Au mois de mars est parru le dernier numéro de la revue (en langue anglaise) Mind, Brain, and Education, publiée par Wiley pour IMBES (International Mind, Brain, and Education Society - dirigée par Kurt Fischer, président Antonio Battro et avec Pierre Léna, Stanislas Dehaene, Antonio Damasio parmi les membres de son advisory board). C’est le premier numéro de l’année 2010.
Voici les titres des articles parus, avec le résumé de trois d’entre eux :
Understanding the Role of Neuroscience in Brain Based Products: A Guide for Educators and Consumers (p 1-7)
Lesley J. Sylvan, Joanna A. Christodoulou
ASTRACT
The term brain based is often used to describe learning theories, principles, and products. Although there have been calls urging educators to be cautious in interpreting and using such material, consumers may find it challenging to understand the role of the brain and to discriminate among brain based products to determine which would be suitable for specific educational goals. We offer a framework for differentiating the multiple meanings of the brain based label and guidelines for educators and consumers to use when evaluating educational products labeled as brain based. The guidelines include: identifying educational goals and target student populations, aligning goals and product purposes, reviewing product merits, identifying benefits and limitations of the product, and characterizing the product’s impact on behavioral performance.
Schooling as a Knowledge System: Lessons from Cramim Experimental School (p 8-19)
David Chen
ABSTRACT
This article describes an experiment utilizing a research and development strategy to design and implement an innovative school for the future. The development of Cramim Elementary School was a joint effort of researchers from Tel-Aviv University and the staff of the school. The design stage involved constructing a new theoretical framework that defined school as a knowledge system, based on the state of the art, interdisciplinary study of the nature of humans, and the nature of knowledge. A new school design emerged based on this theoretical framework and the school was opened in 1995. Action research followed for 8 years and the results indicated that the school has emerged as a learning organization and successfully integrated knowledge technologies into the learning processes of both students and teachers. Differentiated teaching strategy resulted in a significant increase in achievements (+11% in maths, literacy, and science; +10% in literacy in kindergarten; persistence of higher achievement in junior high schools). The greatest beneficiaries were low-achieving students. As the school is a highly complex system, individual variables contributing to the increased effectiveness could not be isolated. The article’s conclusion is that experimental schools are a productive strategy to bring about changes, but unless these schools are part and parcel of the culture of the mainstream education system culture, they are destined to remain isolated cases.
Ethics in Neuroscience Graduate Training Programs: Views and Models from Canada (p 20-27)
Sofia Lombera, Alan Fine, Ruth E. Grunau, Judy Ill
The Teaching Brain (p 28-33)
Antonio M. Battro
ABSTRACT
Animals cannot teach as humans do. Therefore, we lack the experimental support of animal studies that are so important to understand the evolution of our basic learning skills but are useless to explore the development of the teaching skills, unique to humans. And most important: children teach! We have at least two new challenges in our Mind, Brain, and Education program regarding the teaching brain. First, to implement new methods to process online the way children teach in the digital environment since the first grade of schooling with the help of computers. Second, we may also explore the teaching brain of children and adults, with the help of wearable brain image technologies in a real classroom setting. Both projects may interact in a dynamic way in neuroeducation.
The Impact of Context on the Development of Aggressive Behavior in Special Elementary School Children (p 34-43)
Marieke Visser, Saskia E. Kunnen, Paul L. C. van Gee