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ResearchED held its first Midwest conference at a public high school near St. Louis, drawing about 160 attendees for a one-day program on learning science. The event reflects the group’s international growth, while its organizers and speakers say U.S. schools have yet to adopt cognitive-science findings as widely as England has.
ResearchED held its first Midwest conference at a public high school near St. Louis, bringing about 160 educators and other attendees together for a one-day program on how research into memory, attention and practice can inform teaching. The gathering extends the grassroots conference network’s reach in the United States, where speakers and organizers say learning-science ideas have not become as established in schools as they have in England.
The St. Louis-area event featured about 40 sessions, according to The 74, and was part of an international series of independently organized conferences operating under the ResearchED name. The program focused on practical classroom approaches informed by cognitive science, rather than new technologies or high-profile education trends. One session addressed artificial intelligence, with a focus on evaluating tools and whether they reflect learning-science principles.
Keynote speaker Tom Sherrington, a British teacher, author and consultant, used a model geography lesson to demonstrate teaching techniques involving memorization, discussion and repetition. He urged teachers to consider whether every student was participating. “We don’t need to do new stuff,” Sherrington told attendees. “We need to do the things we know really, really well.”
Sherrington, who the report says had attended 53 ResearchED conferences, described the event as evidence that cognitive-science principles “are not niche ideas.” His assessment is a speaker’s view, not a measure of how widely teachers use those approaches. The report does not provide data on classroom adoption or student outcomes linked to the conference.
A U.S. foothold for learning science
The conference offered educators in the St. Louis region a local forum for discussing research-based instruction. Its format also points to one way ideas about memory, attention and practice can reach teachers: small, in-person events led by educators and researchers rather than top-down training alone.
Speakers argued that U.S. schools could make more use of evidence about how students learn. Helen Reynolds, a British physics teacher now based in Tucson, said she sees no comparable U.S. “mechanisms for improvement” to those she associates with England’s adoption of cognitive science. That is her assessment; the report does not compare national systems using a shared measure. The conference’s attendance and single-day format also do not establish how much its participants will change their teaching or whether students will benefit.
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From a London gathering to a network
ResearchED began in September 2013, when London teacher Tom Bennett and fellow teacher Hélène Galdin-O’Shea organized a one-day event at Dulwich College in south London. The gathering grew out of online discussions among British teachers who were asking why teacher-preparation programs had not taught them more about how learning works. Sherrington recalled that roughly 30 people presented at the first event and that organizers initially expected it to be a one-off.
Local organizers later began staging conferences under the ResearchED banner, and events spread across England and internationally. The report said the next scheduled events after the St. Louis gathering were in Toronto, Doha, Qatar, and Haninge, Sweden. Although foundational work in cognitive science was conducted largely in the United States, the article describes the ideas as more firmly established in England, where policy and early-career teacher training helped bring them into mainstream education discussions.
““We don’t need to do new stuff. We need to do the things we know really, really well.””
— Tom Sherrington, keynote speaker
Adoption and impact remain unmeasured
The report does not give the conference’s exact date, a breakdown of attendees, or evidence about what participants did after the event. It also does not quantify how widely learning-science methods are used in U.S. schools or compare their use in the United States and England. Claims that the United States is “easily 10 years behind” England and Australia, made by Mercanti-Anthony, are an attributed opinion rather than a finding supported by comparative data in the report.
It remains unclear whether ResearchED’s Midwest gathering will lead to further events in the region, broader professional development, or measurable changes in classroom instruction. The source describes the conference’s aims and program but does not report outcomes for teachers or students.
Further events and classroom follow-through
At the time of The 74’s report, ResearchED’s next listed gatherings were planned for Toronto, Doha and Haninge. The source does not announce a date or location for another Midwest conference. Whether the St. Louis event will prompt one, and how attendees will apply its ideas, was not yet known.
The development to watch is not only whether the conference network returns to the region, but whether educators and school systems create ongoing opportunities to test and discuss evidence-based teaching. The report provides no follow-up schedule or evaluation plan for the St. Louis gathering.
Key Questions
What is ResearchED?
ResearchED is an international network of locally organized education conferences focused on research and evidence-informed teaching. It began with a one-day event in London in 2013.
What happened near St. Louis?
A public high school near St. Louis hosted ResearchED’s first Midwest conference. The one-day event drew about 160 attendees and included roughly 40 sessions, according to The 74.
What does learning science cover?
In the report, learning science refers to research on processes such as memory, attention and practice, and how that evidence may inform teaching.
Did the conference show that teaching or student outcomes improved?
No outcomes were reported. The source describes the event’s speakers and sessions but does not assess changes in teaching practice or student performance.
Will ResearchED hold another Midwest event?
The report does not confirm another Midwest conference. It lists upcoming events in Toronto, Doha and Haninge but gives no date or location for a return to the region.
Source: the74million.org
