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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 un...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8384951/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685856 |
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author | Chang, Zhengsi Schwartz, Marc S. Hinesley, Vicki Dubinsky, Janet M. |
author_facet | Chang, Zhengsi Schwartz, Marc S. Hinesley, Vicki Dubinsky, Janet M. |
author_sort | Chang, Zhengsi |
collection | PubMed |
description | 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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8384951 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83849512021-08-26 Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students Chang, Zhengsi Schwartz, Marc S. Hinesley, Vicki Dubinsky, Janet M. Front Psychol Psychology 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. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8384951/ /pubmed/34456800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685856 Text en Copyright © 2021 Chang, Schwartz, Hinesley and Dubinsky. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Chang, Zhengsi Schwartz, Marc S. Hinesley, Vicki Dubinsky, Janet M. Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title | Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title_full | Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title_fullStr | Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title_full_unstemmed | Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title_short | Neuroscience Concepts Changed Teachers’ Views of Pedagogy and Students |
title_sort | neuroscience concepts changed teachers’ views of pedagogy and students |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8384951/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685856 |
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