News

Dr. Derek Cabrera Speaks at Fairfax Futures Breakfast

May 22nd, 2009

McLean, Virginia — Fairfax Futures’ Business Partners’ Roundtable Breakfast, held on May 19 in McLean, Virginia, featured two speakers: Dr. Derek Cabrera of ThinkWorks and Donna Klein, president and founder of Corporate Voices for Working Families. Derek spoke about how globalization has led to an increasingly interconnected planet with increasingly intractable problems. Where we once looked to "loners in labs" to solve the problems of the day, we must now rely on interdisciplinary "teams at tables." Are we preparing today's students to take their places at those tables? Derek discussed the crucial need for teaching thinking skills in our schools in balance with the knowledge content that we now prioritize in standards-based curricula. The Patterns of Thinking Method provides an effective, practical model for infusing thinking skills into any existing curriculum and all new lessons teachers create. When our students have both a solid knowledge base and robust thinking skills, they will be equipped to meet whatever the 21st century brings them.