What has changed since 2000? With the U.S. reinvesting in manufacturing and the energy sector being transformed, employment in the trades is likely to make a real comeback. Construction jobs will increase as a result of housing demands and infrastructure development, maintenance, and rebuilding requirements. The lines defining science as we teach it are more blurred than ever. The rapid development of cellular biology has caused organic chemistry and biology to essentially merge as a discipline affecting everything from health and medicine to agriculture, food, and forestry, psychology and neuroscience. Technology advances have made big data accessible and data visualization opens the field to even math novices. Data visualization is transforming research in economics. Economics, as we know it, is being challenged by a new interpretation of how we think, make decisions, conduct research, and behave. In addition, artificial intelligence will change what it means to hold a job in the knowledge industry.

All of these changes are already impacting education. A singular study in 2005 brought attention to the outsized value of middle school. Research in cellular biology, neuroscience, and fields within psychology are revealing much about how we learn. Big data studies using natural experiments are discovering the value of early childhood education as well as reminding us of the impact a good teacher has on students as well as their own colleagues. 

This research about learning is largely coming from outside our colleges of education. Is it penetrating our classrooms or public policies? This conference is designed to provide a few answers but also to raise informed questions for going forward. So, why choose the World War II Museum in New Orleans as the host site of this conference?

Because of what we really can learn from the past! Some of the new research cited above began as skunkworks projects in the 1920s and 30s, and some even before.  World War II and the funding that followed it in the next twenty-five years brought this and other research into the mainstream and it has continued progressing all along the way.

Join us for a few days of reviewing the past to look into the future of education and discuss the ramifications of a few of the successful ideas and solutions out there right now.

Conference sponsors are:

NOLA Edu, whose product, STAR Academy, has an approach to accelerating learning for students in middle school who are working below, and often well below, grade level. It utilizes technology in the broadest sense of the word, incorporates computers as management tools, and with a tight instructional process creates a learning environment that develops independent, hands-on learners. With this population of students, their high school graduation rates normally fall into the upper 80th percentile. 

The Foundation for the Art and Science of Learning (FASL) is the creator of the That Could Be Me! children’s literature series. Currently, Alabama secondary students are writing and illustrating STEM biographies that aspire to inspire elementary students in STEM careers. The subjects of the biographies are all from in-state and underrepresented groups in STEM. FASL anticipates piloting more projects in other states, some based on interest from those attending this conference. 

FASL also works with Syfr Learning, a professional development company employing the science of learning in its work with teachers and schools as well as district leadership. FASL licenses Syfr’s services and professional development products. Syfr began as a professional development company in 1999 designing conferences on leading-edge issues for district-level leadership. 

The World War II Museum began as the D-Day Museum in the early 2000s. It is now the largest museum in New Orleans and the city’s number one tourist attraction. The Museum developed a K-12 supplemental STEM curriculum that will be made available to participants at no cost complete with accompanying professional development.

To register for the hotel nights July 12 and 13, click here.

For photographs of the hotel, click on this website and take the Brief Video Tour. It is a beautiful hotel.

For more information on the hotel click here.