Developing Minds 2025: For the Love of Critical Thinking

More than one hundred educators spent their Valentine’s Day this year with their one true love: critical thinking. Developing Minds 2025: For the Love of Critical Thinking brought high school and university education communities together in dialogue to exchange ideas, share expertise, and to ultimately help make students into better critical thinkers.

Presentations covered topics such as the value of dissent in education and democracy, different attitudes to using AI in classrooms, and the history of British Columbia. Dr. Sam Black’s (SFU Philosophy) talk, titled “Sir, I find your class offensive”, emphasized the value of controversial speech in society, and argued for the importance of using controversy as a tool for education. One participant remarked, “I often find myself in rooms full of opposing opinions, feeling a strong urge to retreat. I never really thought about how my tendency to avoid these difficult conversations might be impeding my personal growth. Dr. Black’s argument explored the value of discomfort in learning, pushing me to reconsider my own approach to uncomfortable topics.” Dr. Nicolas Fillion’s presentation, “Sizing your tinfoil hat: Clear thinking about conspiracies”, further explored attitudes towards controversial beliefs like conspiracy theories.

SFU Education instructors Dr. Laura D’Amico and Dr. Kevin O’Neill’s talk explored how artificial intelligence changes student-teacher relationships, and offered strategies for keeping pedagogical relationships at the centre while using AI. Dr. Olivia New (Vancouver Premier College) and Dr. Céline Ruscher (UBC) explored AI tools that can provide personalized success maps and assessment tools for students to improve critical thinking among students. 

Finally, former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan CM (Global Civic Society), presented educational resources on British Columbia history, with a focus on allowing students from different backgrounds to relate to and learn about the province’s diverse history.

The participants did more than just listen during the conference: in the afternoon, attendees and presenters gathered together around roundtables to engage in conversations around the presentations, critical thinking, and educational strategies. The conversational format of the conference was popular with attendees. One attendee said, “My favourite part about attending Developing Minds was the emphasis on dialogue. Both in the presentations and overall format of the conference, multiple perspectives were always presented.” 

Another participant found the diversity of opinions and lively discussion particularly rewarding, “I found myself not just listening to other people’s perspectives but also reflecting on my own. The conversations were enriching, not because we all agreed, but because we were open to controversial discussion.”

Developing Minds 2025 was co-organized by SFU’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and British Columbia Social Studies Teachers’ Association. The conference provides a unique space where secondary and post-secondary educators interact, helping strengthen the bonds between educators in the province, and ensuring students at all levels of education are engaged through cutting-edge teaching practices.