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Showing 5 results for Neuroscience

Ali Nouri , Mahmoud Mehrmohammadi,
Volume 12, Issue 2 (7-2010)
Abstract

Rapid development of neuroimaging techniques in recent years has provided excellent opportunity for researchers in better understanding the structure and function of the human brain. In light of these advanced technologies, findings of brain researchers have resulted a wave of new insights about thinking, emotion, motivation, learning and development, which have in turn influenced existing explanations about educational issues. Therefore, many neuroscientists and educators claim that establishing a link between neuroscience and education could play a major implementations in the improvement of knowledge, policy and practice in education. Valid educational applications and implementations from neuroscience finding also support this claim. Nevertheless, some critics believe that there is only a limited relationship between neural functions and educational practice; and the gap between neuroscience and education is so far that establishing a direct link between them is impossible, and that disciplines such as “cognitive psychology” and “cognitive neuroscience” should be used as mediators to establish this link. However, from the educational viewpoint, educational science as an applied science naturally tends to benefit from neuroscience as well as other descriptive sciences (e.g. psychology and sociology). This will be possible through the extraction of educational principles from neuroscientific foundation of education. Therefore, establishing a link between these two fields is both possible and necessary. Integrating “educational philosophy", "educational sociology" and "educational psychology" with “educational neuroscience” can help the improvement of knowledge, policy and practice of education. However, the most important principle that required serious consideration is the cautious and prudent in interpretation and applying of brain research findings in educational contexts. To this end, a basis for constructive cooperation and interaction between neuroscientists and educational researchers should be provided; and the integration of cognitive neuroscience and educational neuroscience should be incorporated into the curricula of educational science and teacher education.  

Mahmoud Talkhabi,
Volume 14, Issue 2 (7-2012)
Abstract

Objective: Where as tendency toward making bridges between neuroscience and education has increased among scientists and educators, the purpose of this study is to investigate challenges and hopes for connecting the two fields.
Method: The nature of the research is philosophical critique in which possibilities and difficulties of the connection between the two domains are investigated.
Results: Findings show that the interdisciplinary field of educational neuroscience provokes philosophical problems like mind- brain relationship, free will, and the descriptive / prescriptive role of science. Education, however, cannot be explained by the function of the brain alone, but is a field that inevitably takes multiple approaches. In this view, educationists acquire knowledge and skills from diverse scientific domains and synthesize them to develop defendable theories.
Conclusion: In this way, neuroscience can be one of the multiple approaches which are used to justify and support educational thoughts.

Ali Azizi Naserabad, Abasali Shahroudi,
Volume 22, Issue 2 (6-2020)
Abstract

Introduction: The development and progress of cities and the expansion of urban buildings and elements can affect the citizens' perceptual. Due to their giant appearance, urban bridges have different effects on users who use these bridges every day and see them. This paper aimed to propose a method with the cognitive science approach that can identify the effect of bridges' appearance on citizens and specify the most appropriate bridge due to different effects on users’ mind and perceptions.
Methods: In this study, the effect of different bridge images has been examined on the brain waves of 12 student by recording brain signals using an EEG device in vitro, and the data recorded have been evaluated by the brainwaves analysis software (brainstorm) and Excel software.
Results: Findings revealed that the physical properties of the bridges have affected the brain waves of the users, and by viewing the images of the bridges different signals have been recorded based on the subjective perceptions that users had of the different images. Also, examining significant statistical differences between the recorded data of the users' brain waves specified the images with a significant difference (P<0.05) than other images. Accordingly, the bridge images with tensile structural systems have had more impact on the users' brain waves than other images, and the bridge with a cable-stayed structural system with a single pylon on one side has had the most impact.
Conclusion: The different urban elements and buildings (Including bridges) can affect user’s brain waves and their perception of urban spaces. Therefore, accurate scientific methods should be used to find the desired effects on the citizens’ minds and the factors causing these effects to impact the design of different urban spaces. Using neuroscience approaches can be very helpful for this.
Ali Nouri,
Volume 24, Issue 3 (10-2022)
Abstract

