Professor Martin Westwell will be the speaker at the next Fridays at the Library series, to be held on Friday, 30 October.

He will present No, no you are not thinking! You are just being logical: Thinking creatively about thinking creatively.

Scientist Neils Bohr was exasperated with his very intelligent colleagues who turned out to be pretty useless when it came to thinking in new ways. How has education fostered each generation’s creativity or robbed it from us? How’s it going for today’s young people and other learners? As Jay Weatherill said in his address to the National Press Club in July, ‘Education reform is profoundly important for the transition from the “old” to the “new” economy. [Developing] creative thinkers … is the real productivity agenda for the nation.’ What does he really mean and how might we achieve it?

Martin Westwell is a Strategic Professor in the science of learning at Flinders University. Director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century, he is also a chief investigator in the Science of Learning Research Centre (led by University of Queensland and Melbourne University).

Martin and his team work closely with numerous schools across SA and beyond to inform policy, practice and innovation in education. A member of the SACE Board, he works with UNESCO to explore the future of education in the Asia-Pacific region.

Light refreshments will be served.