BC February Conference
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, ultimately, help make students into better critical thinkers. The event was co-organized by the BC Social Studies Teachers’ Association and Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Presentations included Dr. Sam Black’s (SFU Philosophy) talk, titled “Sir, I find your class offensive”, emphasizing the value of controversial speech in society and the importance of using controversy as a tool in education. Dr. Nicolas Fillion’s “Sizing your tinfoil hat: Clear thinking about conspiracies”, further explored attitudes towards controversial beliefs like conspiracy theories.
Dr. Nicolas Fillion (SFU Philosophy) opened the conference with the words, “The day you think that you are a good critical thinker, you’ve stopped thinking critically.”
SFU Education’s 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.
Finally, former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan (Global Civic Society), presented educational resources focused on allowing students from different backgrounds to relate to and learn about the BC’s diverse history.
In the afternoon, participants gathered at roundtables to engage in conversations around the presentations, critical thinking, and educational strategies. The conversational format of the conference was popular with attendees. One 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.”
Dr. Kevin O’Neill (SFU Faculty of Education) and Dr. Olivia New (Vancouver Premier College) having a discussion at the “AI and Pedagogy” roundtable.