Introduction
The field of educational neuroscience is growing rapidly with the support of international organizations, professional journals, and academic programs to become an interesting and exciting subject for both academic researchers and professional educators. The field's ultimate goal is to bring together insights from neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and education to enhance teaching and learning (10, 13). However, the scholar's efforts in this direction have not been very successful or have not yet achieved the desired outcomes. Several studies have recently shown that many teachers are still not well trained in translating brain knowledge into pedagogical practice and the neuromyths are still believed by many teachers in different countries (18-29).
To this understanding, during the last two decades, an increasing existed emphasis on incorporating the science of learning into teacher professional development programs to effectively enhance teachers’ neuroeducational literacy and lower the misleading influence of neuromyths on their understandings of learning and pedagogy (26). This issue is cricial because designing effective education programs for in-service teacher professional development is now widely recognized as the most critical of many important factors that combine to create the overall quality of education.
Although several studies have been published on the importance of educational neuroscience for educational policy and practice (9-15), few species have translated education neuroscience for teachers (40-42). Similarly, educational neuroscience training has not yet been included in teacher-training programs or professional development (33). To this end, the present study was conducted to develop a curriculum framework that would improve the neuroeducational literacy of teachers as a part of their professional knowledge.
Methods
The present study is a systematic review (30) of the literature that has focused on the concepts and issues related to teachers’ neuroeducational literacy. To select the documents, the peer-review articles and books written in English searched using the terms: “Neuroeducation and Teacher”, “Teachers and Educational Neuroscience”, “Mind, Brain and Education and Teachers”, “Education, Neuroscience, and Teachers Training”, “Neuroscience for teachers”. The articles were searched using keywords through the ERIC and PubMed databases, and the books by title through the Google Books website. The initial search identified 147 articles in ERIC and 447 articles in PubMed. Since several articles were indexed jointly in both databases, a total of 512 articles were considered as a collection of research articles. In addition, in search of the books, 32 books were identified on Google Books website. After an overview of the titles and topics of the selected sources, only the items selected were related to the research problem. As a result of this process, eight articles and three related books were identified as being of sufficiently high quality for this systematic review. These documents were first reviewed with a brief overview to obtain a general understanding of the topics. Subsequently, each was carefully analyzed, and key points related to the research topic were extracted from them. In the next step, the key points extracted from all the reviewed sources were combined and organized according to the purpose of the research in the categories of objectives, content, learning opportunities, and assessment, which were the basic components or elements of a curriculum design.
Results
The proposed curriculum framework derived from this study was constructed by adopting a systematic review of the previous literature, which has predominantly focused on educational neuroscience training for teachers (31-42). The developed framework, so-called “NeroEduTeacher Program”, characterizes the four primary components (i.e., instructional objectives, curriculum content, instructional strategies, and assessment procedures), which collectively form the essential components for a curriculum design aimed to enhance the neuroeducational literacy of teachers. It starts with learning outcomes, moves to syllabus planning, and incorporates learning experiences, followed by assessing participants’ performance.
