Neuroscience education for prekindergarten-12 teachers

Neuroscience Knowledge and Endorsement of Neuromyths among Educators: What Is the Scenario in Brazil?

The field of neuroscience has seen significant growth and interest in recent decades. While neuroscience knowledge can benefit laypeople as well as professionals in many different areas, it may be particularly relevant for educators. With the right information, educators can apply neuroscience-based teaching strategies as well as protect themselves and their students against pseudoscientific ideas and products based on them. Despite rapidly growing sources of available information and courses, studies show that educators in many countries have poor knowledge of brain science and tend to endorse education-related neuromyths. Poor English skills and fewer resources (personal, institutional and governmental) may be additional limitations in Latin America. In order to better understand the scenario in Latin America’s largest country, we created an anonymous online survey which was answered by 1634 individuals working in education from all five regions of Brazil. Respondents stated whether they agreed with each statement and reported their level of confidence for each answer. Significant differences in performance were observed across regions, between educators living in capital cities versus the outskirts, between those teaching in private versus public schools, and among educators teaching different levels (pre-school up to college/university). We also observed high endorsement of some key neuromyths, even among groups who performed better overall. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to conduct a detailed analysis of the profile of a large group of educators in Brazil. We discuss our findings in terms of efforts to better understand regional and global limitations and develop methods of addressing these most efficiently.

Interventions to Dispel Neuromyths in Educational Settings-A Review

Neuromyths are misconceptions about the brain and learning, for instance Tailoring instruction to students' preferred “learning styles” (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic) promotes learning. Recent reviews indicate that the high prevalence of beliefs in neuromyths among educators did not decline over the past decade. Potential adverse effects of neuromyth beliefs on teaching practices prompted researchers to develop interventions to dispel these misconceptions in educational settings. This paper provides a critical review of current intervention approaches. The following questions are examined: Does neuroscience training protect against neuromyths? Are refutation-based interventions effective at dispelling neuromyths, and are corrective effects enduring in time? Why refutation-based interventions are not enough? Do reduced beliefs in neuromyths translate in the adoption of more evidence-based teaching practices? Are teacher professional development workshops and seminars on the neuroscience of learning effective at instilling neuroscience in the classroom? Challenges, issues, controversies, and research gaps in the field are highlighted, notably the so-called “backfire effect,” the social desirability bias, and the powerful intuitive thinking mode. Future directions are outlined.

Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers' Views of Pedagogy and Students

Advances in neuroscience reveal how individual brains change as learning occurs. Translating this neuroscience into practice has largely been unidirectional, from researchers to teachers. However, how teachers view and incorporate neuroscience ideas in their classroom practices remains relatively unexplored. Previously fourteen non-science teachers participated in a 3-week three credit graduate course focusing on foundational ideas in neuroscience. The current work was undertaken to gain insight into if and how individual teachers choose to later apply the proposed set of educational neuroscience concepts (ENCs) in their classrooms. This qualitative follow-up study examined commonalities in how teachers of diverse ages and subjects utilized their new neuroscience understandings. To this end, a year after the course, all participants assessed their perceived usefulness of the ENCs in a survey. Six of those teachers permitted classroom observations and participated in interviews that focused on how the ENCs may have influenced their lesson planning and teaching. The survey revealed that irrespective of subject areas or grade levels taught, teachers found the ENCs useful as organizing principles for their pedagogy now and in the future. Overall teachers estimated that the ENCs’ influence on lesson design had increased from 51% prior to the course to an estimated 90% for future lessons. A cross-case analysis of classroom observations and interviews revealed how teachers used ENCs to inform their pedagogical decisions, organize actions in their classroom, influence their understanding of students, and respond to individual contexts. Teachers recognized the importance of student agency for engaging them in the learning process. The ENCs also offered teachers explanations that affirmed known practices or helped justify exploring untried techniques. The foundational neuroscience concepts offered a small group of teachers a lens to reconsider, re-envision and re-design their lessons. Some teachers applied these ideas more broadly or frequently than others. This case study provided insights into how teachers can directly apply neuroscience knowledge to their practice and views of students.

Preservice teachers' neuroscience literacy and perceptions of neuroscience in education: Implications for teacher education

BACKGROUND

Owing to the prevalence of neuromyths in education, there has been a call for more teacher training in neuroscience. However, neuroscience is rarely featured in teacher education. This study investigated the neuroscience literacy and perceptions of neuroscience in education among preservice teachers in order to inform future development of initial teacher education.

