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The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment

This paper proposes a new perspective on implementing neuroeducation in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues of faculty and students, creating a mental health crisis that impairs learning. It is important to get our students back in “the zone”, both cognitively and emotio...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Zadina, Janet N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10526388/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37759915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091314
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description This paper proposes a new perspective on implementing neuroeducation in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues of faculty and students, creating a mental health crisis that impairs learning. It is important to get our students back in “the zone”, both cognitively and emotionally, by creating an ideal learning environment for capturing our students and keeping them—the Synergy Zone. Research that examines the classroom environment often focuses on the foreground—instructors’ organizational and instructional aspects and content. However, the emotional climate of the classroom affects student well-being. This emotional climate would ideally exhibit the brain states of engagement, attention, connection, and enjoyment by addressing the mind, brain, and heart. This ideal learning environment would be achieved by combining proposed practices derived from three areas of research: flow theory, brain synchronization, and positive emotion with heart engagement. Each of these enhances the desired brain states in a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I call this the Synergy Zone. A limitation of this proposed model is that implementation of some aspects may be challenging, and professional development resources might be needed. This essay presenting this perspective provides the relevant scientific research and the educational implications of implementation.
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spelling pubmed-105263882023-09-28 The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment Zadina, Janet N. Brain Sci Essay This paper proposes a new perspective on implementing neuroeducation in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues of faculty and students, creating a mental health crisis that impairs learning. It is important to get our students back in “the zone”, both cognitively and emotionally, by creating an ideal learning environment for capturing our students and keeping them—the Synergy Zone. Research that examines the classroom environment often focuses on the foreground—instructors’ organizational and instructional aspects and content. However, the emotional climate of the classroom affects student well-being. This emotional climate would ideally exhibit the brain states of engagement, attention, connection, and enjoyment by addressing the mind, brain, and heart. This ideal learning environment would be achieved by combining proposed practices derived from three areas of research: flow theory, brain synchronization, and positive emotion with heart engagement. Each of these enhances the desired brain states in a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I call this the Synergy Zone. A limitation of this proposed model is that implementation of some aspects may be challenging, and professional development resources might be needed. This essay presenting this perspective provides the relevant scientific research and the educational implications of implementation. MDPI 2023-09-13 /pmc/articles/PMC10526388/ /pubmed/37759915 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091314 Text en © 2023 by the author. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Essay
Zadina, Janet N.
The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title_full The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title_fullStr The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title_full_unstemmed The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title_short The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment
title_sort synergy zone: connecting the mind, brain, and heart for the ideal classroom learning environment
topic Essay
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10526388/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37759915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091314
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