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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)