Child Development & Learning Meeting: Cesar Nunes

Cesar Nunes, a member of ProSocial Commons' Child Development and Education group, will be presenting on Beauty, Inequality, and Complexity in Education at our meeting on 6/14

‍

Being embedded in an educational culture that embraces and values complexity allows educators and students to experience and make sense of collective productions, collective flow, complex behaviors, and creation of several kinds of synergy. In the seminar we present examples and some enabling constraints and scaffolds for the creation of such a culture: large scale designed as advantageous; networked communities of practice; developmental evaluation; use of narratives in digital collaborative environments; visible transformations; rhythm of advancement decided locally; spaces and incentives for coordination of perspectives, ethic discourse, and collective creation; a continuous dance between complex and complicated domains, between order/optimization and beauty/surprise/enchantment. We position such educational culture in the realm of integral education and existing public policies.

Cesar Amaral Nunes is an associated researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Campinas and at the multi-university Group of Studies and Research on Moral Education. He is a member of the Research and Innovation Group of PISA/OECD. He obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Technical University of Munich, a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar in Brazil, specializations on Teaching for Understanding and Evaluation for Understanding from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and specialization on the Implementation of Public Policies from the Harvard Kennedy School.

‍

Despite the best intentions of parents on behalf of their children and nations on behalf of their next generation, child development and education often go terribly, terribly wrong. Even the most affluent families and nations are affected, signifying that the root of the problem is how we are thinking about it. Evolutionary science can help us rethink child development and education, along with so many other topic areas. The Prosocial Commons is pleased to announce a new “Learning-to-Action” group, which is designed for anyone to first learn about child development and education from an evolutionary perspective and then to apply their newfound knowledge to their own families, neighborhoods, and schools.No prior knowledge of evolution is required to join the group—only an interest in the topic of child development and education and the desire to put new ideas into practice. The first meetings will allow us to assess who has come together and what activities are best suited to help us climb our respective learning curves. Interactions will take place via zoom meetings and on a digital platform called Hylo. A wonderful outcome will be for local community groups to form where interactions can take place offline. For a taste of “what evolution has to do with it”, please view this seminar and online material by Peter Gray. Peter is one of a growing community of experts who are rethinking child development and education from an evolutionary perspective, who will be happy to interact with us.

Join our Hylo community by signing up for the ProSocial Commons.