Explo Curriculum Director Attends Creativity Conference

Creativity is our children's next essential literacy.

Christine Carter, MD PhD

Barb Trainor, Explo’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction, attended a conference in San Francisco on creativity and the brain called, "Educating for Creative Minds: Using Brain Science to Ignite Innovation and Imagination."

The conference featured more than 30 speakers and experts, including psychologists, researchers, educators, and physicians. Keynote speakers included Yong Zhao (PhD), a researcher and author of books about the impact of globalization on education and teaching creative and entrepreneurial students; Christine Carter (PhD), who spoke about simple steps to boost creativity in kids; and Nancy Anderson (MD, PhD), who focused on the neuroscience and neurochemistry of creativity and posed the question: “We’re all born creative; what will we do with it?”

Among the many takeaways from the conference, including the notion that happiness is not only critical to better learning, but a skill that can be taught, the most important may have been that creativity has become an educational necessity. Says Yong Zhao, “Education needs to be deliberately cultivating entrepreneurs.” And we need to actively teach and nurture the skills of a successful entrepreneur — creativity, action, resilience.

Explo’s mission is to engage in the world of people and ideas, and creativity and passion are at the heart of what we do in all aspects of Explo life, from curriculum and course planning, to activities, evening events, and learning to thrive in a global community. Moira Kelly, Explo’s Executive Director, notes that, “it’s important that we stay abreast of the latest research so that we can incorporate that learning in what we do.”