Listen: Adele Diamond '74 Interviewed on Speaking of Faith
Adele Diamond '74 Interviewed on
Speaking of Faith
by Michael Lott
11/24/2009
Adele Diamond '74 was recently the featured guest on the American Public Media radio show Speaking of Faith. Diamond is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist who teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada. She spoke with host Krista Tippett about the science of education as it relates to the development of children's minds.
Diamond's research shows that structured play, sports, music, dance, and exploration of the arts helps students develop their skills and capacity for learning more effectively than a solitary emphasis on content. She shared, "The more of you that gets involved; the body, the emotions, everything; the more you get out of it in many ways because it changes the brain, it nurtures the brain." Her research includes the study of a curriculum, Tools of the Mind, which was profiled in The New York Times.
Her work has also led her to participate in a 5-day conference, "Mind and Life XVIII: Attention, Memory and Mind: A Synergy of Psychological, Neuroscientific, and Contemplative Perspectives," held by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. She served on a panel with the Dalai Lama on "Heart-Mind Education" at the Vancouver Peace Summit 2009.
The Swarthmore College Bulletin profiled Diamond in 2006. Additional multimedia content from the interview is available on on the Speaking of Faith site.