Risk-based learning games improve long-term retention of information among school pupils

Open Practical Laboratories in the Neurosciences: An outreach program for neuroscience communication in middle schools

The Open Practical Laboratory in the Neurosciences is an outreach program that seeks to improve the knowledge of the neurosciences by elementary school students and to promote better attitudes in relation to neuroscience, science in general, and scientists. It consists in practical and demonstration activities on the theme of the neurosciences. This outreach strategy was applied in four public schools in a municipality in Southeastern Pará, Brazil characterized by low performance in educational reviews in Brazil. Students from both sexes from 9th grade (last grade before high school) were enrolled in the program. The outreach program improved students' knowledge about the neurosciences, and promoted better attitudes in relation to science and scientists, in comparison to students who did not go through the activities. Results suggest that scientific outreach strategies can produce results beyond immediate increases in knowledge, promoting better attitudes in relation to science.

A Model Approach to Public Engagement Training for Students in Developing Countries

Early involvement in public engagement activities may enhance undergraduate and graduate students’ long-term interest in science careers and their ability to dialogue with the public about topics of importance to science and society. While several public engagement training programs have been created and implemented in universities in the developed world, such opportunities are limited in developing countries. In their pursuit to develop appropriate public engagement training programs for their students, outreach providers and educators in developing countries will benefit from tried-and-tested training schemes from specific developing country contexts. In this paper, we describe the development, implementation, outcomes and possible extensions to an initiative to train budding scientists in a Ghanaian university to enable them to more effectively interact with the non-scientist public about the relevance of their research and the contribution of scientific endeavors to improving our daily lives. In order to address specific public engagement challenges identified in the target society, the program focuses on training students to become initiators of outreach activities who proactively seek engagement opportunities and can independently develop innovative events particularly for communities with poor public inclination to participate in scientific outreach.

Global-local processing impacts academic risk taking

Research has shown that academic risk taking-the selection of school tasks with varying difficulty levels-affords important implications for educational outcomes. In two experiments, we explored the role of cognitive processes-specifically, global versus local processing styles-in students' academic risk-taking tendencies. Participants first read a short passage, which provided the context for their subsequent academic risk-taking decisions. Following which, participants undertook the Navon's task and attended to either global letters or local letters only, i.e., were either globally or locally primed. The effects of priming on academic risk taking were then assessed using a perception-based measure (Experiment 1) and a task-based measure (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 provided preliminary evidence, which Experiment 2 confirmed, that globally focused individuals took more academic risk than did locally focused individuals after controlling for participants' need for cognition (how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities). Additionally, the inclusion of and comparisons with a control group in Experiment 2 revealed that locally focused participants drove the observed effects. The theory of predictive and reactive control systems (PARCS) provides a cogent account of our findings. Future directions and practical applications in education are discussed.

Developing Science Communication in Africa: Undergraduate and Graduate Students should be Trained and Actively Involved in Outreach Activity Development and Implementation

Despite recent improvements in scientific research output from Africa, public understanding of science in many parts of the continent remains low. Science communication there is faced with challenges such as (i) lack of interest among some scientists, (ii) low availability of training programs for scientists, (iii) low literacy rates among the public, and (iv) multiplicity of languages. To address these challenges, new ways of training and motivating scientists to dialogue with non-scientists are essential. Developing communication skills early in researchers' scientific career would be a good way to enhance their public engagement abilities. Therefore, a potentially effective means to develop science communication in Africa would be to actively involve trainee scientists (i.e., undergraduate and graduate students) in outreach activity development and delivery. These students are often enthusiastic about science, eager to develop their teaching and communication skills, and can be good mentors to younger students. Involving them in all aspects of outreach activity is, therefore, likely to be a productive implementation strategy. However, science communication training specifically for students and the involvement of these students in outreach activity design and delivery are lacking in Africa. Here, we argue that improving the training and involvement of budding scientists in science communication activities would be a good way to bridge the wide gap between scientists and the African public.

Evaluation of Changes in Ghanaian Students' Attitudes Towards Science Following Neuroscience Outreach Activities: A Means to Identify Effective Ways to Inspire Interest in Science Careers

The scientific capacity in many African countries is low. Ghana, for example, is estimated to have approximately twenty-three researchers per a million inhabitants. In order to improve interest in science among future professionals, appropriate techniques should be developed and employed to identify barriers and correlates of science education among pre-university students. Young students' attitudes towards science may affect their future career choices. However, these attitudes may change with new experiences. It is, therefore, important to evaluate potential changes in students' attitudes towards science after their exposure to experiences such as science outreach activities. Through this, more effective means of inspiring and mentoring young students to choose science subjects can be developed. This approach would be particularly beneficial in countries such as Ghana, where: (i) documented impacts of outreach activities are lacking; and (ii) effective means to develop scientist-school educational partnerships are needed. We have established an outreach scheme, aimed at helping to improve interaction between scientists and pre-university students (and their teachers). Outreach activities are designed and implemented by undergraduate students and graduate teaching assistants, with support from faculty members and technical staff. Through this, we aim to build a team of trainee scientists and graduates who will become ambassadors of science in their future professional endeavors. Here, we describe an approach for assessing changes in junior high school students' attitudes towards science following classroom neuroscience outreach activities. We show that while students tended to agree more with questions concerning their perceptions about science learning after the delivery of outreach activities, significant improvements were obtained for only two questions, namely "I enjoy science lessons" and "I want to be a scientist in the future." Furthermore, there was a generally strong trend towards a change in attitude for questions that sought information about students' perceptions about scientists (both positive and negative perceptions). In addition, outreach providers reported that their involvement in this public engagement scheme helped them acquire several transferable skills that will be beneficial in their studies and career development. These include vital skills in project and time management, teamwork and public speaking. Altogether, our findings provide novel indications that the development of scientist-school outreach partnerships in Ghana has valuable implications for science education and capacity development.

Gamification of Learning Deactivates the Default Mode Network

We hypothesized that embedding educational learning in a game would improve learning outcomes, with increased engagement and recruitment of cognitive resources evidenced by increased activation of working memory network (WMN) and deactivation of default mode network (DMN) regions. In an fMRI study, we compared activity during periods of learning in three conditions that were increasingly game-like: Study-only (when periods of learning were followed by an exemplar question together with its correct answer), Self-quizzing (when periods of learning were followed by a multiple choice question in return for a fixed number of points) and Game-based (when, following each period of learning, participants competed with a peer to answer the question for escalating, uncertain rewards). DMN hubs deactivated as conditions became more game-like, alongside greater self-reported engagement and, in the Game-based condition, higher learning scores. These changes did not occur with any detectable increase in WMN activity. Additionally, ventral striatal activation was associated with responding to questions and receiving positive question feedback. Results support the significance of DMN deactivation for educational learning, and are aligned with recent evidence suggesting DMN and WMN activity may not always be anti-correlated.