Tony Wagner: Transforming Education

Today’s guest is Dr. Tony Wagner, a globally recognized expert in education, creativity, and learning. Dr. Wagner was at Harvard for over 20 years and he’s published seven books about education. In today’s episode, Dr. Wagner provides profound insights into the U.S. educational system today. This is a wide-ranging conversation about teaching and about what schools can do differently to foster deep learning and creativity in students.

Dr. Wagner is a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute. While at Harvard, he was an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before that, he spent 12 years as a high school teacher and an elementary school principal. He’s written seven books and countless articles about his research. Dr. Wagner is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.

Copyright (c) 2024 Keith Sawyer

Chapters

(0:00) Welcome

(1:32) Dr. Tony Wagner Introduction

(3:14) Reimagining Education

(8:48) A Ribbon for Axemanship

(14:11) Less is More

(19:16) Learning How to Think

(26:08) Intrinsic Motivation

(35:20) Harvard’s Change Leadership Lab

(41:54) Harvard’s Innovation Lab

(46:20) Curiosity

(54:29) Learning to See

(1:00:15) Advice for the Listener

(1:02:22) Closer

For further information:

Dr. Wagner’s web site: www.tonywagner.com

Books mentioned in this episode:

Keith Sawyer, 2019, The Creative Classroom: Innovative Teaching for 21st-Century Learners

By Tony Wagner:

2020, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education

2012, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World

2008, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It.

Music by license from SoundStripe:

"Uptown Lovers Instrumental" by AFTERNOONZ

"Miss Missy" by AFTERNOONZ

"What's the Big Deal" by Ryan Saranich