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Martin Westwell

Professor Martin Westwell

Director,
Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century,
Flinders University

The future of the mind:
how technology changes the way we think

NEW (August 2008): Interview with Martin Westwell on the impact of technology on thinking and learning (mp3 file from education.au)

In a technological world, environments have the capacity to change the way that young people think, behave and learn in ways that were never possible. By exploring some of the recent developments in the modern world that have modified the way young people think and learn, insights for the future of education can be gained. The power of these insights can only be fully realised when coupled with the experience, expertise and values of teachers. How do we ensure that we capitalise upon the opportunities offered by technology whilst minimising the risks?

Profile:
Martin Westwell is the first Director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century. He has a PhD from Cambridge University has worked at Oxford University and in the biotech industry. In 2005, he ran the Oxford University research program on the influence of modern lifestyles and technologies on the minds of the young and the old. Throughout all of the work at the Institute for the Future of the Mind, Martin worked with government, teachers, parents and others to provide access to scientific evidence to help inform their decision-making about the learning and education of young people. Martin has won a number of awards for communicating science to non-scientists. In 1999 he was named The Times as the Scientist of the New Century, and most recently he was short-listed for the Parliamentary Science Writer of the Year award in the UK. Martin and his family moved to Adelaide in September 2007 and his children go to Bridgewater Primary School in the Adelaide Hills.

Profile:

The slides from my presentation are available here

The clip that demonstrates "inattention blindness" can be found at the Visual Cognition Lab at the University of Illinois

Places to go from here:

Project implicit at Harvard University - test your unconscious prejudices!

Steve Lohr (25 March 2007) Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic
New York Times >read

Hannah Green & Celia Hannon (2007) Their Space: Education for a digital generation
Demos >download from here

Paul Howard-Jones (2007), Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities
Teaching and Learning Research Program, London >download pdf

Sir Ken Robinson (2005) Do schools kill creativity?
Clip from TED Conference, Monterey >link to TED

(2006) The Child’s Mind
Scientific American, Special Online Issue >link

Karen Sobel Lojeski & Richard R. Reilly (2008) Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Transforming Leadership and Innovation in the Globally Integrated Enterprise, Wiley, Hoboken, USA >Amazon preview

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore & Uta Frith (2005) The Learning Brain, Lessons for Education
Blackwell Publishing, London 1405124016 >Introductory chapter free to download from publisher

Lynn Meltzer (2007) Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice
Guildford Press, New York 1593854285 >preview from publisher

Last Modified 8/4/08 12:50 PM