This Think Tank looks at bias, the brain’s natural way of interpreting the world and taking actions. While we cannot live without bias, we can refine it and moderate it. The key is learning how it works, as is explained in the Main video. The Deep listening helps teacher look at their own implicit biases.

Curtis Kelly starts us off with his own observations of bias and the brain. Stephen M. Ryan carries that discussion on, adding how predictive processing invariably calls the four horse-persons: Bias, Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination. Lexi Basciano discusses the problems caused by prior knowledge and how, as teachers, we can open our minds to avoid them. Then Valeria Bogorevich explains how an accent can lead to one particular kind of stereotyping and what to do about it.

In the PLUS section, we offer a touching letter to a father from a student, Risa Iwanaga, that tells us something about ourselves.