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Teaching the Science in Neuroscience to Protect From Neuromyths: From Courses to Fieldwork.

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, Cognitive Neuroscience has evolved from a rather arcane field trying to understand how the brain supports mental activities, to one that contributes to public policies. In this article, we focus on the contributions from Cognitive Neuroscience to Education. This line of research has produced a great deal of information that can potentially help in the transformation of Education, promoting interventions that help in several domains including literacy and math learning, social skills and science. The growth of the Neurosciences has also created a public demand for knowledge and a market for neuro-products to fulfill these demands, through books, booklets, courses, apps and websites. These products are not always based on scientific findings and coupled to the complexities of the scientific theories and evidence, have led to the propagation of misconceptions and the perpetuation of neuromyths. This is particularly harmful for educators because these misconceptions might make them abandon useful practices in favor of others not sustained by evidence. In order to bridge the gap between Education and Neuroscience, we have been conducting, since 2013, a set of activities that put educators and scientists to work together in research projects. The participation goes from discussing the research results of our projects to being part and deciding aspects of the field interventions. Another strategy consists of a course centered around the applications of Neuroscience to Education and their empirical and theoretical bases. These two strategies have to be compared to popularization efforts that just present Neuroscientific results. We show that the more the educators are involved in the discussion of the methodological bases of Neuroscientific knowledge, be it in the course or as part of a stay, the better they manage the underlying concepts. We argue that this is due to the understanding of scientific principles, which leads to a more profound comprehension of what the evidence can and cannot support, thus shielding teachers from the false allure of some commercial neuro-products. We discuss the three approaches and present our efforts to determine whether they lead to a strong understanding of the conceptual and empirical base of Neuroscience.

SUBMITTER: Carboni A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8506040 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Transferring current research findings on the topic of learning and memory to "brain-based" learning in schools is of great interest among teachers. However, numerous international studies demonstrate that both pre-service and in-service teachers do not always succeed. Instead, they transfer numerous misconceptions about neuroscience, known as neuromyths, into pedagogical practice. As a result, researchers call for more neuroscience in teacher education in order to create a professional understanding of learning and memory. German pre-service science teachers specializing in biology complete neuroscientific modules (human biology/animal physiology) during their studies because they are expected to teach these topics to their students. Thus, they are required to demonstrate a certain degree of neuroscience literacy. In the present study, 550 pre-service science teachers were surveyed on neuromyths and scientific concepts about learning and memory. Pre-service science teachers' scientific concepts increased over the course of their training. However, beliefs in neuromyths were independent of participants' status within teacher education (first-year students, advanced students, and post-graduate trainees). The results showed that 10 neuromyths were endorsed by more than 50% of prospective science teachers. Beliefs in the existence of learning styles (93%) and the effectiveness of Brain Gym (92%) were most widespread. Many myths were endorsed even though a large share of respondents had thematically similar scientific concepts; endorsement of neuromyths was found to be largely independent of professional knowledge as well as theory-based and biography-based learning beliefs about neuroscience and learning. Our results suggest that neuromyths can exist in parallel to scientific concepts, professional knowledge and beliefs and are resistant to formal education. From the perspective of conceptual change theory, they thus exhibit characteristic traits of misconceptions that cannot simply be counteracted with increased neuroscientific knowledge. On the basis of our study's findings, it can be concluded that new teacher programs considering neuromyths as change-resistant misconceptions are needed to professionalize pre-service science teachers' neuroscience literacy. For this, an intensive web of exchange between the education field and neuroscientists is required, not just to deploy the latest scientific insights to refute neuromyths on learning and memory, but also to identify further neuromyths.

