Neuroeducation
Encyclopedia
Neuroeducation is an "interdisciplinary field that combines neuroscience
, psychology
and education
to create improved teaching methods and curricula
"
Neuroeducation research and initiatives try to use discoveries about learning
, memory
, language
and other areas of cognitive neuroscience
to inform educators about the best strategies for teaching and learning. More and more, teacher
s want and need to know about how students think and learn. Neuroscientists, on the other hand, would like to know how can teachers’ questions drive neuroscience research
methods for social inclusion of his/her affected students.
Thus neuroeducation encompasses the study of common ailments such as:
, who wote a book in 1895 titled The Growth of the Brain: A Study of the Nervous System in Relation to Education, and Reuben Post Halleck (1859–1936), an educator, who wrote in 1896 another book titled The Education of the Central Nervous System: A Study of Foundations, Especially of Sensory and Motor Training
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
to create improved teaching methods and curricula
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
"
Neuroeducation research and initiatives try to use discoveries about learning
Learning
Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
, memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and other areas of cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain...
to inform educators about the best strategies for teaching and learning. More and more, teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s want and need to know about how students think and learn. Neuroscientists, on the other hand, would like to know how can teachers’ questions drive neuroscience research
Learning disabilities
Another line of approach in neuroeducation is to understand what nervous and mental disturbances and diseases in students can affect their learning and how teachers can collaborate with other professionals to help identify the problem in classrooms and to address it in terms of special educationSpecial education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
methods for social inclusion of his/her affected students.
Thus neuroeducation encompasses the study of common ailments such as:
- DyslexiaDyslexiaDyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
- DyscalculiaDyscalculiaDyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending simple arithmetic. It is akin to dyslexia and includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning maths facts, and a number of other related symptoms...
- StutteringStutteringStuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorderAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorderAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
- Minimal brain dysfunction
- Mental retardationMental retardationMental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
- Developmental disorders
- Learning disabilityLearning disabilityLearning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors...
- Vision and hearing impairmentHearing impairment-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
- Brain injuryBrain injuryA brain injury is any injury occurring in the brain of a living organism. Brain injuries can be classified along several dimensions. Primary and secondary brain injury are ways to classify the injury processes that occur in brain injury, while focal and diffuse brain injury are ways to classify...
- DyspraxiaDyspraxiaDevelopmental dyspraxia is a motor learning difficulty that can affect planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body...
- Mental diseases such as depression, anxietyAnxietyAnxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
, etc. - Systemic diseaseSystemic diseaseLife-threatening disease redirects here.A systemic disease is one that affects a number of organs and tissues, or affects the body as a whole. Although most medical conditions will eventually involve multiple organs in advanced stage Life-threatening disease redirects here.A systemic disease is one...
s with cognitive impairment, such as anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
, myxedemaMyxedemaMyxedema describes a specific form of cutaneous and dermal edema secondary to increased deposition of connective tissue components in subcutaneous tissue as seen in various forms of hypothyroidism and Graves' disease. It is more common in women than in men...
, undernutrition and others
History
Neuroeducation is a very recent field under this name, but the concept and early publications which tried to bridge neuroscience to education, were made by Henry Herbert Donaldson (1857–1938), a neurologistNeurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
, who wote a book in 1895 titled The Growth of the Brain: A Study of the Nervous System in Relation to Education, and Reuben Post Halleck (1859–1936), an educator, who wrote in 1896 another book titled The Education of the Central Nervous System: A Study of Foundations, Especially of Sensory and Motor Training
External links
Source
- Uma ponte entre a neurociência e a educação (A Bridge Between Neuroscience and Education). Article originally published in Portuguese languagePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
by Renato M.E. Sabbatini at Noosfera, October 2009. With permission (Creative Commons Share-Alike)