Third Space Thoughts to Policy IIIT

Join Amina as she interviews Ms. Meena Srinivasan, an expert on gratitude.

Meena goes over key strategies folks can use to cultivate gratitude, even during a challenging time like the one we are currently facing. Ms. Srinivasan goes over the most important steps we need to take when we feel discouraged and stuck, especially now in the COVID-19 era.

She also explains how she defines gratitude and mindfulness in her work, which are very trendy terms these days. Meena also explains how to teach gratitude to various age groups, from children to adults. Ms. Srinivasan also talks about her book, "Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom", and different techniques for cultivating loving-kindness, gratitude and greater human connection.

Meena Srinivasan, MA, National Board Certified Teacher, is a South Asian-American edupreneur with deep expertise in the fields of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Mindfulness in Education. She is the Founding Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL), an empowering, racially and culturally diverse, compassion-centered, innovative program for educational leaders who are called to integrate mindfulness-based, social, emotional, academic and ethical learning into schools and school systems. Prior to this role she spent five and a half years working in partnership with the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) to implement SEL system-wide in the Oakland Unified School District. Meena has taught and led in a variety of school settings (public, private, urban, international) and is the creator of the SEL Every Day online courses, author of Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom and SEL Every Day: Integrating SEL with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms which was chosen as one of 2019’s Favorite Books for Educators by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler on the complexity and importance of empathy. Empathy has come up a few times before earlier this season, but during this interview, we will take an even deeper diver into the concept.

In part 2 of this interview, Dr. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler discusses the importance of empathy in good leadership, the role of culture, the impact conflict situations and sociopolitical conditions can have on the ability to have concern for others, what inspired her to pursue researching this concept further, and much more.

Throughout her career, Dr. Zahn-Waxler has studied the origins and development of empathy and caring behaviors beginning in the first years of life. These longitudinal studies have focused on the role of genes, temperament, family life and socialization experiences that foster or impede compassion and altruism in children. She has also conducted longitudinal studies on the role of emotion in the development of psychopathology in adolescents, as well as risk and protective factors in the development of conduct problems. She has written about the intergenerational transmission of depression from mothers to daughters from a personal perspective. She served on the Task Force on women and depression for the Lt. Governor of Wisconsin and works to de-stigmatize mental illness. Dr. Zahn-Waxler is currently interested in translational questions, for example, how scientific advances can inform the development of practices and interventions that foster kindness, altruism and positive emotions in children.

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler on the complexity and importance of empathy. Empathy has come up a few times before earlier this season, but during this interview, we will take an even deeper diver into the concept.

Dr. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler discusses what makes empathy worth studying, more about its origins and how genes and environment play a role, as well as some negative forms of empathy and how best to avoid those.

Throughout her career, Dr. Zahn-Waxler has studied the origins and development of empathy and caring behaviors beginning in the first years of life. These longitudinal studies have focused on the role of genes, temperament, family life and socialization experiences that foster or impede compassion and altruism in children. She has also conducted longitudinal studies on the role of emotion in the development of psychopathology in adolescents, as well as risk and protective factors in the development of conduct problems. She has written about the intergenerational transmission of depression from mothers to daughters from a personal perspective. She served on the Task Force on women and depression for the Lt. Governor of Wisconsin and works to de-stigmatize mental illness. Dr. Zahn-Waxler is currently interested in translational questions, for example, how scientific advances can inform the development of practices and interventions that foster kindness, altruism and positive emotions in children.

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Gregory Light for the second part of their conversation on critical thinking and problem solving. Dr. Light tells us more about his observations from his work in critical thinking at different universities around the world and explains how students can strengthen their problem solving skills and ability to think critically by participating in study abroad programs (prior to COVID-19 outbreak and hopefully again in the future after travel is safer). At the end, he also gives tips on how listeners can improve their own problem solving and critical thinking skills in the challenging times we live in today.

Dr. Gregory Light served as the director of the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for 15 years at Northwestern University where he was instrumental to innovative change across the university. Currently, he is a member of the advisory boards for the University of Toronto and for the new American University of Sicily. After retirement, Dr. Light has published more than a dozen new papers, chapters and presentations as well as a co-written a book on Reflective Teaching in Higher Education that was published in the U.K. March. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, often collaborating with others. One of his most recent international projects has been in the Middle East and South America, and he has consulted with universities around the world -- on every continent except Antarctica. He has delivered more than 150 invited talks, keynotes and workshops on a wide range of topics related to pedagogy and learning in higher and professional education.

