News2015August
News from the Graduate Program in Critical & Creative Thinking
University of Massachusetts Boston13 August 2015
Student Matters
Most fall 2015 CCT courses begin the week of September 14th. Current students who wish to maintain continuous enrollment but are not able to take a course in the fall must pay the program fee (register for course CAS 600 in WISER). Please also note the academic calendar for deadlines related to course enrollment: https://www.umb.edu/registrar/academic_calendar
Fall 2015 courses are open for registration by all current and prospective students. Hybrid courses generally involve weekly meetings face-to-face at UMass Boston, where students enrolled in the online section join via web video conference during meeting times. Please make sure to the register for the appropriate section, based on how you'll attend:
CRCRTH 601 Critical Thinking (hybrid), 4:00-6:45pm Tuesdays from September 15 - December 15, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6478, online: class #6355).
CRCRTH 630 Criticism and Creativity in Literature & the Arts (hybrid), 4:00-6:45pm Thursdays from September 17 - December 17, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6479, online: class #6357).
CRCRTH 650 Mathematical Thinking (hybrid), 7:00-9:45pm Mondays from September 14 - December 14, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6480, online: class #6358).
CRCRTH 651 Advanced Cognitive Psychology (hybrid), 4:00-6:45pm Mondays from September 14 - December 14, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6481, online: class #6360).
CRCRTH 670 Thinking, Learning, and Computers (hybrid), 7:00-9:45pm Thursdays from September 17 - December 17, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6482, online: class #6363).
CRCRTH 688 Reflective Practice (hybrid), Dates and Times TBA, from September 11 - December 11, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6483, online: class #6365).
CRCRTH 692 Processes of Research and Engagement (hybrid), 7:00-9:45pm Tuesdays, from September 15 - December 15, 2015 (Face-to-face: class #6484, online: class #6366).
Applications for the spring 2016 semester are due on November 1 (October 1 for international students). Those with applications already started may check the status of their application here (using the id and password supplied to you by Graduate Studies).
Several optional, on-campus orientations and workshops are available in early fall for new and returning graduate students. See below under Events for more details.
CCT Community
From CCT Professor Orin Davis: new blog posts on the 5 Signs that your company doesn’t want talent and on Making Self-Help Effective and an audio interview on Making Workplaces Great Places To Work
CCT Events
Critical and Creative Thinking Program Open House events will resume in the fall. Please see future newsletters for details
Alum and CCT associates Notes
CCT alums and associates are encouraged to send items of interest to the Critical and Creative Thinking community to be included in future newsletters. Please submit events, announcements, and opportunities through this form: http://bit.ly/CCTSICWi
Events
Fall Orientation and Workshops for New and Returning Graduate Students
Students are invited to attend any of the following sessions to learn more about graduate study, university resources and employment opportunities, and to attend workshops on a variety of research, writing, and other topics of interest to those in graduate study. See this page for a full calendar of upcoming events and workshops: https://www.umb.edu/academics/graduate/upcoming_events_workshops
University Fall 2015 Opening Week events (Student Activities Office):
- Tuesday, September 8 - Thursday, September 17, various locations around campus
- Tuesday, September 8, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
- Thursday, September 10, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
- Thursday, September 17, 3:00 - 6:00 pm, Campus Center Ballroom A
- September 2-4, (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). For information, visit the Office of Global Programs website.
IDEAS Boston
October 28, 2015 at UMass Boston
IDEAS UMass Boston is a unique event where some of the region’s leading thinkers from every imaginable sector push boundaries and share their latest big ideas to create fertile ground for innovation. For more information and to register: https://www.umb.edu/ideas
Knowledge from the Margins Conference (Michigan State University)
August 18-19, 2015 with post conference tour August 20, 2015
Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, East Lansing, MI
The conference will be inclusive (science and technology studies as a "big tent") but definitive in its focus on knowledge produced by (or about) people and institutions who are marginalized in society (e.g. layperson, low-income, low-caste/class, indigenous, non-Western, non-Protestant, racial/ethnic minority, female gender, LGBTQ sexual orientation, disabled, etc.)
For more information: http://lbc.msu.edu/KFM/
Advanced ADR Trainings
Aug. 24-25 & 27-29, 2015 Denver, CO
OvalOptions and Meta-Culture are collaborating to deliver two intense, energetic, interactive and provocative trainings. Delivered by Ashok Panikkar, international trainer and founder of Meta-Culture, these are advanced courses and require foundational knowledge of mediation, facilitation and/or dialogue. See attached documents or click the links below.
Course 1: Critical Thinking for Mediators (Aug 24-25, Denver Museum of Nature & Science)
Course 2: Meta-Dialogue Workshop (Aug 27-29, Denver West Marriott)
Lunch and refreshments provided at each location. Dual enrollment discount available. Early Bird through July 31st.
Based in Bangalore, India, Meta-Culture specializes in conflict resolution, critical thinking and creative problem solving, and operates in Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East. They received the 2010 Outstanding Leadership Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution's (ACR) International Development Committee.
