News

Dr. Cabrera Gives Plenary Talk at Principals Conference

June 30th, 2009

Stoney Creek, Virginia—Dr. Cabrera gave the plenary talk at the FAESP (Fairfax Association of Elementary School Principals) Leadership Conference on June 25 and 26 at the Wintergreen Resort in Stoney Creek, Virginia. The plenary, called "The 21st Century Thinker," addressed the Patterns of Thinking Method, the most advanced method for teaching students how to think. Cabrera discussed how to balance between teaching content knowledge and thinking skills and the importance of changing our schools to meet the demands of the 21st Century.

Some 200 principals and administrators were in attendance. After the plenary session, principals got to witness the impact of the Patterns of Thinking Method and ThinkBlocks in model classrooms (see YouTube Teacher Case Studies playlist).

Principals were excited to enter a raffle to win a training package and four individual ThinkBlocks Pro Kits. A Fairfax County middle school and four lucky principals had the winning tickets.

At the close of the conference, Dr. Cabrera moderated a panel of experts that included Dr. Laura Colosi of ThinkWorks, Dr. Roger Hathaway of NASA, Peg Steffen of NOAA, Myra Thayer, Science Coordinator of FCPS, and Rick Herrmann of Intel. The panel discussed the importance of balancing content knowledge and thinking, how to develop scientific thinking, the appropriate use of technology, and strategies to encourage girls to love science.