Willingham is Next Riall Education Lecturer Tuesday, October 15

SALISBURY, MD---When it comes to effective teaching, Dr. Daniel Willingham encourages educators to take a closer look at the brains of those they teach.

Willingham, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia, is Salisbury University’s next E. Pauline Riall Lecturer in Education. His presentation is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 15, in Holloway Hall Auditorium.

Earning his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Harvard University, Willingham focused his early research on the brain’s role in learning and memory. More recently, he has addressed the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education. He writes the “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column for American Educator magazine and is the author of books including Why Don’t Students Like School? and When Can You Trust the Experts?

Dr. John Gabrieli, Grover Hermann Professor in Health Sciences and Technology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has praised Willingham for demonstrating “how the most important discoveries from the cognitive revolution can be used to improve teaching and inspire students in the classroom.”

The E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series is named in honor of its founder, teacher and later principal at SU’s Campus School from 1929-1969. Upon her death in the late 1980s, she left a bequest providing funding for the lecture series, scholarships and an award given annually to an outstanding graduating elementary or early childhood education major.

Sponsored by the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies, admission is free and the public is invited.

For more information call 410-543-6393 or visit the Riall Lecture Series Web site at www.salisbury.edu/educationspecialties/riall_lecture.html.