I like the way you pose the last question: At the same time,
some of
the
dominant trends in
contemporary neuroeducational theory seem to revolve around time-
worn
biological reductionist ideas - almost with a vengeance. New
bottles,
but some of the same old wine.
Because the method of the tradition of academic inquiry in the
natural
sciences is a strong contributor to work in this area (physiology,
biology,
chemistry, etc) we would expect to see this. What is so great with
this
recent tide of research in neuroscience, is that we are finding
more
"evidence" that cannot be explained by the traditional models. Not
the same
old wine--a different wine that needs new packaging; it's just the
production facility only has bottles, labels, the same old
equipment.
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
Behalf Of Steve Gabosch
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 2:29 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Neuroscience connections to learning and
relearning
What interesting books, Emily. Thank you.
Virginia Berninger and Todd Richards, who are at the UW Seattle
in my
neck of the US woods, say (as revealed by Amazon Books Look
Inside) in
the Introduction to this textbook that they rely on Luria:
"In Parts I and II we lay the groundwork for the complexities of
systems of brains and minds at work and in doing so draw on the
work
of a Russian neuropsychologist, A.R. Luria (1973), who
introduced the
notion of functional systems of a brain at work. However, Luria
based
his conclusions on study of individuals with brain damage,
whereas we
base ours on study of normally developing individuals with and
without
learning differences and not on those with brain damage. Although
Luria did not study the processes of teaching and learning
academic
subjects in the same depth or setting as contemporary
researchers in
many disciplines do, we credit Luria with the fundamental
insight that
multiple brain structures may be involved in one function and
that the
same brain structures can participate in more than one functional
system."
p8, Brain Literacy for Educators and Psychologists (2002)
Great to see Luria given this credit. Question: Where does
Luria's
The Working Brain: An Introduction to Neuropsychology (1973) fit
in to
this kind of study? Is his book accessible, is it too out of
date,
etc.?
Thanks much for the attachments. (I keep getting the same Howard-
Jones article out of the first two attachments, btw).
Next AERA conference I go to, I will pay some serious attention to
what the people in neuroeducation are doing - there really does
appear
to be something burgeoning there. My take so far ... see what you
think ... is that one can expect all the current major trends in
the
general social, life and natural sciences to reappear in this new
interdisciplinary field - but on a new level, reflecting some of
the
advances of recent decades, such as an increased awareness of the
central role of cultural experience ... just as, for example,
cognitive science in its developmental years absorbed some of the
newer ideas of its time (computer science, game theory, general
systems theory, etc. etc.). Neuroeducation seems to be
consolidating
the surge in knowledge from research in cognition and learning in
recent decades - and especially, finding ways to theorize about
and
apply the vast new research insights that brain imaging
technology is
making possible. At the same time, some of the dominant trends in
contemporary neuroeducational theory seem to revolve around time-
worn
biological reductionist ideas - almost with a vengeance. New
bottles,
but some of the same old wine. Am I in the ballpark?
- Steve
On Sep 15, 2009, at 9:23 PM, Duvall, Emily wrote:
Glad you found it interesting, Steve!
To start, I guess it depends on how much you want to know, but
generally
I find it important to work with diagrams and video, some kind of
visual
support (I've started to include brain drawings as an
assignment in
my
class) as well as articles. The Berninger & Richards text works
well in
conjunction with the Brain Coloring Book to get you going. You
don't
have to memorize everything, but it's helpful to understand the
macro
and microstructures from a systems perspective in order to
begin to
bridge the discourse.
Others may have different favorites, but I suggest The Jossey-
Bass
Reader on the Brain and Learning... and (brand new, I haven't
read my
copy): The Educated Brain: Essays in Neuroeducation. Meanwhile,
I've
attached a couple of general articles by Howard-Jones and one
of the
more interesting pieces on VAK by Sharp et al.
As to where this discussion is taking place? I am still
relatively
new
and don't have any peeps other than those I am cultivating in my
classes
and several open minded folks on the neuroscience faculty with
UIdaho.