In terms of learning outcomes, the NeroEduTeacher program is systematically designed to extend teachers’ knowledge and understanding of essential concepts, and terminology used in educational neuroscience to improve teachers’ literacy and awareness of those aspects of neuroeducational knowledge, which are relevant to their professional practice, to develop teachers’ understanding of the neuroeducation-supported principles underlying learning and effective strategies for teaching derived from those principles, to extend teachers’ familiarity with educational neuroscience resources and materials useful for their teaching profession,  to develop teachers’ skills and attitudes to evaluate the current neuroeducation knowledge, and, where appropriate, to adapt or create new useful knowledge.
To achieve these learning outcomes, the curriculum syllabus should contain coverage of eleven units, including “the foundations for educational neuroscience”, “neuroeducational research methodology”, “neuroplasticity and brain development”, “social cognition”, “computational modeling”, “language development and literacy acquisition”, “mathematics cognition”, “scientific reasoning”, “arts and aesthetics”, “developmental disabilities”, and “neuromythology”.
Teaching the proposed syllabus successfully requires adopting a situated learning approach and providing a variety of authentic learning opportunities to create a learning environment that encourages problem-solving, engagement, and active collaboration. A need to provide a variety of learning opportunities existed for teachers situated in a context in which teaching takes place. There is also a need to thoughtfully provide teachers with neuroeducational bases of teaching at a level that is clear and easily understood yet does not compromise scientific validity. The program needs a duration of 55 to 70 hours of intensive training to show reasonable changes in the learning outcomes.
Teachers need to participate effectively in the course and meet the assessment requirements. They are required to show knowledge and understanding of relevant concepts and principles to contain in the curriculum syllabus through performance-based or authentic assessment procedures. Teachers need to be able to draw on this knowledge and understand to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and develop solutions.
Conclusion
Educational neuroscientists strongly suggest that teaching the basics, concepts, and findings of educational neuroscience should be the focus of teacher training programs to equip teachers with valid neuroeducational knowledge and to reduce the spread of neuromyths. Accordingly, the present study, by combining the results of previous studies proposes a curriculum- the NeroEduTeacher program- to promote teachers' neuroeducational literacy during their in-service training courses as a part of teachers’ professional knowledge development. The program has the potential to promote teachers’ neuroeducational literacy and consequently reduce the spread of neuromyths among teachers. Therefore, it is suggested that this literature study on the matter be followed by an expert survey, then a case study, and ending with analyses of teachers’ efficacy and their attitudes toward the program.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
Ethical approval is not required since the data synthesized in this systematic review are the results extracted from m already published studies.
Authors’ contributions
The author of this paper has not received any contribution in the writing process.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the present research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Mahmoud Talkhabi for his guidance and constructive feedback on reporting the study findings.
Conflict of Interest
The author declared no conflict of interest.
 
