Instructional Excellence Conference

  Click HERE to Register for IEC 2026

In today’s classrooms, educators face a paradox. Students have unprecedented access to digital tools and artificial intelligence, yet their ability to think critically and learn deeply often falters. This interactive 3.5-hour workshop, led by award-winning educator and engineer Barbara Oakley, PhD, draws on neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and classroom practice to uncover why.

In this workshop, you will discover how learning depends on the brain’s dual memory systems—the declarative (conscious) and the procedural (automatic)—and how these systems are strengthened through strategies such as retrieval practice, interleaving, spaced repetition, and carefully guided instruction. Participants will explore why biologically secondary knowledge (such as reading, writing, and mathematics) cannot be left to “discovery learning,” and why cognitive offloading to devices undermines the very neural processes that support reasoning, creativity, and expertise.

Through vivid metaphors, practical demonstrations, and discussion, the session will connect insights from neuroscience with classroom realities, revealing how to design instruction that both embraces technology and cultivates the durable, flexible knowledge that students need. Educators will leave with a deeper understanding of how to help learners build robust schemas, avoid the pitfalls of cognitive overload, and flourish in an AI-saturated world.