~em
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On Behalf Of Steve Gabosch
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 7:16 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Neuroscience connections to learning and
relearning
Emily, I much appreciated your links to the Science Daily
articles
and
the Usha Goswami article. I learned a lot. Thanks much, and
please
keep links like this coming! These are areas I know I would
like to
learn much more about. A) On astrocytes etc.: If you had to
put
together a crash course for CHAT-oriented researchers on
neuroscience,
what authors, books, articles etc. come to mind that you would
draw
from? B) As for the overview Goswami offers in her 2006 article
regarding 1) what neuroscience actually is discovering about
learning
processes and how they might apply to the classroom and 2) what
neuromyths are emerging along with perhaps other hazards of the
commercialization of neuroeducation knowledge ... where is more
of
this kind of discussion taking place these days?
- Steve
On Sep 15, 2009, at 12:34 PM, Mike Cole wrote:
Thanks Em-- And I googled Goswami neuromyths. Also very
enlightening.
Goswami did early work with Ann Brown, former collaborator
with us
at LCHC.
Now if we go back a step and look at the people who created the
label of
learning sciences, and their backgrounds, the shift from
"developmental
psychology" to developmental sciences, the appearance recently
of
the
handbook of cultural developmental science, ......... what a
tempest! Must
be a teapot in there somewhere. Simultaneous, fractilated
paradigm
shifts?
Does anyone have the luxury of being able to organize a science
studies
interrogation of these movements? Seems really worthwhile.
mike
On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu
>
wrote:
Thanks Mike... :-)
In general I like Goswami's work; I find her discussion of
neuromyths compelling and have had my grad students do
additional
research on some of them. I am also particularly interested
in ways
to
try to negotiate across different fields. I've attached my
favorite
Goswami and a nice intro to neuroeducation.
As a side note: Monica (Hansen, who frequently shows up on the
list serve and is one of my doc students) and I took a
neuroscience
journal club/ seminar last spring and found ourselves trying to
make
sense of the work that is done with regard to education. We are
taking
another seminar right now and some of the folks who were in
last
year's
class are presenting journal articles in their field, but are
trying to
make the links to human experience, particularly education.
It's
been
interesting to discover how open minded the students and
faculty
are...
one of the computational neuroscience faculty has taken up some
Vygotsky
reading as well as neuroeducation... of course Luria's work
is a
door
opener and a point of mutual interest.
~em
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On Behalf Of Mike Cole
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 9:41 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Neuroscience connections to learning and
relearning
No one picked up on your interest in neuroeducation, Emily. A
lot
of
what I
read in this area strikes me as almost entirely without any
appreciation
of
education, or human experience, as a culturally mediated, co-
constructed
process. Do you have a favorite general ref you could point
us to
that
you
resonate to??
mike
On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 8:50 AM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu
>
wrote:
I thought some of you might one or both of these article
summaries
interesting. The first really speaks to the new field of
neuroeducation
with regard to cellular learning... the nice thing about the
summary
is
it gives you an overview of learning at the cellular
basis... very
clear
and easy to understand. Plus an introduction to
astrocytes... :-)
The second piece actually discusses re-learning, which has
been a
topic
lately.
What I personally find so interesting is the role of
experience in
learning and relearning... I found myself thinking back to
Shirley
Brice
Heath's work... it would be fun to go back to her work and
look at
her
study through a neuroeducation lens.
1. Star-shaped Cells In Brain Help With Learning
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090911132907.htm
Every movement and every thought requires the passing of
specific
information between networks of nerve cells. To improve a
skill or
to
learn something new entails more efficient or a greater
number of
cell
contacts. Scientists can now show that certain cells in the
brain
--
the
astrocytes -- actively influence this information exchange.
2. Forgotten But Not Gone: How The Brain Re-learns
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117110834.htm
Thanks to our ability to learn and to remember, we can perform
tasks
that other living things can not even dream of. However, we
are
only
just beginning to get the gist of what really goes on in the
brain
when
it learns or forgets something. What we do know is that
changes in
the
contacts between nerve cells play an important role. But can
these
structural changes account for that well-known phenomenon
that it
is
much easier to re-learn something that was forgotten than to
learn
something completely new?
~em
Emily Duvall, PhD
Assistant Professor Curriculum & Instruction
University of Idaho, Coeur d'Alene
1000 W. Hubbard Suite 242 | Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
T 208 292 2512 | F 208 667 5275 emily@uidaho.edu |
www.cda.uidaho.edu
He only earns his freedom and his life, who takes them every
day
by
storm.
-- Johann Wolfgang Goethe
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