A twilight seminar series to be introduced this year by the University of the Sunshine Coast aims to help boost the professional development of school teachers across the region.

USC’s Education Partnerships and Professional Learning (EPPL) Office will present the first seminar on campus at Sippy Downs on Monday 23 February from 4-6pm, featuring the University’s Associate Professor of Education Michael Nagel.

Dr Nagel’s talk, ‘A User’s Guide to the Brain: Linking Neuroscience to Learning and Teaching’, will be a thought-provoking and practical analysis of the latest scientific research on how the brain develops from conception to adolescence.

His insights, to include the potential differences between boys and girls, provide a foundation for looking at learning in a rapidly-changing, techno-charged world.

EPPL Coordinator Dennis James said the seminar would include networking to foster the University’s engagement with schools and other sites that provided Supervised Professional Experience for its pre-service teachers.

An upcoming highlight would be international education consultant and author Tony Ryan speaking at the May seminar on how to teach students critical and creative thinking in a dramatically changing world.

Mr James, who joined USC last year after working in the sector for 40 years, said the University also was launching Learning Lounges to encourage further interaction and mentoring between aspiring teachers and educational professionals in local, rural and remote workplaces.

For further details email edprofessionallearning@usc.edu.au or call 5459 4734.

— Julie Schomberg