Deborah Meier works with young teachers
Since 2008, Constructing Modern Knowledge has created a space in which educators can interact with their heroes, confront powerful ideas, and spend time in the company of genius. Despite any institutional support, sponsorships, or vendors, has been able to do the seemingly impossible. In addition to our brilliant faculty, the following speakers have been part of CMK’s first nine institutes.
Jonathan Kozol explores a project created at CMK 2011
Marvin Minsky – artificial intelligence pioneer (8)
Edith Ackermann – learning theorist (3)
Robert Tinker – scientist & curriculum developer
Peter H. Reynolds – artist and author
Alfie Kohn – author and education researcher (3)
Deborah Meier – MacArthur Genius Award recipient and school administrator (4)
Jonathan Kozol – civil rights leader and author
Derrick Pitts – astrophysicist
Casey Neistat – filmmaker
Mark Frauenfelder – founder of BoingBoing and Make Magazine
Leah Buechley – artist, scientist, engineer (2)
Barry Harris – NEA Jazz Master
Jimmy Heath – NEA Jazz Master (2)
Emmet Cohen – pianist
David Loader – extraordinary school principal
Eleanor Duckworth – science educator
Lillian Katz – early childhood expert
Stephen Wolfram – Mathematician and computer scientist
Lella Gandini – authority on the Reggio Emilia Approach (2)
James Loewen – historian
Pete Nelson – treehouse designer and TV host
Mitchel Resnick – Director of the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group (3)
Sherry Lassiter – Director and CEO of the MIT-based Fab Foundation (2)
Tod Machover – Composer and Director of MIT Media Lab’s Opera of the Future Research Group
Brian Lynch – trumpeter, composer, educator
Zaccai Curtis – pianist, music producer
Jie Qi – inventor of Circuit Stickers
Eric Rosenbaum – coinventor of the Makey Makey and member of the MIT Scratch Team (4)
Carla Rinaldi – Educator from Reggio Emilia, Italy (2)
Kari Kola – Finnish light artist
David Cavallo – Fab Foundation
Nikole Hannah-Jones – NY Times award-winning journalist and MacArthur Genius
Treehouse Master Pete Nelson chats with CMK 2014 participant
2022 Guest Speakers
Alfie Kohn – Popular education author and speaker
Kate Schuster – Researcher, educator, curator, and activist
Peter Martin – Pianist, composer, arranger, educator, and Internet entrepreneur
2019 Guest Speakers
Kari Kola – Light artist
Sherry Lassiter & David Cavallo – Fab Foundation
Nikole Hannah-Jones – MacArthur Genius, decorated journalist, and activist
2018 Guest Speakers
James Loewen – Bestselling historian
Carla Rinaldi – President of the Reggio Children Foundation
Jie Qi – MIT Media Lab postdoc and CEO of Chibitronics
Eric Rosenbaum – MIT Media Lab postdoc and co-inventor of the Makey Makey
Brian Lynch – Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and professor
Zaccai Curtis – Pianist
2017 Guest Speakers
Ayah Bdeir – CEO of littleBits
Deborah Meier – MacArthur Genius and veteran educator (4)
Neil Gershenfeld – Maker movement pioneer and MIT professor
2016 Guest Speakers
Carla Rinaldi – President of Reggio Children
Stephen Wolfram – Mathematician and computer scientist
Mitchel Resnick – Creator of Scratch (3)
Edith Ackermann – learning theorist (3)
Legendary jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath checks out CMK 2013 projects
Note: numbers in ( ) indicate multiple years of CMK participation.
Posted November 5, 2015 in: Event by garystager