For more information about the courses, visit: http://ovaloptions.com/options/collaboration-meta-culture/
For more information about Ashok Panikkar, visit: http://ovaloptions.com/ashok-panikkar/
Opportunities
YWCA Boston Dialogues on Race seeks skilled facilitators
Opportunities are available for emerging and seasoned facilitators to bring our proven dialogue model on race to community groups, schools and corporations. Training, support and a sliding scale stipend is available. Dialogues are typically 5, consecutive weeks for 2 hours per session and are co-facilitated. Skill and comfort discussing and facilitating conversations about race, ethnicity and equity are required. Help provide a transformative experience for participants while building your practice and network. Contact dialogues@ywboston.org for more information.
Resources
Students have access to multiple library resources to aid in your research and course work, including many e-resources for online students:
- Bar code (for access to library journals/databases and e-book interlibrary loans)
- Ask-a-Librarian service for help on researching specific topics and finding resources
- ScholarWorks for UMass-Boston published materials (such as graduate dissertations and faculty articles)
- WorldCat (for ebook versions of many academic books and journals)
The UMass Boston master plan provides details of interest to those visiting campus this fall, including parking and transportation changes, construction updates, and building access information during the current period of campus change.
Downloadable program and proceedings from the 35th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform, held on July 25-30.
Food for Thought
(additional web links and posts can also be found on CCT's Diigo pages. General critical and creative thinking focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/ccreflect; Science in a Changing World focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/sicwumb)
To Watch:
The divided brain
Chuck Jones: the evolution of an artist
Carbon Engineering - Industrial-scale capture of CO2 from ambient air
To Read:
Franziska Michor - Cancer Researcher - Evolutionary Biologist
Amazon.com: Playmobil Security Check Point: Toys & Games
The First Humans to Live to the Age of 150 Are Already Alive
The Plight of Living Lefty
Penn Research Helps Show That Attention, Imagination Equally Important for Creativity
A fully transparent solar cell that could make every window and screen a power source (updated)
The Vilcek Foundation - 2015 Vilcek Prize Recipients
The Invention of Jaywalking
This door handle kills germs
Experts warn against new social media trend called Sunburn Art
How the golden ratio manifests in nature
How to Tell Your Own Life Story
Smelling a Fish May Improve Critical Thinking Skills
Constructor theory solves the riddle of life
Critical Thinking Club
Mex I Am' Exhibit Showcases Premiere Art, Culture and Ideas
Improv Helps Ph.D.'s Explain Their Work and Loosen Up
100 Days Without Fear
Reflection from International Conference on Thinking
The Writing Assignment That Changes Lives
Fact Sheet: Metacognitive Processes - Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy (TEAL)
Write in the Middle: Creating a Community of Writers
A scalable goal-setting intervention closes both the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap
Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases | Educational Psychology
Are Good Schools Simply a Collection of Good Teachers?
The Importance of Teaching Critical Thinking
National Association of Professional Women Inducts Sarah Thurber, Managing Partner of FourSight, LLC, Into its VIP Woman of the Year Circle
Go Ahead, Wise Guy: Sarcasm Makes People More Creative
Quiz: Can You Answer 5th-Grade Science Questions?
How to Live Wisely
It's time to bring back the public water fountain
What The Science Literacy Police Get Wrong About Science
Has America Given up on Arts Education?
Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis is the world's quietest place
George Washington University is ditching the SATs
Bullying - A misnomer in preschool terminology
Why Self-Care is not Enough
Florida's kooky new plan: giving bonuses to teachers with high SAT/ACT scores
Critical & Creative Thinking, MA Cultural & Global Analysis | University of Nebraska Online Worldwide
Man Noticed This Abandoned Hangar But Whats Inside Caught Him By Surprise
A New Report Outlines Design Strategies for Reducing Traffic Fatalities
The Multiple Personalities of Risk
Portuguese scientists discover why pendulum clocks swing together
Using a Discourse-Community-Knowledge Framework to Design Writing Assignments
What is money?
Lessons from a Hole in the Bucket
Eight ways to put your brain into its most creative gear
Scientists are developing an x-ray pill you can swallow
ECOCAPSULE | Dwelling with the spirit of freedom
Do these eight things and you will be more creative and insightful, neuroscientists say
In Defense Of Critical Thinking: Because America Needs To Breathe
Using Social Media as a tool for Reflective Practice
Do animals think about the future?
No, you can't be the change alone
Party of Five! Physicists Discover Long-Sought Pentaquark In Stroke of Luck
#FieldWorkFail Lets Scientists Share Their Hilariously Less-Impressive Moments
15 Times Teachers Had The Best Sense Of Humor
Solar energy meets resistance in aesthetics-minded Texas suburbs
2 Kinds of People
Here's Every Single Animal That Became Extinct In The Last 100 Years
How Science is Defending Our Coasts from Climate Change Using Plant DNA
Humor
If teachers were treated like pro athletes: Key & Peele - TeachingCenter