Future Learning Design Podcast

Kwame Sarfo-Mensah, founder of Identity Talk Consulting, specializes in transforming K-12 educators into identity-affirming teachers. He discusses the pressing need to rethink traditional educational methods and assessments, advocating for approaches that celebrate diverse identities. Kwame highlights the shift towards community-driven education and the importance of collective intelligence in addressing complex challenges. His insights encourage teachers to embrace their roles as transformative agents in a post-pandemic world, fostering equity and inclusivity.

Indy Johar, an architect and co-founder of Dark Matter Labs, join Adam Purvis, who builds mission-led movements, for a thought-provoking conversation. They discuss the urgent need to shift from traditional educational frameworks to community-focused, transformative learning models. Topics include rethinking freedom and collective agency in education, the impact of AI on learning, and the importance of empowering local democracy. They advocate for a holistic, interconnected approach that prepares future generations for a rapidly evolving world.

Join Satheesh Namasivayam and Bade Kucukoglu, co-founders of MindVISA and the Center for AWE, as they explore the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern education. They discuss how cultural practices like dance and rituals can help adolescents connect more deeply with themselves and their communities. Their transformative journeys highlight the need for holistic education that embraces diverse cultural insights. Discover the benefits of sensory awareness and emotional expression in fostering creativity and unity among youth.

In an engaging conversation, Adam Kahane, Director at Reos Partners and renowned facilitator of complex social processes, shares insights on transforming systems through everyday habits. He emphasizes radical engagement as a way for young people and educators to actively participate in change. Adam discusses the balance between agency and authority in education, the need for strategic rest in activism, and the importance of humility in decision-making. He also philosophizes on love, power, and justice, advocating for collaboration in addressing societal challenges.

This week we're exploring embodiment science in education with some of the worlds leading embodiment practitioners and cognitive scientists! We believe that this is one of the most important shifts happening in education globally, which is simultaneously so simple, and yet so hard to budge given the depths of the tendencies towards disembodiment, especially in the Western tradition, that we explore. Joining Tim in this fantastic conversation are:Arawana Hayashi heads the creation of Social Presencing Theater (SPT) for the Presencing Institute. Working with Otto Scharmer and colleagues, she brings her background in the arts, meditation, and social justice to creating “social presencing” that makes visible both current reality and emerging future possibilities for individuals and groups. She is currently on the core faculty of the Presencing Institute. Links: https://arawanahayashi.com/https://www.u-school.org/ Book: Social Presencing Theater: The Art of Making a True Move - https://presencing.market/collections/frontpage/products/social-presencing-theater-the-art-of-making-a-true-move Prof. Guy Claxton is a cognitive scientist, education thought leader and prolific author interested in expanding human intelligence through research, writing and education. He has spent most of his working life based in a variety of UK universities including Oxford, Bristol, King’s College London and Winchester. Links: https://www.guyclaxton.net/Recent Deans Lecture Series, University of Melbourne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGFEswKBnMwBook: Co-authored with Emily Poel, Bodies of Learning: How Embodiment Science Transforms Education will be released soon from Routledge.Dr. Akhil Kumar Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences. Akhil works at the intersection of Philosophy, Psychology and education, emphasizing the creation of educational policies and innovative curricula based on embodied approaches that drive systemic change. Links: https://akhilksingh.in/https://www.msruas.ac.in/faculty-staff/akhil-kumarBook, Education for the Embodied Human: A Contemporary Understanding on Human Nature for Holistic Education - https://brill.com/display/title/71864Emily Poel has been teaching embodiment in Berlin for over fifteen years. Originally from Michigan and with a degree in contemporary dance performance and history, she's worked internationally as a performer, choreographer and creative advisor. In 2004 she shifted her focus to embodiment training and hasn’t stopped since. Over the last ten years she's developed a large collection of activities using physical awareness tools and movement training to better understand how creativity, learning and thinking actually work. Emily is the co-author with Guy, of the forthcoming book, Bodies of Learning: How Embodiment Science Transforms Education.Links: https://embodimentatwork.co/Move4Schools - https://move4schools.com/Caroline Williams is a UK-based science writer with 20 years’ experience in magazine and radio journalism. She writes regularly for New Scientist magazine. Her work has also appeared in the Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, BBC Future, BBC Earth and the Boston Globe. ​She is the author of three books: Inner Sense: How the New Science of Interoception Can Transfrom Your Health (2025), Move! The New Science of Body Over Mind (2021) and Override (published as My Plastic Brain in the US, 2018), and the editor of two of New Scientist’s Instant Expert Guides: How Your Brain Works: Inside the most complicated object in the known universe (2017) and Your Conscious Mind: Unravelling the greatest mystery of the human brain (2017).Links: https://www.carolinewilliams.net/Caroline's latest book - https://profilebooks.com/work/inner-sense/Move4Schools - https://move4schools.com/

In this insightful conversation, Dr. Ida Rose Florez, a transformative leader in education and author, challenges the myth of neutral schooling. She discusses how traditional education often conditions students rather than nurtures them. Ida shares her vision for regenerative learning, highlighting innovative communities that prioritize cooperation over competition and embrace complexity. The discussion emphasizes a shift toward adaptive learning models, fostering curiosity and agency in students while rethinking the relationship between education and community for a sustainable future.