He has been crucial in conceptualizing and implementing wide-ranging programs, from tailored sessions and workshops, assessments and curriculum support to program evaluations across Northwestern University that focus on evidence-based learning. While at Northwestern University, Dr. Light collaborated on 10 major grant-funded projects, including the Gateway Science Workshop program (Mellon Foundation); Northwestern University Ventures in Biology Education (Howard Hughes Medical Institute); the CLIMB program (National Institutes of Health), the Critical Thinking in STEM (National Science Foundation) and the Palestinian Faculty Development Program.

He has served on numerous committees to enhance the culture of learning, including the University Diversity Council, the Educational Technologies Advisory Committee, the University Course and Teaching Evaluation Committee, the University Council on Assessment and Accreditation and the University Classroom Committee. A committed educator, Light also was pivotal in the reconfiguration of the Masters of Higher Education Administration Program in 2002; he taught in the program as well as served in an advisory role for over 13 years. He has mentored many students and colleagues throughout the years adhering to a philosophy of building capacity in others and inclusive excellence.

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Gregory Light from the University of Toronto , who discusses problem solving and critical thinking during the time of COVID-19 and why critical thinking is essential in education settings, particularly higher education settings, in order for us to solve pressing issues today including racial inequality and other social injustices as well as climate change and the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Light discusses the difference between surface approaches and deep approaches to learning, and gives insight on how faculty and teachers can cultivate critical thinking in their classrooms to help teach students to engage in creative, effective, and innovative problem solving.

Dr. Gregory Light served as the director of the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for 15 years at Northwestern University where he was instrumental to innovative change across the university. Currently, he is a member of the advisory boards for the University of Toronto and for the new American University of Sicily. After retirement, Dr. Light has published more than a dozen new papers, chapters and presentations as well as a co-written a book on Reflective Teaching in Higher Education that was published in the U.K. March. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, often collaborating with others. One of his most recent international projects has been in the Middle East and South America, and he has consulted with universities around the world -- on every continent except Antarctica. He has delivered more than 150 invited talks, keynotes and workshops on a wide range of topics related to pedagogy and learning in higher and professional education.

He has been crucial in conceptualizing and implementing wide-ranging programs, from tailored sessions and workshops, assessments and curriculum support to program evaluations across Northwestern University that focus on evidence-based learning. While at Northwestern University, Dr. Light collaborated on 10 major grant-funded projects, including the Gateway Science Workshop program (Mellon Foundation); Northwestern University Ventures in Biology Education (Howard Hughes Medical Institute); the CLIMB program (National Institutes of Health), the Critical Thinking in STEM (National Science Foundation) and the Palestinian Faculty Development Program.

He has served on numerous committees to enhance the culture of learning, including the University Diversity Council, the Educational Technologies Advisory Committee, the University Course and Teaching Evaluation Committee, the University Council on Assessment and Accreditation and the University Classroom Committee. A committed educator, Light also was pivotal in the reconfiguration of the Masters of Higher Education Administration Program in 2002; he taught in the program as well as served in an advisory role for over 13 years. He has mentored many students and colleagues throughout the years adhering to a philosophy of building capacity in others and inclusive excellence.

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl who tells us more about the fascinating concepts of self-regulation and mindfulness, and why they are important for human development. This is the second part of a two-part interview.

Dr. Schonert-Reichl is an applied developmental psychologist and a professor in the Human Development, Learning, and Culture area in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is also the director of the Human Early Learning Partnership in the School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. She began her career as a middle school teacher and then was a teacher for “at risk” adolescents in an alternative high school. She received her master’s from the University of Chicago and her doctorate from the University of Iowa. She was a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Schonert-Reichl is a renowned expert in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL) research with children and adolescents, particularly in relation to the identification of the processes and mechanisms that foster positive human qualities such as empathy, compassion, altruism, and resilience. For more than two decades, her research has focused on the social and emotional development of children and adolescents in school and community settings. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.