In April, a team of six teachers and six students from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School flew to Harvard University to work with Graduate School of Education (HGSE) faculty on an original research project for The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL). The nationally recognized center seeks to enhance teacher quality and student achievement through research in, and the application of, the principles and strategies of Mind, Brain, and Education Science. “I was so excited when I found out I was going,” says one student. “It was an incredible opportunity to work with interesting people, help design a study, and hopefully help make an impact on our school.”

The trip, an annual event at St. Andrew’s, was the culmination of a year’s worth of work in which student fellows helped write research questions in partnership with their teachers and faculty from HGSE. They also evaluated the collected data and considered what might be the best research-informed strategies to advance their learning. “Getting to hear from top neuroscientists in the field at Harvard was really fascinating,” says another student. “It gave me first-hand knowledge from pioneers in the field.”

Their results are being shared with the larger educational community in multiple ways, including the CTTL’s nationally recognized publication Think Differently and Deeply, which has been read by more than 6,000 teachers, school leaders, and policymakers.

CTTL Student Research Fellows will next have the opportunity to be part of a new Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy as a result of the school recently being awarded a prestigious E.E. Ford Educational Leadership Grant.