Exploring Neuroscience: A Guide for Getting Started

Neuroscience becomes more relevant for disciplines pertaining to children's development and education with each passing year. Thus, there is an urgent need for scholars and practitioners in these disciplines to educate themselves about the structure, function, and development of the brain, and to explore the neuroscience literature connected with their areas of professional expertise. A detailed rationale, study strategies, and resources for beginning this process are presented, based on the author's recent experiences. They provide a framework and specific guidelines for those who wish to begin to integrate a neuroscience perspective into their teaching, research, and interactions with the community, and they may arouse the curiosity of those who are not yet interested. Numerous examples of pertinent neuroscience research are included.     

Future Avenues for Educational Neuroscience From the Perspective of EARLI SIG 22 Conference Attendees

The 2018 EARLI SIG 22 Neuroscience and Education conference aimed to facilitate the discussion and sharing of research and translation in educational neuroscience. In this article, we first describe and evaluate the approach taken in organizing the conference, which followed recommendations from the educational neuroscience community. We then summarize responses to a survey that captured delegates' visions of research and translation, their intentions following the conference, and the support they need moving forward. From 88 completed surveys, we first note a common desire for more discussions and collaborations across disciplines, and between teachers and researchers. We highlight particularly novel ideas that are not frequently addressed in the community so far, including discussion of ethical issues, inclusion of learners in research development, open resources for teacher training in neuroscience, and mentoring networks for community members. In sharing these ideas, we highlight future directions for the field as it continues to develop.     

Neuroscience and Education: Promises and Pitfalls

Recent findings on the anatomical, physiological, and functional properties of the brain have stimulated debates on whether such findings provide meaningful contribution to education. In this article, I examine one aspect of the interface between neuroscience and education: “brain‐compatible” strategies. Although some of these strategies such as providing a balanced diet in a child's early years are based on sound empirical data, others are based on shakier grounds. In particular, strategies regarding environmental enrichment and stress reduction in the classroom are based on questionable interpretations of the data. Because research in neuroscience is still in its infancy, it is not surprising some early attempts in translating research to practice involve a degree of over‐generalisation. At this stage, it may be more beneficial to focus on neuroscience findings that relate to educationally relevant processes. Attention, learning, and memory are all fundamental processes studied in both disciplines. Research in neuroscience offers not only additional knowledge about such processes but also tools and methods that will allow us to refine our theories and, eventually, practice.     

Strategic Curriculum Design: An Engineering Case Study

The development of the integrated Bachelor of Engineering course at the University of Ballarat represents a strategic approach to curriculum design. This approach has been adopted for the development of a completely new course to address the desired attributes of the twenty-first century engineering graduates and to ensure that the content of the course encourages deep rather than surface approaches to learning. The objectives of the new course involve the development of graduates who are independent learners (lifelong learners) and are able to operate autonomously and in teams in tomorrow's world, coping with challenges and opportunities vastly different from those currently practising engineers have faced in their professional lives. The conceptual framework of this course is based on the integration of engineering disciplines with engineering design and systems as integrating themes.     

Developmental Brain Research With Participants From Underprivileged Communities: Strategies for Recruitment,Participation, and Retention

Challenges associated with recruitment and retention of participants from underprivileged social communities, in addition to neuroscience researchers' unfamiliarity with these communities, possibly explain the limited number of individuals from these communities who participate in neuroscience research studies. The consequence is a scarcity of data in this fast‐growing segment of the population. In particular, developmental research involving children from ethnic minorities has yet to catch up with the number of studies available for middle‐class White children (Flores et al., 2002). This underrepresentation can lead to disparities in health and social services for children from these communities, as well as to a nonrepresentative knowledge base of child neurodevelopment. Developing and utilizing innovative and culturally sensitive approaches to recruiting participants from underprivileged communities can maximize their participation in research, as behavioral researchers have known for some time. Here, based on our experience recruiting low‐socioeconomic status (SES) Latino children from Los Angeles, we offer strategies to improve recruitment, involvement, and retention. We have a special focus on techniques relevant to recruiting for neuroimaging, which is associated with new challenges not faced to the same degree in research historically. Better inclusion of underrepresented children in research can ultimately lead to the development and improvement of effective public polices to support their needs, ranging from education to health care.     

Can the Differences Between Education and Neuroscience be Overcome by Mind,Brain, and Education?

ABSTRACT— The new field of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE)—sometimes called educational neuroscience—is posited as a mediator between neuroscience and education. Several foundational concerns, however, can be raised about this emerging field. The differences between neuroscience and education are many, including differences in their histories, philosophies, and epistemologies. Historically, science and education have demonstrated separate, but interwoven, influences on society; philosophically, the values by which they operate are often in opposition; and epistemologically, the fields have relied on different conceptualizations of knowledge. Discussion about these differences has been largely absent in attempts to promote MBE. Two steps are proposed to respond to this omission. First, encouraging discussion about disciplinary differences and assumptions may enable better understanding between disciplines and facilitate the establishment of a more collaborative research community. Second, a transdisciplinary framework that focuses on salient issues of interest across disciplines should be considered. Transdisciplinarity aims for the creation of an inclusive research environment that transcends traditional disciplinary approaches to complex problems. This article initiates an exploration of disciplinary differences and proposes commitment to transdisciplinarity as a guiding principle that may increase the viability of MBE as a mediating field between neuroscience and education.     

