Foundations for success
More Able and Ambitious
For Senior Students
Big ideas for curious minds
2023
AU/NZ
About
What to expect on the day
More Able students have a special educational need which is now
widely recognised.
This need is for high level intellectual input which Academy Learning
provides through world class “thinking days” at which students engage
with a wide range of topics and a balanced academic programme
aimed at stimulating thought beyond the constraints of the curriculum
Asking the right questions is important. The great thinker, Socrates,
was called the midwife of people’s thoughts because he asked the right
questions and helped people give birth to new ideas. Would we have
known that the earth revolves around the sun if it hadn’t been for the
inquisitive minds of people like Copernicus and Galileo? Would we
have known that light holds energy? This interactive study day will ask
students to consider some fundamental questions and offer intellectual
frameworks for developing their own ideas
The focus is upon topics which can be approached from many different
disciplines so that students begin to see connections between different
areas of study and the bigger picture. The content is fast paced and
differentiated to meet the needs of highly able learners with a focus on
important and enduring concepts. There is no duplication of traditional
school topics, and students benefit from a university style of learning in
which their knowledge is broadened and their critical abilities up-graded with new thinking tools. All sessions are designed to stimulate student interest with further resources available on the Academy website
for follow up independent learning
Programme
KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
JULIE ARLISS
Examining epistemology. What can we know exists? What can we know to be the
case? How can we be sure of what we think we know? All sense data is processed by
the mind, so is knowledge just whatever we think? Or is knowledge different to belief?
This session will explore different ways that we might establish knowledge, such as empiricism, rationalism and fallible foundationalism. In addition, there will be an evaluation
of the claim that there are some areas of human experience, such as love, which require
different tests.
THE OXBRIDGE INTERVIEW QUESTION
JULIE ARLISS
At Oxford and Cambridge Universities admission interview questions are designed to
give candidates a chance to show their real ability and potential. This includes questions to test whether a candidate can think laterally and apply their thinking to new
ideas and different contexts. There is no ‘right’ answer and the challenge therefore is to
show how well you can think. This session will provide students with essential Oxbridge
standard thinking tools: some basic rules of logic and ideas for developing high level
lateral thinking skills. A number of questions will be considered including ‘How Many
Animals did Noah Take onto the Ark’ and ‘Does a snail have Consciousness?’
THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS
DR. CHRISTOPHER O’NEILL
Can Science tell us about How to be Happy? We all want to be happy, so how is that
achieved? Is happiness found in fame and fortune? Or in material possessions: house,
car, garden, great job? Or maybe the true secret of happiness is accepting that there
isn’t one! What’s your guess? Can science tell us how to be happy? Dr O’Neill will
review the scientific literature on the secret of happiness.
SOCIAL PHYSICS
JULIE ARLISS
The relationship between Big Data and AI. The engine that drives social physics is big
data: the newly ubiquitous digital data now available about all aspects of human life.
What are the connections between human behavior and the digital bread crumbs we
all leave behind us as we move through the world. Who we really are is most accurately pictured by big data which captures where we actually spend our time and which
things we buy. The process of looking at this data is called ‘reality mining’. The work of
Social Physicist, Alex Pentland, living laboratories, socioscopes and modern-day tribes
will be explained and examined as will the potential for artificial intelligence to ‘read our
minds’. Students will experience a live debate and be encouraged to contribute and to
vote. This is a vibrant session and gives an opportunity for the development of analytical
and evaluative skills
DEBATE: THIS HOUSE BELIEVES THAT LOVE IS NOT A COMMODITY TO BE TRADED
A commodity is a useful or valuable thing that can reasonably be bought or sold. Many
would argue that people also have an exchange value. For example, in a work environment the employer buys the employees’ time and energy at an agreed price. In a world
where everyone and everything has a price, this debate will ask if there is any reason to
regard human love any differently?
Speakers
Julie Arliss
A Farmington Scholar at Harris Manchester College,
Oxford, Julie Arliss is a highly accomplished teacher and author. Julie
Arliss is a well-known international educator of gifted students with
a gift for making the complex simple, and the simple complex. She
is committed to the provision of world-class extension activities for
these students, to extend their reach well beyond the curriculum to
new areas of knowledge. She is on the examining team for Cambridge
International Examinations and founder of Academy Learning.
Dr. Christopher O’Neill
Dr O’Neill is a fellow of Harris Manchester
College, University of Oxford and is a polymathic thinker. He is a
psychologist, registered psychotherapist and trained counsellor. He
initiated the large-scale MYRIAD research project in Oxford University
investigating resilience and well-being in young people. He has forty
years’ experience of working with students and staff in schools and is
an exceptional educator
Tour Dates and Venues
Perth
Wed 17th May 2023
Servite College
Christchurch
Mon 22nd May 2023
St Andrew’s College
Wellington
Wed 24th May 2023
Scots College
Auckland
Thu 25th May 2023
Pinehurst School
Brisbane
Tue 30th May 2023
Genesis Christian College
Adelaide
Wed 31st May 2023
Concordia College
Melbourne
Thu 1st June 2023
Scotch College
Sydney
Mon 5th June 2023
Ascham School
Canberra
Tue 6th June 2023
TBC
Booking
ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION
Arrival from 09.00. The programme begins promptly at 9.30 and concludes at 14.30.
Students — A fixed fee of $50 if paid prior to conference. We have access
to sponsorship for students wishing to attend but for whom the cost is a
significant challenge for their families. Please contact us for further details.
Staff — A fixed fee of $50. Staff attending for professional training $95.
One free staff place with every 12 students booked.
Staff are warmly invited to join the team for informal discussion over break and lunch with refreshments provided. Students will need to bring their own equipment and refreshments. Please note that we do not allow recordings of the day.