Authors
Vicki Zakrzewski
Vicki Zakrzewski (zahk-shef-skee), Ph.D., is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center.
During her 20 years of experience in education, Vicki has worked as a private school director, classroom teacher at California’s first public charter school (which served as the model for Aspire charter schools), administrator at Kaiser Permanente’s award-winning Educational Theatre Programs, children’s playwright for a worldwide humanitarian non-profit, curriculum developer, educational evaluator, grant writer, and researcher.
Vicki co-led the Ball Foundation’s story project for personal transformation as part of the organization’s strategy for bringing systemic change to school districts. Recently, she spent two months in India at a school awarded the Peace Education Prize by UNESCO and the Hope of Humanity Award by the Dalai Lama in order to research their methods for teaching students how to become caring citizens of the world. Vicki has a B.A. from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Education and Positive Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, where she studied under the guidance of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Stories by Vicki Zakrzewski
Articles: World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements
By Vicki Zakrzewski | May 21, 2013A Q&A with visionary educator John Hunter, creator of the World Peace Game.
Articles: May Education Newsletter
By Vicki Zakrzewski | May 14, 2013With the re-introduction of Congressman Tim Ryan's social-emotional learning bill, our May newsletter focuses on the wide-ranging benefits of SEL skills for students.
Articles: An Unexpected Antidote to Cheating
By Vicki Zakrzewski | April 30, 2013Cheating is a complex problem. Could mindfulness be the answer?
Articles: How to Reduce Violence after School Closures
By Vicki Zakrzewski, Trinh T. Tran, Jason Marsh | April 23, 2013Plans to close public schools are raising concerns about student safety in several major cities. But if the cities heed lessons from social science, they may be able to keep a difficult situation from getting even worse.
Articles: April Education Newsletter
By Vicki Zakrzewski | April 9, 2013From lessening the stress of testing to the neuroscience of learning, here's a round-up of our recent education content.
Articles: Compassion for the Tested
By Vicki Zakrzewski | March 26, 2013School-testing season is here—and a little compassion can go a long way in relieving the stress for all involved.
Articles: March Education Newsletter
By Vicki Zakrzewski | March 12, 2013From training kids for compassion to the neuroscience of learning, here's a round-up of our recent education content.
Articles: Teens Who Help, Help Their Hearts
By Vicki Zakrzewski | February 26, 2013New research shows that adolescents who volunteer decrease their risk for heart disease.
Articles: Love in the Classroom, Beyond Candy Hearts and Raging Hormones
By Vicki Zakrzewski | February 5, 2013I asked for your stories of love in education. Here are some of the moving responses.
Articles: Fixing the Mean Girl Syndrome
By Vicki Zakrzewski | January 29, 2013Research tells us that kindness may be the antidote to “popularity-through-meanness.”
Articles: Can Gen Y Fix Our Schools?
By Vicki Zakrzewski | January 22, 2013They may get a bad rap, but research suggests that the needs of Gen Y teachers could help us create thriving schools.
Articles: The Case for Discussing Spirituality in Schools
By Vicki Zakrzewski | January 8, 2013Research suggests that spirituality may be a natural developmental process—so what does this mean for secular schools?
Articles: Take This Job and….
By Vicki Zakrzewski | December 20, 2012Wait! Here are some research-based ways teachers and principals can rejuvenate their passion for their jobs over the holidays.
Articles: December Education Newsletter
By Vicki Zakrzewski | December 12, 2012Want round-ups of recent Greater Good Education posts delivered to your email Inbox? Sign up for our education newsletter!
Articles: Three Ways to Help Students Give Meaningful Gifts
By Vicki Zakrzewski | December 4, 2012Research has identified what makes some gifts more meaningful than others. Here's how teachers can help their students get beyond elbow macaroni and glue.
Articles: An Awesome Way to Make Kids Less Self-Absorbed
By Vicki Zakrzewski | November 28, 2012Research suggests that experiencing awe helps kids focus less on themselves and more on the world around them.
Articles: November Education Newsletter
By Vicki Zakrzewski | November 14, 2012Want round-ups of recent Greater Good Education posts delivered to your email Inbox? Sign up for our education newsletter!
Articles: How to Help Students Develop Hope
By Vicki Zakrzewski | November 6, 2012According to research, hope is key to academic achievement--and it's a skill students can develop over time. Here's how.
Articles: Why Teacher Ratings Hurt Schools and Students
By Vicki Zakrzewski | October 30, 2012The Los Angeles Times is suing for "value-added" assessments of teachers. Here's why they may do more harm than good.
Most...
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Why Compassion in Business Makes Sense
April 15, 2013Emma Seppala explains how compassionate workplaces are good for employee health and the corporate bottom line.
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How to be a Happy Working Dad, Part One
March 27, 2013A new report finds that fitting work with family isn't just a women's issue. Jeremy Adam Smith offers 10 tips for helping fathers to navigate a changing landscape at home and on the job.
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When Getting Angry Makes You Happy
April 2, 2013A new study shows how seeking happiness at the right time may be more important than seeking happiness all the time.
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World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements
May 21, 2013A Q&A with visionary educator John Hunter, creator of the World Peace Game.
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Can You Run Out of Empathy?
May 20, 2013An essay in this week’s New Yorker argues that we don't have enough empathy to go around. But new research says we can keep renewing and expanding our feeling for others.
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‘Free the Mind’ film
May 17, 2013
Greater Good Events
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Friday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
The GGSC’s six-day Summer Institute will equip educators with social-emotional learning tools that will benefit both students and teachers. Registration is now closed.
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WatchGreater Good Resources
"Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior"
Finds that feeling gratitude produces kind and helpful behavior, even when that behavior is costly to the individual actor.
- "Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review"
Compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose function is to enable cooperation and protection of those who...
- "From Jerusalem to Jericho"
This article on bystander intervention in emergency situations suggests that we are likely to help a “shabbily dressed”...
- Center for Investigating Healthy Minds
The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, runs a state-of-the-art neuroscience...
- Northeast Foundation for Children
Northeast Foundation for Children is a non-profit educational organization that offers educators the Responsive Classroom...
- Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship
Based at the University of Michigan Business School, this is a networking community for researchers and practitioners...
Book of the Week
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Sponsors
Special thanks to
The Quality of Life Foundation for its support of the Greater Good Science Center
Daniel Goleman
Best-selling author,
Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence
(www.danielgoleman.info)
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