Bugatti & the Brain: The Cognitive Science Underlying Game Design with Dr. Lindsay Portnoy

What travels faster than a Bugatti and carries over 1,000 trillion passengers from a single drivers seat? The three pound mass between your ears is home to billions of neurons whose signals travel over 270 miles per hour to send messages, otherwise known as thought. Making up only 2% of the human body the brain is the source of what makes us, us. Who we are, what we do, how we move, why we think and react to the world around us. Cognitive science and the neurological underpinnings that make the science of learning concrete, provide evidence for the way we perceive and engage with the world around us. In this talk we use cognitive science as a lens to understand the mental processes foundational for learning from the zone of proximal development to self-determination theory and share how science informs the ways in which we develop immersive games to engage our youngest citizens, whose brainpower makes the Bugatti Veyron’s top speed of 254 miles per hour seem like a walk in the park!

Dr. Lindsay Portnoy is a cognitive scientist with over a decade of experience in the study and instruction of cognition, human development and assessment of teaching and learning from birth through adolescence. Portnoy is a former public school teacher and professor of education having worked in elementary, undergraduate and graduate classrooms. She works with teachers and students across the nation in formal and informal settings including the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Gardens and the New York Hall of Science to develop immersive learning experiences rich in complex content and engaging to learners. Portnoy publishes in both academic journals and widely read media publications including the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Digital Culturist, Getting Smart, and EdSurge, and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network in Media, Entertainment and Information, a former Hunter College Assessment Fellow, and 2015 ASCD Emerging Leader. Portnoy writes and conducts research at the intersection of emerging technology, developing cognition, and assessment for teaching and learning. She currently serves as co-founder and chief learning officer at Killer Snails and lecturer at Northeastern University, her forthcoming book on the science of learning underlying design thinking will be published through ASCD in October 2019.

TIES NEW BOOK:
Written by members of the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science who have tackled the topic of evolution in their classroom for decades, "On Teaching Evolution" offers practical advice and sample lesson plans for fellow science teachers. Learn about what inspired them to love teaching evolution and the experiences that help guide their teaching practices.

“If you can read this, thank a teacher” So runs a favorite t-shirt slogan. This book inspires me to coin a variant: “If you understand why you exist and rejoice in that understanding, thank a science teacher.” More specifically, thank a teacher of evolution." - From foreward by Richard Dawkins

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