EduCon 2.2 (Friday Night Reflections)

This morning, as I hopped on Septa to go downtown to the Science Leadership Academy, I knew this was going to be one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Not only would I get to meet (or see again) some of my favorite "friends" on Twitter, but I would also get to listen and learn from some of the smartest people in the education field.

After my tour of SLA, led by Sophomore student, Jeff K. (who follows me on Twitter, after I attended his EduCon 2.1 session last year), I found some of my other Philly locals, and we planned out our day. I originally planned on observing some classes, then going over to The Franklin to see the new BodyWorlds exhibit. Instead, we took a few out-of-towners to the National Constitution Center.

We met up with a few others at Monk's Cafe for a late lunch (yum!), then made it to the panel discussion, "What is Smart", at The Franklin. Listening to an author, a programmer (a graduated SLA student, who created Tweetie), a Princeton professor, a neuroscientist, and an artist college director try to define smart just made us all think even more. Is IQ genetic? Does smart mean "intelligent" or "street smart" or "talented" or maybe all of the above?

I don't know if any of the 500 educators attending EduCon 2.2 this weekend will be able to answer "What is Smart" by the end of the conference, but I do know one thing: We will all be smarter by the end of the conference.