The Johns Hopkins University is combining two of its
strengths — brain research and teacher
education — to give educators a better understanding
of how young minds work and to offer ways to
enhance learning.
The School of
Education,
School of Medicine, Brain Science Institute and the
affiliated
Kennedy Krieger Institute are presenting this month a
joint seminar for teachers to discuss how the
latest advances in brain research can affect teaching and
student learning.
Hosted by the School of Education's Neuro-Education
Initiative, the Executive Function
Seminar will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday,
Sept. 25, in the Education Building,
Homewood campus.
"The goals of the Neuro-Education Initiative include
providing opportunities for dialogue and
collaboration among educators and researchers, providing
venues for information sharing across
disciplines and exploring new translational research
initiatives between brain science and education to
create new knowledge for teaching and learning," said John
Griffin, director of the Brain Science
Institute. "The Brain Science Institute is excited to
support and participate in this transformative
program."
Mariale Hardiman, assistant dean of the Urban School
Partnerships at the School of Education
and co-director of the Neuro-Education Initiative, said,
"Linking brain research to education is
extremely valuable to our understanding of student
development and learning. The Executive Function
Seminar is one of the first initiatives of its kind by a
major university, and we feel the Neuro-
Education Initiative is on the cutting edge of bringing
together the research with the practice," said
Hardiman, who prior to joining Johns Hopkins was principal
of Roland Park Elementary/Middle School
in Baltimore City.
Renowned for expertise in both neuroscience and
education, Johns Hopkins is a natural setting
for such a seminar, Hardiman said.
"Johns Hopkins provides a unique location for our
Neuro-Education Initiative," she said. "We
have world-renowned scholars who have done groundbreaking
research in how the brain functions and
our education school, which is committed to preparing
quality teachers and administrators based on
the best available research."
Presenting the latest findings on executive function
will be Martha Bridge Denckla, director of
the Developmental Cognitive Neurology Department at KKI and
a professor of neurology at the School
of Medicine, who is widely published on the biological
bases for learning disabilities and ADHD in
children of normal and above-average intelligence; and
Marilyn Albert, professor of neurology and
director of the Division of Cognitive Neuroscience at the
School of Medicine, who has written
extensively on the cognitive and brain changes associated
with memory.
The seminar is co-sponsored by the university's Office
of Alumni Relations and the Maryland
State Department of Education.
Starting in spring 2009, the School of Education will
offer a graduate certificate in Mind, Brain
and Teaching. The program is designed for pre-K through
12th-grade teachers, school administrators
and related personnel who want to know more about how brain
research can inform educational
practice.
For more information about the certificate program, go
to
www.education.jhu.edu.
For more on the seminar or to register online, go to
www.education.jhu.edu/iseevent.