Ali Nouri,
Volume 25, Issue 3 (10-2023)
Abstract

Introduction
Education is a practical field, similar to medicine, where the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, and sociology have played significant roles in its evolution (1, 2). However, the rapid development of neuroscience during the past decades has encouraged some educators to view neuroscience as an additional interesting and valuable source of information and seek to translate the neural mechanisms of learning and development into educational applications. Such works marked the emergence of a new learning science, known under different titles such as "educational neurosciences" or "mind, brain, and education science", more known among other labels. This new science of learning is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to integrate the concepts, methods, and findings of neuroscience, education, and psychology to better understand the nature of learning and development and, accordingly, to improve educational policies and practices (3-11).
The field is advancing quickly, with a wealth of information purportedly based on the neuroscience of learning. Therefore, evaluating this body of knowledge is essential to diffuse what can be trusted and used in real educational environments and what should be debunked (12-24). The main focus of this article is the widely known discovery of mirror neurons that have been invoked to explain some educational phenomena, including imitation and learning by observing, which have long been used as powerful strategies for learning.
Methods
The first part of the article describes the continuum of information in educational neuroscience, ranging from what is fact and what is myth (4, 6, 14). From this continuum, it is possible to categorize information in the field into four categories, as shown in Figure 1.

“Well established”                               “Probably so”                  “Intelligent speculation”                                 “Neuromyths”
 


“The best applications”                                                                                                                 “The misapplications

Figure 1. The continuum of information in educational neuroscience in terms of scientific validity and educational relevance
Accordingly, the information in educational neuroscience can be grouped into four categories: well-established (information with strong evidence of effectiveness, such as neuroplasticity), probably so (information with moderate evidence of effectiveness, such as sensitive periods), intelligent speculation (information with limited evidence of effectiveness such as gender differences and learning) and neuromyths (information with insufficient evidence of effectiveness such as right brain/left brain learning (4, 6).
Following a brief description of four categories of information about the learning brain and its application to education, the current research was reviewed to identify mirror neurons' position on the information continuum in educational neuroscience.
Results
In 1992, a team of neuroscientists led by Giacomo Rizzolatti discovered a new network of neurons in the premotor cortex of macaques that was activated both when the monkey performed a specific motor function such as grasping and when the animal observed the same action performed by someone else (25-30). Such neurons were known as mirror neurons, and it was proposed that they provide the basis for many of humans’ social abilities, including imitation, empathy, action understanding, theory of mind, and language acquisition (31-33). In such a context, it did not take long for efforts to translate findings about mirror neurons into clinical and educational applications. In the field of education, in particular, it was thought that the discovery of mirror neurons has helped us understand the neurobiological bases of observational learning, imitation, and mind reading, and such an understanding contains clear messages for learning and education (34-36). In 2009, seventeen years after the discovery of mirror neurons, scientists reported for the first time that they had observed neurons in the human brain (37), and education researchers continued to describe the function of mirror neurons in the learning process. They recommend that teachers get to know the nature and function of mirror neurons so that they can communicate more effectively with students (38-40). At the same time, educational neuroscientists argued that educators are required to be very cautious with interpreting mirror neuron findings (41-43). However, subsequent research suggested that mirror neuron data sometimes is misinterpreted (44-47). For instance, Gregory Hickok reexamined the mirror neuron story and concluded that it had been built on a tenuous foundation (44-46). Rizzolatti and colleagues responded to Hickock’s criticisms (48, 49), and the research of mirror neurons continues to generate intense debate (50). Despite this constructive criticism, some scientists have shown that mirror neurons are sometimes misinterpreted, but they have also made significant advances, which should encourage further, more systematic research (30).
Taken together, mirror neuron findings and their interpretation have been highly controversial, and controversy over such studies' educational implications is also being followed. As previously noted, educational applications of brain research can be viewed as a continuum that ranges from "the best applications" to "misapplications". Therefore, the idea of mirror neurons and its application to education and learning may be included in the category of intelligent speculations. The concepts in this category have not yet been approved and supported, and in the future, they may be added to the first category (i.e., scientific facts), or they may join the fourth category (i.e., neuromyths) (4, 6). Therefore, the educational implications of mirror neurons are not applicable in the classroom because still no solid evidence and logic was observed to support their scientific validity and educational relevance (17). However, this does not mean that research in the field of mirror neurons should be stopped. On the contrary, it indicates that studies about mirror neurons should be designed more carefully, and the results should be interpreted cautiously (51). Thus, as Heyes and Catmur (30) have concluded, mirror neurons should not be tarnished. They still have the potential to be explored as an essential structure in the human brain.
Conclusion
While mirror neurons have been a topic of interest among neuroscientists and educators alike, this review suggests that much of the existing data on mirror neurons do not support the conclusions. Thus, at this point, much research remains to be done, and educators should view mirror neurons as an intelligent speculation. That means they must be careful in interpreting educational applications of mirror neuron literature. A need to open a constructive dialogue existed between educational and social neuroscientists to formulate research proposals focusing on understanding the socio-emotional aspects of learning. Such collaboration can significantly improve our understanding of the nature and function of mirror neurons as well. For instance, it is suggested to investigate whether mirror neurons play a role in forming implicit curriculum (52), what is learned but not explicitly intended to be taught to students such as the behaviors and attitudes conveyed through schools' social structure and interactions between teachers and students.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
Ethical approval is not required since the data synthesized in this review are the results extracted from already published studies.
Authors' contributions
The author of this paper has not received any contribution to the writing process.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the present research, authorship, and publication.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the reviewers for their guidance and constructive feedback on the article.
Conflict of interest
The author declared no conflict of interest.
 


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