In this episode of The Greatness Machine, Pamela Cantor, M.D. delves deeply into the essence of self-actualization and offers valuable guidance for unlocking the boundless possibilities that lie within each of us.

National PTA Podcast, featuring Pamela Cantor, M.D., on how to help your child through crises.

Shawn Ginwright discusses his new book, The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, and provides what he describes as a “roadmap” for people to embody the change they want to see in society.

In her book The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now, Anya Kamenetz writes that in March 2021, experts in pediatric infectious diseases reported that American youth were experiencing food insecurity, lack of socialization, depression, isolation….and were suffering academically, emotionally, socially, and physically.

New research in youth and adolescent development and what it means for creating learning contexts that truly support and nurture the whole child.

“The desire to fit in is one of the most powerful, least understood forces in a society.” That’s what Todd Rose writes in his book, Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions.

Renee Prince, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), leverages research and trends in the mental health field to ensure that Turnaround for Children’s (now the Center for Whole Child Education at ASU) tools and services are informed by current clinical knowledge of trauma-informed practices.

So what is it about adolescents and the adolescent brain that has made them particularly vulnerable to pandemic stress. And what can we as teachers, parents, and caregivers do to support them?

Does an environment that is equitable for one child necessarily mean it becomes unequitable for another? Where is the balance, and how does it get struck?

What can the rest of us learn from Duncan-Andrade’s experience in building East Oakland’s Roses in Concrete school and apply to our own situations—as parents, educators, and community members—to rethink and reorient community education?

The goal of wellness might be simple, but Jeff Duncan-Andrade's remedy to reach it is not: A complete rethink and rebuild of public education, one built through something he calls “community responsiveness.”

In part two, Zaretta Hammond outlines practical steps for teachers to become, ideally, personal trainers of cognitive development.

What if children find themselves in spaces that teacher, educator, and author Zaretta Hammond calls “inequitable by design,” that prevent instead of promote safety and belonging?

What experiences can education technology offer to support those relationships and spur engagement and motivation to learn?

Diana De Corte and Alexei Nichols on how Turnaround for Children's Well-Being Index works at their K-5 school in the Bronx.

Christina Theokas explains why Turnaround for Children developed its Well-Being Index.

When it comes to learning and thriving during the pandemic, many students have faced one obstacle after another—including lack of access to high-speed internet and devices, disconnection from teachers and friends, and the cancellation of sports, clubs and church choirs. But where many people see obstacles, Hal Smith sees opportunity.

What exactly can the Federal Department of Education do to respond to enduring questions of how to address inequities in funding, academic outcomes, and opportunities when reimagining education in America?

How learning can and should work in the face of a pandemic, social unrest, and more.

In part 2 of our conversation with Margaret Beale Spencer, the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education at the University of Chicago, we dive deeper into Dr. Spencer’s scientific research on human development and ask her for guidance to address the elephant in many rooms today: racism.

Part 1 of a conversation with Margaret Beale Spencer about human vulnerability, resilience and context, which are concepts that Professor Spencer, University of Chicago, has spent her career studying and addressing.

The disruption to schooling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to rethink education.

Our bodies and brains are integrated systems, and making self-care part of our daily routine—even during the most challenging of times—can provide the stabilizing sense of control that builds resilience.

Pamela Cantor, M.D. introduces the concept of 3 R's: relationships, routines, and resilience to help parents and caregivers navigate the pandemic.

A conversation with Pamela Cantor, M.D. in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic about managing disruption, stress, health, and safety.

Mention innovation in America, and what comes to mind? Silicon Valley? NASA? Tech firms? Not for Jim Shelton. He thinks: education. In fact, he wonders: Why, as we learn more about the science of learning and development, shouldn’t education—like, say, the military—have a full research and development infrastructure?

Now is a time to interrogate behaviors, attitudes and beliefs about how you interact with people. Are they harming or marginalizing them further? And how are you being an ally or a co-conspirator in helping people who are furthest from opportunity and marginalized to come closest to opportunity and less marginalized?

Race in America is a daily part of nearly every aspect of our lives including, of course, education. And that intersection where race, identity, equity and education all meet—that’s where Na’ilah Suad Nasir has dedicated her research, action, and career.

If, as the saying goes, learning happens everywhere, how can our community based programs—the ones outside the classroom that serve and engage our children and youth—use the Science of Learning and Development to rethink and redesign what kids do after the end of school bell rings?

As the Science of Learning and Development becomes better understood—the discoveries that connect how children develop and learn and how their environments can make or break their progress—a challenge becomes clear: turning that research into practice.

Today we have scientific knowledge about learning, development, and talent that didn’t exist when many of the systems that serve children, in and out of school, were designed.