Anne Cutler Public Lecture 2025

Topic

Active Playful Learning: Where the Science of Learning Meets Education

Speaker

Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Professor of Psychology, Temple University; Anne Cutler Visiting Fellow 2025, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development

Abstract

The “factory model” of education that dominates classrooms around the world is outdated. Our current model of education neither prepares students to thrive in the 21st century nor does it address systemic inequalities. In our Brookings Big Ideas Piece (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2020), A new path to education reform, and in Making Schools Work (Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2022), we argue for a developmentally appropriate pedagogy built on the latest science of learning while offering a children rich curricular approach to learning.

This approach was a cornerstone of UNESCOs Happy School’s movement (2024) and of recent work from the OECD arguing against the increased schoolification in education (OECD, 2020, p. 33). Our model addresses these recent trends through work in what we call Active Playful Learning (APL).

It uses a 3-part equation, based in the science of learning, to realize this goal. We start with cultural contexts that embrace community funds of knowledge that children bring to our classrooms. We then add the "how" of learning such that if we teach in ways that capitalize on how brains learn, children are more likely to retain and transfer their knowledge. Third, we add "what" the children need to know to thrive in a world dotted with Chat GPT, and with workplaces that will later require them to expand their repertoire of outcomes to include a breadth of skills, 6Cs -- collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence (grit and growth mindset).

In this talk, we demonstrate how this equation has been used to design an evidence-based pedagogical approach that is being evaluated in a longitudinal study in the US along with how it is being used to support community-based, out of school enrichment in communities and in digital media. We also speak to how aspects of the approach are being loosely applied to schools internationally in Japan, Vietnam, Iran, Mexico, and Ghana.

Active, playful learning offers a powerful route for re-imagining our educational pedagogy and policy in ways aligned with the latest science of learning.

About the Speaker

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Professor of Psychology at Temple University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution was declared a “scientific entrepreneur” from the American Association of Psychology. Writing 17 books and 250+ publications, she served as President of the International Congress for Infant Studies, was on the Governing Board of the Society for Research in Child Development and is on the board of Zero to Three. Her Einstein Never Used Flashcards won the Book for a Better Life Award in 2003 with her Becoming Brilliant: What the science tells us about raising successful children (2016) reaching the NYTimes Best Sellers List in education. Her newest book Making Schools Work: Bringing the Science of Learning to Joyful Classroom Practice (2022) is the first education book co-written with teachers, administrators and scientists. It already sparked a national grant to re-imagine education. Hirsh-Pasek won awards from every psychological and educational society for her basic science and translational work designed to bridge basic science and educational impact. She also was honored with the Simms Mann Award and the Association of Children’s Museum Great Friend to Kids Award. She is a founding member of the the Latin American School for Educational and Cognitive Neuroscience, she spearheaded a global network of scientists devoted to educational science. Co-founder of the global Learning Science Exchange Fellowship (LSX), she brings together scientists, journalists, policy makers and entertainers, to put learning science in the hands of educators. In 2021, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Education. Her initiative Playful Learning Landscapes re-imagines cities and public squares as places with science infused designs that enhance academic and social opportunities. Hirsh-Pasek frequently comments for the press (e.g. NPR, NYT) and blogs for the Brookings Institution. In December 2021, Encantos, the global creator platform empowering Storyteachers from around the world to help kids learn 21st-century skills, announced that Kathy became Encantos’ first Creator-in-Residence. In May 2023, Kathy and her team received a $19.98 million grant from the LEGO Foundation in support of her work on playful learning.

Full bio: https://kathyhirshpasek.com/

Recorded Lecture

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Pre-lecture Activity

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