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Discerning & Distinct: Critical and Creative Thinking in Teaching and Learning

Critical and creative thinking increase learning quality and quantity. But what constitutes critical thinking? And what constitutes creative thinking? What role do these ways of thinking play in learning? And how can the teacher both instruct and engage students in these ways of thinking to improve learning?

Discerning and Distinct explores:
  • how the human mind constructs understanding, and applies new learning
  • the concept of critical thinking and its contribution to deepened learning
  • the concept of creative thinking and its contribution to deepened learning
  • how critical and creative thinking is best taught
  • how critical and creative thinking can be embedded in instruction
  • the responsibility of engaging critical and creative thinking and of teaching students to think critically and creatively

Intended audience: Educators

Length: 6 hours

Effective Teachers, Learning Students: Reviewing the Research, Reflecting on Practice, and Reaching Potential

Using findings from research, this professional development program addresses the following questions:
  1. What does research reveal about effective teachers and student learning?
  2. What instructional methods truly increase student achievement and how are these methods best used in teaching?
  3. What is the single most effective instructional method for increasing student achievement?
  4. How can a teacher structure instruction to take advantage of research-supported methods?

Participants experience each research-supported method and explore actual application within their own teaching. Recent educational and neuroscientific research findings help explain the basis for each method’s effectiveness and aid teachers in recognizing each method’s contribution to learning.

Intended audience: Educators

Length: 4 hours

Minds Ahead: An Exploration of Gardner's Five Minds for the Future

Dr. Howard Gardner examines trends within society and business and concludes that five "minds" will influence and define success in the future. This seminar overviews each of these five minds, examines potential implications for curriculum and instruction, and discusses what schools and classrooms need to be and do to equip the minds of the future.

Intended audience: Curriculum & Instruction Practitioners

Length: 4 hours