Lectures and Media

At CANDLE, we provide resources for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to guide the transformation of schools, policy, and the student and teacher experience.

Public Outreach and Professional Development

In NOVA’S 2-hour special Mary Helen Immordino-Yang joins education experts Carol Dweck, Sal Khan, Linda Darling-Hammond and others to imagine how schools can prepare students for imminent challenges.

Play Video

This video course for K-12 educators acquaints teachers with current neuroscience research that they can apply in their own classrooms.

The Council of Distinguished Scientists Meeting on Next Generation Research

Play Video

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang served on The Aspen Institute’s Council of Distinguished Scientists. She spoke at the release of The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD) report.

The Evidence Base for How We Learn

BRIEF

This research brief written for The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD) outlines the nationally-applicable definition of SEAD.

WHITE PAPER

This white paper written for the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) was lead by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, the CANDLE team, and engaged an extensive scientific and practitioner advisory group.

Advisory Board Members: 

Joanna Christodoulou, Tracy Fray-Oliver, Nadine Gaab, Jeffrey Garrett, Taneda Hailey, Fumiko Hoeft, Claudia Koocheck, Suzanne Nguyen, Veronica Pedroza, Rodrigo Miranda Riveros, Mary Shimazaki, Winsome Villiers, Erin Whalen, Daniel Willingham, Maryanne Wolf

TEDx Manhattan Beach - 11 Years Later

TEDx Manhattan Beach

All It Takes

In this documentary for All It Takes, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang joins a panel of experts from USC Rossier and others to discuss the mental and emotional burdens on students and educators.

Panel discussion with the film’s producer Lori Woodley and SEL leaders, including Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, USC Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera, and USC Rossier Center EDGE founding Director Alan Arkatov.

National Gallery of Art Summer Institute for Educators

DIGYMATEX Webinar

IMBES Virtual Conference Series

This symposium brings together developmental neuroscientists and educational psychologists from diverse international perspectives with education practitioners working to build innovative secondary school models around the world. The symposium is chaired by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

Yale School of Management

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang joins fellow experts in education to discuss traditional schooling and how to modernize it for the 21st century.

Roots of Empathy Research Symposium

Hosted by Committee for Children, with America Forward, National University, Learning Policy Institute, and Urban Assembly

In this briefing, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang joins students, members of Congress, and experts in child development to discuss the importance of social emotional learning (SEL) concepts and how they can be advanced through federal policy.

Power of Engagement Summit Presented by Harmony SEL and Inspire Teaching & Learning

Center for Healthy Minds Speaker Series hosted by John D. Dunne

USC Rossier’s A New Vision for Schools

In this free webinar part of USC Rossier’s initiative, A New Vision for Schools, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang joins a panel of experts to discuss improving mental and emotional health in K-12 schools.

Society for Research on Adolescence’s Webinar

Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance's Who Gets to Thrive? The Science of Learning and Development as a Tool for Anti-Racism

California Teacher Development Collaborative (CATDC)

During this CATDC Speaker Series session, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang reexamines the underlying and often implicit goals and processes of education and learning, and relates them to basic discoveries about the neural and psychological bases of emotion, sociality, thinking and well-being. Participants gained strategies to help them manage, and maybe even thrive, now and into the post-COVID future.

Lost in Citations

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang talks about her research and Educational Leadership article, “Building Meaning Builds Teens’ Brains,” in this Lost in Citations podcast episode, hosted by Dr. Robert S. Murphy.

Cleveland.com

In this Cleveland.com article, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang describes what we can do to improve academic learning moving forward.

BYU Radio's The Lisa Show

Wall Street Journal

“Rest is not idleness.” Mary Helen Immordino-Yang explains in The Wall Street Journal how rest plays an important role in building identity and purpose.

Los Angeles Daily News

“This is an opportunity, if we take it, to courageously rethink what school means.” Mary Helen Immordino-Yang explains in the Los Angeles Daily News how we can “reinvent” a better education system for students.

Popular Science

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the benefits of letting your mind wander.

Los Angeles Times

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang spoke with the Los Angeles Times on how the pandemic has affected teens.

89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang sat down with KPCC Education Reporter Kyle Stokes to discuss the ramifications of the social disconnection students are experiencing as a result of distance learning.

Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

American Heart Association

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang spoke with the American Heart Association on why art education matters even during a pandemic.

AirTalk

In this segment of AirTalk, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses how adolescents can cope during Covid-19.

Ethnic Media Services

During this Ethnic Media Services “Tracking the Pandemic” conference, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses how online learning deprives children of important social interactions and the opportunity to learn to work in groups.  See also: Tech Giants Earned Billions from Pandemic – Now They Need to Bridge Digital Divide for Kids.

Reach. Teach. Talk.

In Reach Academics’ Reach. Teach. Talk. podcast, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Rebecca Gotlieb discuss the timely topic of remote teaching. A free webinar featuring this interview is also available from Reach Academics.

Why We Theater

In this Why We Theater podcast, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the facts about technology’s effects on our brains and socialization.

Full PreFrontal

In this Full PreFrontal podcast, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the important role emotions play in learning.

All of the Above

In this All of the Above podcast, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the neuroscience of learning.

American Institutes for Research

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang advised on this resource for the American Institutes for Research which focuses on creating a safe and engaging learning environment at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

USC Rossier Magazine

In an article for USC Rossier Magazine, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses CANDLE and its role in launching a new kind of conversation in education about what counts as learning, that shifts the purpose that people understand schools to have in society

Elemental

In an article for Elemental, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang offers insight into the ongoing expert debate surrounding the effects of digital and social media use on the mental health of young people.

Unboxed Learning

In this Unboxed Learning podcast, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang talks about the ways in which young people make meaning and construct a sense of self.

Center for Scholars and Storytellers

Storytelling and Empathy: A conversation between a neuroscientist and the CEO of The Jim Henson Company

CBS News Radio KNX1070’s InDepth report

Science Friday

In an episode of NPR’s Science Friday, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang makes a case for the reflective thought that could fill the void when were bored.

Note to Self

In an episode of WNYC Studios’ Note to Self, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang offers a neurological explanation for why giving up our cell phone habit is difficult.

Radio Times

In an episode of WHYY Philadelphia and NPR Sirius’s Radio Times, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Scott Barry Kauffman discuss the importance of daydreaming in adolescence.

The Takeaway

In an episode of NPR’s The Takeaway, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the benefits and values of daydreaming.

National Geographic Family

In an article for NatGeo Family, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses the science behind why kids lie.

Scientific Presentations

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang spoke at Tufts University for the Tisch College Initiative on Social-Emotional Learning and Civic Engagement (SEL-CE).

Faculty and Research

USC Rossier’s Faculty and Research highlights a study co-authored by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang which shows students learn better over time when focused on their own learning process, instead of getting the right answers. Read the study: An fMRI study of error monitoring in Montessori and traditionally-schooled children.

MBE Summer Deep Dive Series for The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School

Adolescent Religious and Spiritual Development Preconference Panel for Society for Research on Adolescence

APA Division 15

Karolinska Institutet

71st Annual Conference of the Literacy Research Association