My passion lies in the intersection of evolutionary thinking and educational practices. I firmly believe that an education system that is more aligned with the way that our species has evolved to learn has the capacity to lead to better outcomes for modern students. Importantly, I believe that necessary changes to our educational system are not out of the realm of possibility, but rather are easily implementable and reflect practices that many teachers and experts already value (e.g., ample time for recess and play, inquiry-based learning, student collaboration, real-world connections).
I work full-time as a tenured first grade teacher in the Arlington Central School District. I additionally work at the State University of New York at New Paltz as an adjunct lecturer and a visiting researcher in Dr. Glenn Geher's Evolutionary Psychology Research Lab. These positions afford me a unique perspective on applied work in the field of evolutionary educational psychology. I believe all folks involved in education stand to benefit from understanding our evolved learning mechanisms and my work focuses on bridging the gap between theory and educational practices.
More information about these ideas can be found here on my website or on my Substack- Evolving Classrooms.Â
I also manage the website for the Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society (AEPS) and the associated Evolutionarily Informed Education site. You can check those out for more information as well!
If you want to get in touch, you can contact me via email: kfgruskin@gmail.com or gruskink1@newpaltz.edu