Central China University of Science and Engineering Adopts New Measure

The costs of living and studies for postgraduate students will be paid by their mentors. Postgraduates, however, must assume more of their mentors' duties regarding scientific research. The state grants postgraduate students a monthly living allowance, but for a master's degree or doctoral student this is currently a mere 200-plus yuan. The Central China University of Science and Technology has decreed that, starting with postgraduate students enrolled this year, this sum shall be paid by the mentors. The allowance for students working toward a master's degree will increase to 270 yuan, and that for students pursuing doctorates to 350 yuan. Adding this to the research subsidies paid to postgraduates by mentors out of their research grants, it is estimated that a student studying for his or her master's degree will have between five hundred and six hundred yuan per month, and doctoral degree students between seven hundred and eight hundred yuan per month. It is estimated that this reform will result in priority development for disciplines closely concerned with economic development.     

International Students in Australia: Read ten thousand volumes of books and walk ten thousand miles

A number of international students, predominately from Asian countries, are present in universities in the UK, United States, and Australia. There is little research exploring their experiences as they negotiate the disciplinary requirements of their courses. This paper investigates students' agency as they write their first assignment for their Master's of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages course and the academics who teach them. Talk around texts and the positioning theory are used to analyse the data. It is argued that the students demonstrate strategic agency, which allows them to better understand the academic requirements of their disciplines. The analysis reveals the complexities involved in international students' adaptation to disciplinary discourse and the implications for teaching and learning in higher education.     

METHODS IN THE FAMILY

This article introduces a relationship between neuroscience and creativity for the sake of religious education. Citing creativity as a process that involves both originality and value, the writing articulates Howard Gardner's interplay between the talent of the person, the internal demands of a discipline, and the quality judgment of the field. The article explores creativity expressed both within the field of neuroscience, with the beginning of the neurocentric era, and continuing with contemporary use of technology. It then surveys neuroscience's own exploration of the fields of creativity and religious experience, with ensuing limitations. The article establishes a dialogue between religious education and neuroscience, demonstrating how religious education provides neuroscience theory with grounded practice while also supplying ethical frameworks for neuroscience practice. It closes asserting that while currently neuroscience primarily endorses sound educational practice, future neuroscientific research should yield fresh horizons demanding ongoing creativity by religious educators.     

Continuing professional and career development: the doctoral experience of education alumni at a UK university

This article reports on a study of alumni who completed their doctorates 2, 5 and 10 years ago at a Graduate School of Education in the University of London (n=162). It investigates the circumstances within which these research students started and completed their research and how they have subsequently used their studies, showing the particular place of the Ph.D. and the new Ed.D. in professional development in the field of education internationally. It questions current national proposals to ‘improve’ doctoral ‘training’ in the UK by enhancing students' employability and suggests that policy should be based on the actual employment and other life needs of postgraduate students in different disciplines. It argues that research students are paying for the privilege of satisfying their intellectual curiosity and making an original contribution to knowledge and are as concerned with personal growth as with vocational development.     

A Review of “Racing across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendship”

Educators employed in devoutly religious institutions often teach students who view even their secular higher education through a uniquely religious lens. Based on his own experiences teaching psychological science at a Jewish university, the author suggests enhancing student interest and enthusiasm by wedding secular curricula with religious education, where feasible. By way of illustration, the current article shows how a cutting edge area of brain research could be taught in the context of ancient and medieval Jewish sources. This example is especially appropriate, given the recent special interest among leaders in the field of religious education in the potential relationships between their own discipline and the field of neuroscience, as well as the fact that the literatures of the histories of neuroscience and related disciplines have long noted the relevance of Jewish religious sources.     

Interdisciplinarity in action: the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1964–2002

The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham in England, launched in 1964, highlights contested issues of knowledge production in relation to the disciplines in modern universities. It constitutes a fascinating example of the social formation of configurations of knowledge that can be subjected to historical analysis such as those conducted for example by Richard Selleck, Geoff Sherington and other recent historians of education. It enacted an explicit ideal of interdisciplinarity in its approach to research, teaching and social practices, unlike for example educational studies which in the same period generally held to a weaker model of multidisciplinarity. Archival documents and interviews with some of those who were participants or witnesses of its development shed light on CCCS's approach to interdisciplinarity in action. This generated significant works such as Unpopular education: schooling and social democracy in England since 1944 and a collegial style of teaching and research, but also led to isolation, political vulnerability and its eventual closure in 2002.     

An Educational Psychologist's Perspective on Cognitive Neuroscience

Byrnes and Fox present a thoughtful article on a neglected but important topic for educational psychologists. Some major contributions are their emphasis on the need for consistency in educational theory and neuroscience research, the lack of automatic correspondence between neuroscience research and educational applications, the need for educator awareness of neuroscience research, the importance of development, and the influence of early education. Limitations of the neuroscience perspective for education include inadequate examination of contemporary theories of learning and motivation, the generality of cognitive processes, the influence of student beliefs, and the role of self-regulation. Suggestions for future research are given.     

