglected Skill Set for Empowering Students

Robin J. Fogarty, PhD

President, Robin Fogarty & Associates; Former Teacher; Co-Author, Metacognition: The Neglected Skill Set for Empowering Students (2020), Thinking About Thinking in IB Schools (2020), How to Teach Thinking Skills (2019),Thinking About Thinking in IB Schools (2018), Metacognition (2018, Revised Edition), Everyday Problem-Based Learning: Quick Projects to Build Problem-Solving Fluency (2017), Unlocking Student Talent: The New Science of Developing Expertise (2017), The Right to be Literate (2015), Supporting Differentiated Instruction (2010), and Brain-Compatible Classroom (2009)

Brian M. Pete, MA

President and Co-Founder, Robin Fogarty & Associates; Co-Author, Metacognition: The Neglected Skill Set for Empowering Students (2020), Thinking About Thinking in IB Schools (2020), How to Teach Thinking Skills (2019), Thinking About Thinking in IB Schools (2018), Metacognition (2018, Revised Edition), Everyday Problem-Based Learning: Quick Projects to Build Problem-Solving Fluency (2017), Unlocking Student Talent: The New Science of Developing Expertise (2017), The Right to be Literate (2015), Supporting Differentiated Instruction (2010), and Brain-Compatible Classroom (2009)

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)

Jack A. Naglieri, PhD

Research Professor, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia; Senior Research Scientist, Devereux Center for Resilient Children; Author, Helping Children Learn (2011, 2nd Edition); Co-Author, Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Translating Science to Practice (2017), The Handbook of Executive Functioning (2014), and “The School Neuropsychology of ADHD: Theory, Assessment, and Intervention” (2008, Psychology in the School)