Educators have been exploring best approaches to teaching critical thinking skills for decades.  With the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) the focus is moving from the emphasis if standardized testing on discreet facts and processes to and assessment that emphasizes application of new knowledge, giving instructors more authentic indicators of what students know and what content has been learned.  It is a major shift in accountability measures and will require those who work with students to better understand the science and art of critical thinking.

The 2012 Institute will focus on what neuroscience can tell us about how the human brain naturally develops the capacity to take in, process and explore new information.  The speakers will highlight the multiple cognitive mechanisms that help children, youth and adults think more deeply about concepts, ideas and events, showing that critical thinking is not just an instructional strategy, but the what the human brain is built to do.  They will also talk about how participants can ensure that critical thinking flourishes in their classroom.

The Institute provides an arena in which educators can examine and develop knowledge, skills and confidence to combine the Science and Art of Thinking.  I provides opportunities for participants to experience and plan for Rigor - an instructional goal to help students develop the capacity to inquire and understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative and personally or emotionally challenging.

Monday, June 25, 2012 -- A Call for System Change

Dr. Adam Cox is licensed and board certified clinical psychologist, whose work with families and schools takes him around the world.  He has been consulting and writing about the emotional and cognitive development of school-age children for more than a decade and is the author of No Mind Left Behind: Understanding and Fostering Executive Control - The Eight Essential Brain Skills Every Child Needs to Thrive and Boys of Few Words: Raising Our Sons to Communicate and Connect, both of which have been translated into multiple languages.  His commentary on youth, families and schools has been widely covered by radio, television and print media.

A frequent lecturer on child development, Dr. Cox was commissioned by the International Boys' School Coalition (IBSC) to conduct a global school-based research project, Locating Significance in the Lives of Boys.  During the research, he visited twenty project schools in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zeeland, Singapore and South Africa.  The results of this groundbreaking study -- the first to interview students worldwide about how they find meaning and purpose in their lives -- was presented at the IBSC International conference in London in July, 2011.

Dr. Cox's Eight Pillars model of executive function has been widely adopted by schools seeking practical solutions for learning challenges in the era of distraction. Although this framework was initially designed to promote academic performance, it is now employed to build diverse forms of capability among young people, including social awareness and vocational decision making.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012 -- Neuroscience Supports Foundations for Learning

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Ed. D. is an affective neuroscientist and human development psychologist who studies the neural, psychophysiological and physiological bases of emotion, social interaction and culture and their implications for development and schools. She is an Assistant Professor of Education at the Rossier School of Education, as Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, and a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Program faculty at the University of Southern California, where she was formerly a joint postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Robert Rueda and Antonio Damasio.

A former junior high school teacher, Dr. Immordino-Yang earned her doctorate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where she was the recipient of grants from the Spencer Foundation and the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. She is the Associate Editor for North America for the award-winning journal mind, Brain and Education, and the inaugural recipient of the Award for Transforming Education through neuroscience. She and her co-workers received the 2010 Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences for the most distinguished paper of the yer in the behavioral and social sciences category, for the paper, "Neural Correlates of admiration and compassion." In 2011 she was named a "Rising Star" by the Association for Psychological Science.

Dr. Immordino-Yang lectures nationally and abroad on the neural and psychosocial implications of brain and cognitive science research for curriculum and pedagogy, and is the content director for a new online, free course for teachers on learning and the brain, funded by the Annenberg Media Foundation (available Fall, 2011; www.learner.org).

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 -- Neuroscience Implications for Classroom Practice

Roberta Cramer's professional experience has included both public education and informal science education.She taught first through eighth grades for three different Michigan school districts.  In 1989, Ms. Cramer was selected as a finalist for the Michigan Teacher of the Year Award, and in 1996 she received the Excellence in Service award from the Grand Haven Area Public School District.  She coached Science Olympiad in both Meteorology and Write in Do It, a scientific writing event. During the last several years of her teaching practice in public schools, she was a curriculum specialist and a middle school assistant principal. Using current brain research couple with Robert Marzano's educational research, she facilitated school improvement teams to develop building goals and create staff development programming.

For the last three years, Ms. Cramer has worked as a Science Education Specialists for Van Andel Education Institute. She states that her current professional practice provides her the opportunity to consider how to effectively teach students to think and act like scientists. She believes thoughtful use of critical thinking skills enables students to intentionally wonder about the world around them.

As the current Executive Director for the Michigan Science Teachers' Association (MSTA), Robby works to further MSTA's Mission to stimulate support, and provide leadership for the improvement of science education throughout Michigan.  She also currently serves on the Michigan state committee for taking the Conceptual Framework for New Science Standards document and developing the Michigan Science Standards. For the past 30 years she has been a frequent speaker at state, national, and international conferences speaking on various topics: creative and critical thinking, effective teaching practices, mentoring programs, teacher evaluation, and writing across the curriculum.

Thursday, June 28, 2012--  Post-Institute session --"Taking the Institute Home"

The morning of the full day Post Institute session, Susan Loughrin, art consultant for the Ottawa Area ISD, will introduce you to the Harvard program, Visible Thinking. This program is a flexible and systematic research-based approach with a dual goal: to cultivate students' thinking skills and comfort with creative thinking; and to deepen content learning.

The second half of the day will address ways you can apply new knowledge to effect change in your schools and districts.  In this work session, you will receive a template to use for discussion and reflection of what you’ve heard and learned during the Institute, which you may share with your department, school, administration, parents, etc.  You will leave this session with a tangible tool and action plan.

Attending the Post Institute session is a requirement if you are receiving 2 graduate credits or 6.0 SB-CEUs for the 2012 Midwest Brain and Learning Institute.  (The fee for both types of credit should be paid by the first day of the Institute -- see Credit Options section.)

The Post Institute session runs from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.  A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Ms. Alexander is a Graphic Recorder.  Her past collaboration with the Midwest Brain and Learning Institute captured presentations from the last five Institutes in a large format chart.  She is on of only a few such Recorders in the country and has been working nationally and internationally with profit and non-profit organizations for the past 13 years.  Her graphic expertise will provide you another brain-compatible way to process information from the 2012 Institute.