Levine to lecture on learning at Law School

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

Noted educator and scholar Mel Levine, pediatrician and director of the Center for the Study of Development and Learning at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will give a public lecture on “How Learning Works When It’s Working,” Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. in the law school’s Tull Auditorium.

Levine’s visit, sponsored jointly by the University Advisory Council on Teaching (UACT), the Center for Teaching and Curriculum and the Office of Faculty Resources for Inclusive Instruction, affords Emory faculty the opportunity to learn about the different ways individual students learn in modern education.

“Emory has placed a strong emphasis on teaching in past years, developing many sources of support for faculty to develop their methods and materials,” said Wendy Newby, director of faculty resources for inclusive instruction. “This year we are starting with a conversation (and workshop) on learning and how this interacts with teaching. Dr. Levine is a nationally known expert in this area.”

The half-day workshop to which Newby referred—and which Levine will lead Sept. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.—has already reached capacity, but his lecture the night before is free and open to the public.

Levine is the founder of All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit institute for the study of differences in learning. Before moving to UNC, he served for 14 years as chief of ambulatory pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital in Boston while he was an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. His concepts of learning are based on neuropsychological research, with an emphasis on applying knowledge about learners and learning to different educational settings.

“Approximately 8–9 percent of the Emory student population in recent years have documented disabilities, most of them nonvisible,” Newby said. “These learning, attention and psychological differences have a great impact on the learning needs of these students. Many others are diverse in their learning styles, particular preferences for learning in a specific way but not so much as to call them ‘disabled.’”

“Whatever our discipline is, the more we understand about how people learn, the more effective we can be as teachers,” said Gary Smith, professor of law and chair of UACT. “Our efforts should be directed toward maximizing the learning of all students. By understanding learning styles and preferences, we can better accomplish this goal.”

For more information on Levine’s lecture, please call 404-727-6410.