Instructor characteristics and students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness: evidence from an Italian engineering school

This study examines the relationship between students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness and the instructor's characteristics, based upon an original data set from an Italian university. Age and seniority (academic rank) are both found to affect negatively teaching evaluation, although the effect of rank depends heavily on the discipline. Profession-oriented disciplines are more poorly evaluated and exhibit stronger effects for rank; in the same disciplines, many courses are taught by non-faculty members, who are evaluated poorly. Gender is also found to be relevant, as it affects students’ evaluation of female instructors, although this result might be biased by the gender composition of classes. Past research outputs, as measured by an instructor's publication track record, has a positive impact on students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness, although the rate of impact decreases with the amount of publications.     

Myths about instrumental discourse: A response to Robert R. Johnson

Abstract of the original article

Robert R. Johnson's “Complicating Technology: Interdesciplinary Method, the Burden of Comprehension, and the Ethical Space of the Technical Communicator,” published in the Winter 1998 issue of TCQ, points out that there is much for technical communicators to learn from the burgeoning field of technology studies. Technical communicators, however, have an obligation to exercise patience as they enter this arena of study. Using interdisciplinary theory, this article argues that technical communication must assume the “burden of comprehension”: the responsibility of understanding the ideologies, contexts, values, and histories of those disciplines from which we borrow before we begin using their methods and research findings. Three disciplines of technology study—history, sociology, and philosophy—are examined to investigate how these disciplines approach technology. The article concludes with speculation on how technical communicators, by virtue of their entrance into this interdisciplinary arena, might refashion both their practical roles and the scope of their ethical responsibilities.     

A response to Scott's concerns about the relevance of environmental education research: applying social–ecological systems thinking and consilience to defining research goals

In William Scott's plenary address at the World Environmental Education Conference, he expressed concerns about the relevance of environmental education research in a world facing global environmental and demographic change. In responding to Scott's concerns, I argue that addressing challenges related to development and the environment requires examining EE goals at multiple levels as well as bridging diverse disciplines. I further suggest that integrating social‐ecological systems and other approaches in environmental education research may provide a means for consilience among potentially divisive environmental education practice and research traditions. In so doing, I hope to spark debate about possibilities for an environmental education research agenda and learning organisation that spurs action relevant to concerns about the environment, individuals, and their communities.     

Boundary as Bridge: An Analysis of the Educational Neuroscience Literature from a Boundary Perspective

Within the emerging field of educational neuroscience, concerns exist that the impact of neuroscience research on education has been less effective than hoped. In seeking a way forward, it may be useful to consider the problems of integrating two complex fields in the context of disciplinary boundaries. Here, a boundary perspective is used as a lens for analyzing the results of a systematic review of the educational neuroscience literature. Recurring vocabulary used within the literature suggests indirect use of boundary principles, including the idea of connections and bridges between disciplines, inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinarity, and reference to tools (boundary objects) and people that may be useful in the evolving field of educational neuroscience. Analyzing the educational neuroscience literature through the lens of boundary principles indicates that the boundary between the two disciplines may itself be a bridging mechanism useful for the creation of a new discipline and new knowledge.     

Women's Studies in England: Mature women students and their educational vision

In this article the author takes the vantage points of a group of mature women's studies students at the University of East London to explore the meanings they gave to their education. What kinds of knowledge did they discover and appropriate; what kinds did they resist? How do their stories illuminate the ongoing workings of the academy today? Their perspectives reveal a series of dichotomies taken for granted throughout the university: dichotomies such as those of experience versus theory, research versus teaching, and general and 'objective' versus 'subjective' and particular knowledges. Rather than being inherent in the process of acquiring advanced knowledge about the world, such binaries are structurally embedded in the current organization and practices of higher education. They are socially constructed ideological devices to keep some subjects, students and teaching faculty continually 'at the margins', leaving the dominant disciplines, their practices, and their practitioners, fundamentally intact. This article explores these contradictions.     

An exploratory study of the knowledge base for science teaching

The purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge base of a group of science teachers in terms of their knowledge of the structure, function, and development of their disciplines, and their understanding of the nature of science. The study also aimed to relate the teachers' knowledge base to their level of education, years of teaching experience, and the class level(s) that they teach. Twenty inservice science teachers were selected to respond to a modified version of the Views on Science–Technology–Society (VOSTS) questionnaire to assess their understanding of the nature of science. The teachers then constructed concept maps and were interviewed. The concept maps were scored and the interviews analyzed to assess teachers' knowledge of the structure, function, and development of their disciplines. The teachers' knowledge base was found to be lacking in all respects. Teachers held several naive views about the nature of science and did not demonstrate adequate knowledge and understanding of the structure, function, and development of their disciplines. Moreover, the teachers' knowledge base did not relate to their years of teaching experience, the class level(s) that they teach, and their level of education. It was reasoned that teacher preparation programs are not helping teachers develop the knowledge base needed for teaching science. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 673–699, 1997.