METHOD

Neuroscience literacy of 968 preservice teachers and their perceptions towards applying neuroscience in education were examined using survey items adapted from studies addressing similar constructs. Rasch item response theory and classical test theory techniques were employed for data analysis.

RESULTS

Most of the preservice teachers had limited brain knowledge and subscribed to many common neuromyths but were positive towards applying neuroscience in education. General brain knowledge was the only predictor for ability to identify neuromyths (β = .564).

CONCLUSION

Neuroscience knowledge can help safeguard preservice teachers against neuromyths. Neuroscience training deserves a place in teacher education.

Introducing students to neural communication: an embodied-learning classroom demonstration

Learning about neural communication can be a dry and challenging undertaking, particularly for students without a background in biology. To enhance learning of this and other STEM material, there has been a call for science educators to embrace the use of active learning techniques. The aim of this Brief Communication is to encourage the use of embodied metaphors in the university classroom by sharing an active learning method for introducing students to a number of key concepts in neural communication. The students work in pairs or small groups, using foam projectiles such as Nerf guns to work through several metaphors for electrical and chemical processes including action potentials, neurotransmission and receptor action, excitatory and inhibitory post-synaptic potentials and neurotransmitter inactivation. The activities are easy to stage and lend themselves well to customisation based on available class size, classroom space, and resources. Student feedback showed that the activities improved self-reported impressions of understanding and ability to convey key concepts to others. The activities thus can serve as a useful method of student engagement and help develop understanding of complex material in a neuroscience classroom.

The Next 50 Years of Neuroscience

On the 50th anniversary of the Society for Neuroscience, we reflect on the remarkable progress that the field has made in understanding the nervous system, and look forward to the contributions of the next 50 years. We predict a substantial acceleration of our understanding of the nervous system that will drive the development of new therapeutic strategies to treat diseases over the course of the next five decades. We also see neuroscience at the nexus of many societal topics beyond medicine, including education, consumerism, and the justice system. In combination, advances made by basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience research in the next 50 years have great potential for lasting improvements in human health, the economy, and society.

Education and visual neuroscience: A mini-review

Neuroscience, especially visual neuroscience, is a burgeoning field that has greatly shaped the format and efficacy of education. Moreover, findings from visual neuroscience are an ongoing source of great progress in pedagogy. In this mini-review, I review existing evidence and areas of active research to describe the fundamental questions and general applications for visual neuroscience as it applies to education. First, I categorize the research questions and future directions for the role of visual neuroscience in education. Second, I juxtapose opposing views on the roles of neuroscience in education and reveal the "neuromyths" propagated under the guise of educational neuroscience. Third, I summarize the policies and practices applied in different countries and for different age ranges. Fourth, I address and discuss the merits of visual neuroscience in art education and of visual perception theories (e.g., those concerned with perceptual organization with respect to space and time) in reading education. I consider how vision-deprived students could benefit from current knowledge of brain plasticity and visual rehabilitation methods involving compensation from other sensory systems. I also consider the potential educational value of instructional methods based on statistical learning in the visual domain. Finally, I outline the accepted translational framework for applying findings from educational neuroscience to pedagogical theory.

Using collaborative action research to resolve practical and philosophical challenges in educational neuroscience

BACKGROUND

Researchers routinely cite neuromyths and neurorealism as barriers preventing teachers from effectively applying brain research to practice. A primary goal within educational neuroscience (EN), is to provide teachers with professional development that allows them to overcome these barriers and gain agency in developing the field. Yet, the EN literature does not provide a tangible framework for developing teachers' philosophical perspectives regarding neuroscience in education.

PURPOSE

Here, we review the history of teacher neuroscience professional development and identify challenges in developing EN teacher learning programs. Next, we present 'learning study', a form of collaborative action research, as a framework for addressing these challenges.

CONCLUSION

We highlight how learning study could be used as an appropriate model for exploring future classroom applications of theoretical neuroscience.

