HOW CHILDREN LEARN

Creativity, Play, Relationship,
and the Development of Intelligence

An International Conference
co-sponsored by
The Alliance for Childhood
and Mit Kindern Wachsen

St. Virgil Center
Salzburg, Austria
October 27-30, 2005

A note on languages: This is a bilingual conference. We will do our best to translate all lectures and as many workshops as possible. Presentations in German are marked (G); those in English are marked (E).

Introduction

The disturbing results of the international PISA tests, sponsored by OECD, have made education a much-discussed topic in Europe, while in the U.S. the No Child Left Behind Act with its emphasis on testing children has had a similar result. What are often forgotten in these discussions are the children themselves and their needs. They are reduced to being objects, and childhood itself is in danger of being sacrificed to a mode of instruction geared to world trade and economic development.

This conference places today’s children and their needs at the center of our attention. It provides an opportunity to form an alliance between individuals and organizations from diverse backgrounds but with a common goal of giving children the possibility of being themselves and of unfolding according to their own inner laws of development.

We are happy that so many experienced lecturers and workshop leaders from different parts of the world can come to Salzburg to share their experiences and insights with interested parents, educators, health professionals, and others. Please join us and support the healthy development of all children.

Conference Program (subject to change)

Thursday, October 27:

3:00 p.m Arrival and Registration

4:00 p.m. Opening of Conference:

Drum Corps with Ari Glage
Welcome and Introduction of Mit Kindern Wachsen – Lienhard Valentin
Introduction of the Alliance for Childhood – Joan Almon

6:30 p.m. Evening Meal

7:30 p.m. Lecture:

William Crain – Nurturing the Remarkable Strengths of Children

Friday, October 28:

9.00-10:30 a.m. Lecture:

Frithjof Bergmann – New Work, New Learning

10:30-11:00 a.m. Break

11.00-12:30 p.m Workshops

1. Brigitte Goldmann: Learning through experimentation and imitation (G)
2. Rainer Patzlaff: Media – Its impact on the learning of young children (G)
3. Lienhard Valentin: Attentive communication with children (G)
4. Fred Donaldson & Michael Mendizza: Play is learning (E)
5. Maria Egger: Maria Montessori in the light of new brain research (G)
6. Cathy Nutbrown: Stories of Childhood (E)

12.30 p.m. Lunch break

2:30-5:30 p.m. Workshops and discussion groups (with breaks)

1. Fred Donaldson: Playing from the heart (E)
2. Lienhard Valentin: Reducing stress in the lives of children (G)
3. Rainer Patzlaff: Media, Play and Development (G)
4. William Crain and Joan Almon: The wonderful world of play – indoors and out (E)

6:00 p.m. Supper break

7:30 p.m. Lecture:

Anna Tardos – Life is Learning: how babies and small children discover themselves and the world

Saturday, October 29:

9.00 - 10.30 a.m. Lecture:

Henning Köhler – The Many Forms of Intelligence.

10.30 - 11.00 a.m. Pause

11.00 - 12.30 p.m. Workshops

1. Joan Almon: Play and imagination (E)
2. Anna Tardos: Life is learning – how babies and small children discover themselves and the world (G)
3. Henning Grahner: Finally free – the Sudbury Valley School
4. William Crain: Children and nature (E)
5. Michael Mendizza: The optimal learning connections (E)

12:30 p.m. Lunch break

2:30-5:30 p.m. Workshops and discussion groups (with breaks)

1. Joan Almon: Play and imagination (E)
2. Anna Tardos: Life is learning – how babies and small children discover themselves and the world (G)
3. Fred Donaldson: Playing from the heart (E)
4. Henning Köhler: How children wish to learn (G)
5. Christopher Clouder and Janni Nichols: Waldorf education in the light of new research (E)
   6) To be announced (G)

6:00 p.m. Evening buffet

8:00 p.m. Evening program:

The Power of play: Stories from childhood — Cathy Nutbrown, Fred Donaldson, and Joan Almon (E)
Music

Sunday, October 30:

9.00-10.30 a.m.

Lecture: Christopher Clouder: Childhood and Imagination (E)
Address: Karin Resetarits, Austrian Member of Parliament (G)

10.30 a.m. Break

11.00 – 12.30 p.m. Closing conversations:

A look toward the future.

Lecturers and Workshop Leaders

Joan Almon, co-founder of the international Alliance for Childhood, Waldorf educator and lecturer (USA)

Frithjof Bergmann, founder of the concept of “New Work” and author of Neue Arbeit, Neue Kultur (New Work, New Culture) (USA)

Christopher Clouder, co-founder of the international Alliance for Childhood, Chairman of European Council of Steiner Waldorf Education (UK)

William Crain, professor of psychology at City College of New York, author of Reclaiming Childhood: Letting children be children in our acheivement-oriented society (USA)

Fred Donaldson, play expert and author of Playing by Heart: The vision and practice of belonging (USA)

Maria Egger, developmental educator (Austria)

Brigitte Goldmann, director of Waldorf early childhood training in Vienna (Austria)

Henning Köhler, children’s therapist and author of Difficult Children: There is no such thing (Germany)

Michael Mendizza, author, filmmaker and founder of the organization Touch the Future (USA)

Cathy Nutbrown, director of Masters Program in Early Childhood Education, Sheffield University, Partner of Alliance for Childhood (UK)

Rainer Patzlaff, author, Waldorf educator and media researcher, founder of IPSUM, an institute that studies pedagogy, the senses, and media (Germany)

Anna Tardos, psychologist and director of the Emmi Pikler Institute (Hungary)

Lienhard Valentin, pedagogue, publisher of the magazine Mit Kindern Wachsen, and director of organization by the same name (Germany)

Organizational Information:

The registration fee for the conference is 200 Euros. This does not include room and meals. Some rooms are available at St. Virgil, the conference site. St. Virgil’s is also happy to help find other accommodations for you.

Should there be a surplus of funds from the conference, they will be evenly divided between the Emmi Pikler Institute in Hungary, the Alliance for Childhood, and Mit Kindern Wachsen.

Registration and Further Information:

Registration should be sent directly to:
St. Virgil
Ernst-Grein-Str. 14,
A-5026 Salzburg, Austria
Tel. 011 43/662/65901-514
E-mail: office@virgil.at

For further information, contact:
Alliance for Childhood
P.O. Box 444
College Park, MD 20741
USA
Tel/fax 1-301-779-1033
Email: info@allianceforchildhood.org

To contact the Alliance in the United Kingdom see
www.allianceforchildhood.org.uk