Reinventing Education to Help Children Thrive

Sandra Liu Huang, CZI Head of Education, recently participated in a live discussion hosted by Michael B. Horn about the challenges facing students today, what’s needed to reinvent schooling and what supports children need to thrive.

Watch below

In particular, Sandra highlights how the disruption caused by the pandemic made it incredibly clear that relationships are an essential part of the learning process for all children and play a critical role in the context of trauma. We know from the research that one-on-one interactions build the connections that can keep students motivated and engaged in school. CZI works to bridge the gap between research, classroom practice and products by building in collaboration with teachers, students, and researchers.That is why CZI partnered with teachers, researchers such as Search Institute, and students to build Along, the first-of-its-kind teacher-student connection builder.

Sandra also noted that CZI thinks beyond student well-being to teacher well-being–and CZI does this through grants to partners who are also using research to fuel their tools for teachers and students. Grantees include Healthy Mind Innovations, who used the latest neuroscience insights to improve teacher well-being with an app-based training program, available freely to the general public, designed to help users build resilience in four areas: awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. After four weeks, participating teachers from the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) showed lower rates of psychological distress and loneliness, and these improvements were still seen at an HMI follow-up three months later. Teachers also showed significant increases in mindfulness, self-compassion, and overall well-being.

Watch above to hear Michael and Sandra discuss applying research to help students and teachers in those ways, and other insights about reinventing learning.

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About Michael B. Horn

Michael B. Horn‘s recently released new book, From Reopen to Reinvent, aligns with CZI’s efforts to reimagine education to center students’ wellbeing in support of academic achievement and success. The book mentions the Building Blocks for Learning Framework, developed by CZI’s Brooke Stafford-Brizard, as well as CZI grantees New Classrooms, Achievement First, Transcend Education, and Edcamp Foundation.

About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our communities. Through collaboration, providing resources and building technology, our mission is to help build a more inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone. For more information, please visit chanzuckerberg.com.