Project description:IntroductionSexuality is a multifaceted and makes up part of the lives of all individuals.AimTo evaluate the teaching of sexual health to students in the basic cycle of an undergraduate course in medicine.MethodsA descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using primary data on the teaching of sexual health in the first 4 years of the course. The students were contacted personally and given a self-administrated questionnaire on the teaching of sexual health. The questionnaire was based on studies conducted with physicians and medical students regarding their educational background in sexual health. The degree of satisfaction regarding the learning process was determined using a ten-point scale; on which, a score of 1 to 5 indicated dissatisfaction and of 6 to 10 satisfaction.Main outcome measuresThe main outcome measure was a self-administered questionnaire addressing the teaching of sexual health in the first 4 years and how this knowledge affected relationships with patients.ResultsA total of 216 students answered the questionnaire. Only 27.27% and 22% of the students in the first and second years, respectively, reported having classes related to sexual medicine, whereas 38.1% (third year) and 54.40% (fourth year) had such classes. Regarding satisfaction, the weighted mean was 4.55 and the modes were 5 and 6. In the evaluation of their expectations about learning sexual health, 46 (67.6%) reported feeling non-confident, 18 (26.5%) did not answer the question, and 4 (5.9%) reported feeling confident.ConclusionThis study revealed a gradual progression in the offer of content related to sexual medicine to students throughout the medicine course, with weighted means of 2.6 (first year), 2.82 (second year), 3.58 (third year), and 4.55 (fourth year). However, the findings indicate that the teaching of this subject remains deficient and students feel unsatisfied and unprepared for their future practice of medicine. Teixeira Santos AU, Fava Spessoto LC, Fácio FN. Sexual Health Teaching in Basic Science Courses Among Medical Students. Sex Med 2021;9:100309.

Project description:Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities struggle to engage students while implementing a distance-based teaching/learning approach and to provide hands-on activities to students enrolled in STEM classes. Implementing service-focused activities that can be conducted by the students remotely can overcome these struggles. The goals of this study were to 1) implement citizen science activities focused on water quality using three commercially available low-cost test strips (2:1, 5:1, and 16:1) while teaching four undergraduate engineering courses at the University of Mississippi (UM) during a pandemic event, and 2) evaluate the acceptability and validate the results obtained. Eighty-five undergraduate students (citizen scientists) and five research scientists (control group) collected two water samples (with triplicates) after receiving detailed step-by-step written guidelines and video tutorials. One hundred twenty tap water samples were collected from private households across Lafayette County and its surrounding counties and multiple buildings on campus. Five laboratory fortified blank (LBF) samples were implemented to validate the results. While the academic background of the participants did not impact the results (p > 0.05), the results obtained using the different test strips were statistically different (p < 0.05). In fact, results obtained using the 2:1 and the 5:1 test strips were close to the LFBs, while, except for the higher concentration of Total Alkalinity (40 mg/L CaCO3), results obtained using the 16:1 test strips were significantly different than the LFBs. Results (in terms of pH, Nitrate, and Total Chlorine) obtained by the citizen scientists using the 2:1 and 5:1 test strips were consistent with those reported in the annual drinking water quality reports from UM and municipalities included in the investigated region. Overall, this activity was well received by the students. Approximately 75% of them agreed that this hands-on activity was a positive experience while struggling to attend face-to-face classes.

Project description:There have been numerous calls for improved pedagogical practices in biological education, and there is a clear need for such improvements in ecology and related curricula. Most ecology-related texts lack pedagogy and are designed to be content-rich. National initiatives, such as Vision & Change, provide guidance on undergraduate biology education, including increasing use of evidence-based active learning, and taking a more conceptual and science practice skills approach. Biology education research is rich with evidence-based teaching practices, which reveal that active learning approaches implemented in thoughtful ways lead to strong learning gains relative to lecture-based course delivery. CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate the hypothesis, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) integrates evidence-based active pedagogical practices into one approach to STEM education that focuses heavily on the process of science and science practice skills rather than content delivery by replacing the textbook with selected journal articles. The approach focuses on deep reading and analysis of primary literature; immersing students in the literature is an advantage of the pedagogy. CREATE was developed and tested in other biological disciplines (genetics and molecular biology) that have long been at the forefront of pedagogical best practices in biology. We transformed two upper-level undergraduate ecological courses (Conservation Biology, and Biodiversity and Ecology) into CREATE courses. We provide examples of assignments, student work, and assessments of the approach, illustrating the various ways CREATE can be successfully implemented. The approach can be adopted in part, to ease into it and test it out, or in whole. We recommend that ecology teachers consider making their courses more active, if they have not already done so; adopting pedagogical practices embedded within CREATE can be a way to achieve active learning. The CREATE approach and other evidence-based pedagogical best practices lead to strong learning gains and more inclusive learning environments.

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Teaching the Science in Neuroscience to Protect From Neuromyths: From Courses to Fieldwork.

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