The 12th International Conference on Thinking will be held in Melbourne 4–8 July 2005. The conference includes a wide range of practitioner presentations from leading schools in Australia, New Zealand and other countries. It also provides an opportunity for principals, teachers and other education leaders to hear from cutting-edge thinkers, researchers and practitioners from other fields.


Conference strands

The conference will promote cross-discipline involvement in the development of our capacity to think and learn. As well as education, speakers will address issues in health and wellbeing, business, science and technology, maths, sustainability and environment, the arts, the humanities and work around peace.

These strands will provide a context for the overall focus on thinking. This includes reflective, creative, innovative, critical, analytical and organisational thinking, as well as learning about thinking, developing thinking skills, key paradigm shifts in thinking, understanding how we learn and how to promote lifelong learning, and the implications for education of recent research on the brain. 

An important aim of the conference is to acknowledge and value the culturally diverse range of concepts about, and approaches to, thinking and learning.

Speakers will provide insights and strategies that will assist school leaders involved in transforming education in their school or cluster of schools. Confirmed presenters include:

• Edward de Bono (lateral thinking)
• Susan Greenfield, Oxford University (neuroscience)
• David Perkins, Harvard University (organisational thinking)
• Sunetra Gupta, Oxford University (science and literature)
• Peter Senge (organisational learning)
• Carlina Rinaldi, Reggio Emilia, Italy (early childhood)
• Art Costa, University of California (habits of mind)
• Carolina Gonzalez, Telstra 2004 Victorian Panasonic Young Businesswoman of the Year (Doctor of Chinese Medicine)
• Guy Claxton, Bristol University (learning to learn)
• Kirsty Sword Gusmao, First Lady of East Timor (human rights advocate)
• Richard Slaughter (futures education).

While some presentations will centre on research and theory, others will focus on the practical implications of the developments in the fields of thinking, learning and neuroscience. 


Presentations from educators

The conference will include a wide range of presentations from practitioners in leading schools from across Australia and from New Zealand, Britain, the USA and neighbouring Asian countries. Themes include:

• issues of leadership and learning in presentations such as 'Can powerful leadership questions ignite passion and promise results?'; 'Building performance and development cultures in schools'; 'Who owns the learning, who does the thinking?'; 'Creating a school for the twenty-first century'; and 'Building a Thinking School'
• the development of thinking as a new curriculum domain in sessions such as 'Teaching thinking: from curriculum construction to classroom practice'; 'Exploring the complexities of building a thinking classroom'; 'Metacognition: more than reflection'; 'Integrating ICT and thinking'; 'Preparing children for the challenges of tomorrow through philosophy'; and 'Creating complex thinking in the classroom'
• the development of thinking in traditional knowledge areas in sessions such as 'The development of thinking skills through secondary physics'; 'Persisting and metacognition in mathematical problem solving'; 'Expressive thoughts or fine skills – a presentation of young Chinese and Australian children's art that reflects different views on thinking'; 'Art as voice – thinking beyond the lines'; and 'Thinking in community: moving forward on values and character education'.

As well as exploring teachers’ professional learning, delegates will have the opportunity to see classrooms in action, and to discuss and reflect on the experiences of many committed teachers and principals.

The themes of the many feature and keynote presenters can be taken further in workshops. As well as these formal interchanges of ideas there will be many informal opportunities to network with other delegates and presenters. Throughout their history, these conferences have fostered ongoing collaboration between researchers and practitioners from around the world.  Delegates will have the opportunity to become involved in this vital international network.

We urge you to make the most of this unique opportunity by registering for the 12th International Conference on Thinking.

For enquiries, please contact the Conference Organisers:
Tel: (03) 9521 5355
Email: icot@etmgroup.com.au