Israeli professor and Chinese grad students visit Touchstone Community School

CONTACT: Sarah Kipp, Touchstone Community School, 508-839-0038, smkipp@gmail.com

Media: Jim Farrell, PR first, 781-681-6616,jfarrell@prfirst.com

Israeli professor Dr. Shlomo Maital to speak at Touchstone Community School October 6; travels here with Chinese scholars who seek to use Touchstone model for school in China

GRAFTON, MA, Issued September 21, 2015…What does a community school in Grafton, MA have in common with an Israeli professor and a new model of learning in China?

In this case, the Touchstone Community School (www.touchstoneschool.com), a leading innovative private school located in Grafton, MA, will be the setting for a return visit from this distinguished professor, as well as the model for a future independent school scheduled to be built in China.

Dr. Shlomo Maital, an Israeli professor who has been teaching graduate students in China, will visit Touchstone with his Chinese graduate students. These graduate students plan to use Touchstone as a model to launch a similar school in China. In addition, Dr. Maital will be a guest speaker at Touchstone on Tuesday, October 6 at 7 p.m. Dr. Maital will speak on the topic, “50 Years of Creativity Research,” and the public is invited to attend.

When Dr. Maital traveled here last year to give a talk on the topic of entrepreneurship, he visited Touchstone Community School and was deeply impressed by the collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking he saw there. He carried the lessons from that visit back to his work with graduate students in China. His students, many of them new parents, were inspired by his talk of innovative learning and teaching, and wanted to see it firsthand.

In October, these students will experience directly at Touchstone how transformative education works and how it can be adapted and transported to create a school program in China. Dr. Maital’s talk will offer insights into the critical need for innovative education in an era of global competition and connection, and draws heavily from what this professor learned during his visit to the United States last year.

“We are very excited about Dr. Maital’s return visit to Touchstone Community School, and the demonstrated interest of his graduate students to take the Touchstone model back to China,” said Susan Diller, Head of School. She added, “We encourage members of the community to come to hear Dr. Maital speak, and to learn how transformative educational principles can change the community and the world.”

About Dr. Shlomo Maital

Shlomo Maital is a senior research associate at the Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science & Technology (Israel), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and professor (emeritus). He was the academic director of TIM-Technion Institute of Management, Israel’s leading executive leadership development institute and a pioneer in action-learning methods, from 1998 to 2009. He has also been a summer Visiting Professor for 20 years at MIT Sloan School of Management’s Management of Technology, teaching over 1,000 Research & Development engineers from more than 40 different countries. He has authored, co-authored and edited 14 books, including Cracking the Creativity Code (SAGE India, 2014); The Imagination Ladder (Mandarin edition: Hangzhu Books, 2014); Mapping National Innovation Ecosystems (Elgar, UK, 2014); Technion Nation (2012), Global Risk/Global Opportunity (SAGE 2009), Innovation Management (Sage, 2007; 2nd edition, 2012); and Executive Economics (The Free Press 1994), translated into seven languages. He was co-founder of SABE-Society for Advancement of Behavioral Economics and was an early proponent of behavioral economics. His on-line course Cracking the Creativity Code – Part One is offered by Coursera and had over 11,000 students enrolled in its initial run.

Shlomo Maital is married, with four children and 13 grandchildren. He completed the New York marathon in 1985 in 3 hours and 51 minutes, and in April 2006, completed the Boston marathon in about 5 hours. In 2014 he and his wife Dr. Sharone Maital did a four-month ‘trek’ that took them to South America, North America, Europe, Vietnam, China and New Zealand, visiting innovative schools in several of these countries.

About the Touchstone Community School

The Touchstone Community School is a Touchstone is an independent school serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through Grade 8, cultivating a joy of lifelong learning through transformative, intellectual, social & emotional growth. The school opened its doors in 1982 and today serves approximately 100 students. The school is built upon partnership between school, parents and students. Located on a wooded, eight-acre campus with playing fields, playground, gardens, nature trails, woods and streams, the school’s three building campus is open, relaxed and inviting.. Touchstone is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Association for Independent Schools in New England, and is accredited by the Association for Independent Schools of New England. Susan Diller serves as the Head of School. For additional information about Touchstone Community School, or to request a tour of the facilities, please call 508-839-0038. The school is located at 54 Leland Street Grafton, MA 01519.

Photo: Dr. Shlomo Maital

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