Free Educational Topics in Chicago
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3: Browse for a topic, Click the orange request button, Fill out the contact form.
Now the speaker will contact you in the next few days to coordinate details.
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On the Trail of the Ancient Ones
Terry Poppleton
Join Terry as he takes you on a journey to another place and another time. The place is the Four Corners region of the U.S. and the time is a thousand years ago. On this journey we will visit such storied places as Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Hovenweep. Discover how this remarkable culture flourished, changed, and survived in the challenging environment of the American Southwest. MORE >
During the presentation, he will answer the following questions:Who were the Anasazi “Ancient Ones”?
Why was their culture remarkable?
How did this culture change?
Why did they leave the Four Corners area?The presentation takes approximately 30-45 minutes. I will need a computer projector and screen.
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Raising Innovative Children
Stephen A. Di Biase, Ph.D., President, Premier Insights, LLC.
"10 Secrets for Raising Innovative Children" describes what parents can do to help their children build upon their natural tendencies to be innovative while offering a buffer to the potential damage they'll experience when they begin their formal education at age 5. There is significant evidence that from age 5 to age 20 the typical person experiencing the traditional US educational system will lose almost all of their capabilities for being innovative. MORE >
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Demonstrating and Teaching Mental Math Methods
Cliff Petrak, Retired Teacher, Brother Rice High School
Learn to master a multitude of little-known, super-shortcut computational methods involving addition, subtraction, fractions, squaring and multiplication. Unfortunately, our country consistently finishes among the bottom third of industrialized countries in the annual mental math competition for students. Learning these strategies and methods will leave your calculator-dependent friends in the dust!
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Rising Economic Inequality: how much, why it happens, why it matters, and what we can do about it.
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Economic inequality has been rising in the US for decades, damaging our economy and society in the process. This presentation will discuss how high it has become, why it happens, how it damages our country, and what we can do about it.
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Congress Doesn’t Care What You Think
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
this presentation addresses the problem of unlimited political money corrupting our democracy. We explain the problem clearly, and discuss the causes and possible solutions, including steps that we can take in our own communities to begin addressing this structural problem in our country. The presentation is non-partisan and brings issues to light which are of concern across the aisle. MORE >
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Start Early, Start Smart: How to Choose a Motivating College Major
Georgia Koch, Community Outreach Coordinator, Career Vision
Is it possible for students to identify potential college majors and career directions while still in high school? You bet! Students and parents will learn what they need to know before choosing a college, and how identifying a college major and career direction can build a student's motivation and confidence while reducing college expenses. MORE >
Receive information and resources to guide your student and take the stress out of making these important decisions. This program is for parents and students of high school and college age. -
What’s an Assault Weapon, and why are they so deadly?
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
There's been a lot of discussion lately about tighter regulations on assault weapons like the AR-15. If we are going to regulate these weapons, we will need a legal definition describing them. And instead of a definition that depends upon specific configurations or cosmetic appearance, we propose a definition based on the factors that make this class of weapons so deadly. MORE >
This presentation focuses on the development of this class of weapons, the factors that make them so deadly, and how we can use those factors to legally define an "assault weapon" for future regulation thereof. -
School board disinformation
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Our public school boards are under attack. Responsible school board members are being threatened, and reasonable school policies are being dismantled. We'll help you understand why, who is doing it, and what we can do about it.
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Increasing Political Polarization and what we can do about it
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Every decade, increasing gerrymandering has created more and more "safe seats", which have resulted in more and more extreme legislators on both sides of the aisle - creating a legislature where compromise is impossible, and very little legislative progress ensures. This presentation shows why this happens, and what we can do about it, using the recent example of the Alaska special election, utilizing a nonpartisan primary and a ranked choice voting general election, as an example of how to promote more moderate legislators and a more productive legislature. MORE >
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Career Readiness Before College
Georgia Koch, Community Outreach Coordinator, Career Vision
College planning is not just for college but for career planning as well. Believe it or not, sophomore year of high school is not too early to start. Georgia will show audiences why.