Learning Neuroscience with Technology: A Scaffolded, Active Learning Approach

Mobile applications (apps) for learning technical scientific content are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings. Neuroscience is often considered complex and challenging for most students to understand conceptually. iNeuron is a recently developed iOS app that teaches basic neuroscience in the context of a series of scaffolded challenges to create neural circuits and increase understanding of nervous system structure and function. In this study, four different ways to implement the app within a classroom setting were explored. The goal of the study was to determine the app's effectiveness under conditions closely approximating real-world use, and to evaluate whether collaborative play and student-driven navigational features contributed to its effectiveness. Students used the app either individually or in small groups, and used a version with either a fixed or variable learning sequence. Student performance on a pre- and post- neuroscience content assessment was analyzed and compared between students who used the app and a control group receiving standard instruction, and logged app data were analyzed. Significantly greater learning gains were found for all students who used the app compared to control. All four implementation modes were effective in producing student learning gains relative to controls, but did not differ in their effectiveness to one another. In addition, students demonstrated transfer of information learned in one context to another within the app. These results suggest that teacher-led neuroscience instruction can be effectively supported by a scaffolded, technology-based curriculum which can be implemented in multiple ways to enhance student learning.

On the Irrelevance of Neuromyths to Teacher Effectiveness: Comparing Neuro-Literacy Levels Amongst Award-Winning and Non-award Winning Teachers

A number of studies have recently demonstrated a high level of belief in ‘neuromyths’ (fallacious arguments about the brain) amongst trainee and non-award winning educators. The authors of these studies infer this to mean that acceptance of these neuromyths has a negative impact on teaching effectiveness. In this study, we explored this assumption by assessing the prevalence of neuromyth acceptance amongst a group of internationally recognized, award-winning teachers and comparing this to previously published data with trainee and non-award winning teacher populations. Results revealed the acceptance of neuromyths to be nearly identical between these two groups, with the only difference occurring on 2 (out of 15) items. These findings suggest that one cannot make simple, unqualified arguments concerning the relationship between belief in neuromyths and teacher effectiveness. In fact, the idea that neuromyths negatively impact upon teaching might, itself, be a neuromyth.

Teaching About "Brain and Learning" in High School Biology Classes: Effects on Teachers' Knowledge and Students' Theory of Intelligence

This study evaluated a new teaching module about “Brain and Learning” using a controlled design. The module was implemented in high school biology classes and comprised three lessons: (1) brain processes underlying learning; (2) neuropsychological development during adolescence; and (3) lifestyle factors that influence learning performance. Participants were 32 biology teachers who were interested in “Brain and Learning” and 1241 students in grades 8–9. Teachers' knowledge and students' beliefs about learning potential were examined using online questionnaires. Results indicated that before intervention, biology teachers were significantly less familiar with how the brain functions and develops than with its structure and with basic neuroscientific concepts (46 vs. 75% correct answers). After intervention, teachers' knowledge of “Brain and Learning” had significantly increased (64%), and more students believed that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory). This emphasizes the potential value of a short teaching module, both for improving biology teachers' insights into “Brain and Learning,” and for changing students' beliefs about intelligence.

Portable conduction velocity experiments using earthworms for the college and high school neuroscience teaching laboratory

The earthworm is ideal for studying action potential conduction velocity in a classroom setting, as its simple linear anatomy allows easy axon length measurements and the worm's sparse coding allows single action potentials to be easily identified. The earthworm has two giant fiber systems (lateral and medial) with different conduction velocities that can be easily measured by manipulating electrode placement and the tactile stimulus. Here, we present a portable and robust experimental setup that allows students to perform conduction velocity measurements within a 30-min to 1-h laboratory session. Our improvement over this well-known preparation is the combination of behaviorally relevant tactile stimuli (avoiding electrical stimulation) with the invention of minimal, low-cost, and portable equipment. We tested these experiments during workshops in both a high school and college classroom environment and found positive learning outcomes when we compared pre- and posttests taken by the students.

Infusing Neuroscience into Teacher Professional Development

Bruer (1997) advocated connecting neuroscience and education indirectly through the intermediate discipline of psychology. We argue for a parallel route: the neurobiology of learning, and in particular the core concept of plasticity, have the potential to directly transform teacher preparation and professional development, and ultimately to affect how students think about their own learning. We present a case study of how the core concepts of neuroscience can be brought to in-service teachers - the BrainU workshops. We then discuss how neuroscience can be meaningfully integrated into pre-service teacher preparation, focusing on institutional and cultural barriers.

Project brainstorm: using neuroscience to connect college students with local schools

Neuroscience can be used as a tool to inspire an interest in science in school children as well as to provide teaching experience to college students.