January 25, 2020, 9 am – 2pm
Cost – $50 includes choice of boxed lunch
What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Digital Technologies and Development
Digital technologies have changed our lives. Our response to these changes is similar to every other generation that has experienced major technological innovation: moral panic. We’re panicked that digital devices are wiring our children’s brains for inattention; that violent video games will create a violent society; and that smartphones are making our adolescents depressed and suicidal. While to a certain extent this panic is understandable, we have to stop and ask ourselves: Does moral panic help us prepare our children for the digital age? Or does it nudge us toward binary no-screen-versus-screen choices, influencing us to perceive our children as blank slates rather than complex people with innate tendencies and their own agency? And are the concerns that fuel our moral panic even true? These are questions every parent and educator should ask themselves. These are questions that will be addressed in this literature-based workshop.
RSVP Today – Space is limited!
Laura Flores Shaw, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Education, is extensively trained in family systems therapy and educational neuroscience. She also has direct experience as Head of School within an AMI based Montessori school framework. She instructs in the Mind, Brain, and Teaching Certificate and the Doctor of Education online programs. Dr. Shaw’s work has focused on translating research from multiple areas of neuroscience, educational psychology, sustainability education, and family systems research into school design and classroom practice. She has particular interest and expertise in translating current applied and computational neuroscience research—especially approaches featuring a sensorimotor and ethologically oriented perspective— and applying large-scale dynamical systems frameworks to sociocultural contexts. Recontextualizing common terms such as “executive function” and “attention” are areas of particular interest, especially in relation to issues of race, class, neurodiversity and behavior, including traditionally disadvantaged students living in poverty.