After learning about the amazing work of my guest this week, I had an idea that I wanted to test out. Perhaps our current obsession with Large Language Models is revealing of our historic obsession with a narrow cognitivist view of how human learning happens (and, therefore, how schooling is structured)?!Memorise the largest possible bank of static data and then output plausible propositions, in response to prompts from a teacher or a standardised exam! Obviously that's a bit of an unfair caricature of the industrial schooling system, but also not a million miles from the truth! As you will have seen from my explorations over the last few years in episodes on ecological psychology, play, movement, active inference and 4E cognitive science, I believe that there is an emerging understanding of how radically embodied and embedded in place and in relationships human learning is actually is. So that's why I was so excited to learn about a vastly different approach to artificial intelligence that is based on a sensorimotor learning framework and Jeff Hawkin's Thousand Brains theory of the neocortex. Dr Viviane Clay is Executive Director of the Thousand Brains Project and a scientist with years of experience in neuroscience, AI and machine learning. She has a PhD in Cognitive Computing. The Thousand Brains Project grew out of decades of research at Numenta, a leading company in neuroscience-based AI technology, and is developing Monty, a new type of artificial intelligence based on the sensorimotor principles observed in the brain. Numenta's co-founder Jeff Hawkins is Research Advisor and Board Member of the Thousand Brains Project.You can find links to additional information about Monty and the Thousand Brains Project below:https://thousandbrains.org/ https://linktr.ee/1000brainsproj2 page overview: https://thousandbrains.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/TBP_Overview.pdfhttps://www.youtube.com/@thousandbrainsproject

Dr. James Mannion, Director of Rethinking Education and an expert in self-regulated learning, discusses the complexities of implementing change in education. He emphasizes that change requires more than just leadership; it demands collaboration and shared learning. James outlines practical strategies from his recent book, focusing on the ethical use of behavioral science and the importance of transparency. He advocates for leveraging dissenting voices, enhancing meeting facilitation, and adopting innovative group dynamics to drive effective educational reform.

A huge part of the shifts we want to see in schools and in education more broadly is more agency, choice-making and self direction for young people. There is an increasingly compelling story about why this is important for them, as well as for the kinds of challenges we're facing in local communities and national and global society. But sometimes what isn't highlighted is the impact of not having those things. What toll does it take on youth well-being and mental health? So this week I'm joined by renowned clinical psychologist and educator Dr Naomi Fisher to help me find out.Naomi is a clinical psychologist, author and EMDR-Europe Accredited trainer. She specialises in trauma, autism and alternative ways to learn. She has a doctorate in clinical psychology from Kings College London (Maudsley), a PhD in developmental cognitive psychology also from Kings College (IoPPN), and a degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge. Naomi is also an alumni of UWC Atlantic College, Wales.Whilst in the NHS, Naomi worked in primary care and specialist trauma services in London, as well as neurodevelopmental services. She has worked for the Metropolitan Police and third sector organisations. She now works in private practice with adults, adolescents and children. She runs self-help webinars for parents on how to help their children with common mental health difficulties.Naomi is the author of several books on psychology, mental health and alternative education. She is the author of Changing our Minds: How children can take control of their own learning, A Different Way to Learn: Neurodiversity and Self-Directed Education, When The Naughty Step Makes Things Worse, The Teenager’s Guide to Burnout and What Can We Do When School’s Not Working?: An Illustrated Handbook for Professionals (with Abigail Fisher). Most of Naomi's books are beautifully illustrated by Eliza Fricker. Social LinksNaomi's substack, Think Again: https://naomicfisher.substack.com/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/naomicfisher/?hl=en LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-fisher-psychologist/Naomi's website: https://naomifisher.co.uk/

This week, we are celebrating 5 years and 193 episodes since going live with Episode 1 in April 2020!You can hear Tim's reflections, as well as clips from previous episodes with Marie Battiste (Ep154), Nora Bateson (Ep116), Roland Kupers (Ep 185), Wakanyi Hoffman (Ep 157), Carl Mika (Ep179), Nolita Mvunelo & Matias Lara (Ep190), Zineb Mouhyi (Ep184) and Zoe Weil (Ep171).Please share your own thoughts and reflections on the podcast guests, topics and future possibilities here: https://forms.gle/4nNEcw3QEopjf1W98Thanks so much for being a great supporter of the podcast... and here's to the next 5 years!