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The Future Directions of Brain‐based Education: how to narrow the gap

between research and application

Dr. Savio WONG

Department of Special Education and Counselling &

Educational and Developmental Neuroscience UnitFaculty of Education and Human Development

What is Brain‐based Education?

Did you ever hear that “Creativity is on the right side of the brain”?

Brain‐based education =

Educational Neuroscience?

Today’s itinerary

• Recent development in neuroscience

• What is Educational Neuroscience?

• Examples

• Challenges

What is neuroscience?The study of the nervous system

How can we study the brain?

• Electroencephalography (EEG)

What happened in 1992?

The first human fMRI study

fMRI: functional magnetic resonance imaging

fMRI Setup

Remembered vs. Forgotten

A D Wagner et al. Science 1998;281:1188-1191

fMRI studies

fMRI connectivity studies

https://michellepetersen76.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dyslexic‐readers‐have‐disrupted‐network‐connections‐in‐the‐brain‐neuroinnovations.jpg

Aue, T., et al., Great expectations: What can fMRI research tell us about psychological phenomena? International Journal of Psychophysiology (2009)

How aboutneuroscience + educational

research?

ISI search: EEG or fMRIField: education or educational research

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EEG fMRI

“Neuroscience can inform educational practices in the way that

the natural sciences changed public health in the 19th Century.”

Prof. Michael Thomas Director of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience, UCL

What is Educational Neuroscience?

• Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that studies the biological mechanisms underlying behaviors.

• Educational Neuroscience is part of an interdisciplinary, multilevel collection of research on educationally relevant topics.

Educational Neuroscience tries to answer:

1.WHY are certain types of learning more rewarding / effective than others?

2. HOW do biological factors account for individual differences in learning ability?

Research area related to Educational Neuroscience

Developmental disorders

Mathematical abilities Literacy skills

Learning / Maths anxiety Memory Emotion

Executive function and self‐control

Adaptive digital

technologies

Neuroscience literacy of educators

Research and Application: Examples

1. Learning and Memory2. Teaching Methods in Mathematics3. Extrinsic motivation and undermining effect4. Understanding Developmental Dyscalculia5. Impulsive Behaviors in Adolescents6. Neural basis of AD/HD

Spaced vs. Massed LearningSpaced learning seems to yield better memory – but WHY?

Why is spaced learning better?

• An fMRI study by Xue and colleagues (2010)

• Chinese readers to learn novel Korean characters• Memorized 120 Korean characters• Half of the characters under spaced learning condition, the other half under massed learning condition

• Recognition memory test: 1 hour post‐scan

Spaced (S) vs. Massed (M) learning conditions

Behavioral data

fMRI data

Why is spaced learning better?

• L midfusiform gyrus supported memory of novel characters

• Repeated presentation of Korean characters associated with reduced neural activity (i.e. repetition suppression)

• Spaced learning reduced repetition suppression in regions associated with memory of novel characters

Teaching Mathematics

Constructivist vs. direct instructional methods –Which is better and why?

Constructivism vs. Direct Instruction

• Direct Instruction: information or knowledge are transmitted directly to students from the teacher

• Common in local school settings

• Constructivism: students are required to generate knowledge by themselves with the help of appropriate scaffolds for learning

• Ongoing debates over which approach is more suitable in which specific settings or subject areas


• An fMRI study by Wirebring and colleagues (2015)

• Students go through a training session in which they worked on sets of mathematical problems

• The students were invited to a test on the sets of problems while scanned by fMRI a week later


• Half of the students practiced the problems with given solution methods (direct instruction approach)– They were provided the formula that needed to solve the problem and then asked to practice with examples

• The other half practiced the same problems without given solution methods (constructivist approach)– They were explicitly asked to try to create a formula for the solution

Behavioral data


• Students in the constructivist condition got more answers correct than those in the direct instruction condition.

• L angular gyrus displayed relatively higher activity in the students in the direct instruction condition than those in the constructivist condition when solving the questions in the test


• The angular gyrus is believed to support number processing and operations that require access to verbal memory of arithmetic facts

• The results implies that the two kinds of practice tasks indeed had different effects on the fluency of memory‐directed verbal processing at the one‐week follow‐up test.

Can we motivate adolescents to study with immediate incentives?

A study of the undermining effect

http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=378&type=student

Participants

• Sixty‐one F3‐F6 secondary school students

• Average age: 16±1.2

• Completed the loss aversion task (LAT) for 3 times inside the MRI scanner at the Prince of Wales Hospital

Behavioral Data

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Run 1 Run 2 Run 3

Gambling rate in LAT

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* p<0.05

Intrinsic > extrinsic reward

P<0.05, FWE, k=10

Anterior Cingulate Cortex: inhibition control

Extrinsic reward > undermining effect

P<0.005, k=10

Putamen: reward center

Neural basis of undermining effect

• The undermining effect is associated with more risk‐seeking behaviors in adolescents

• Compared with the intrinsic condition, extrinsic reward suppressed the activity of the inhibition system

• The activity of the reward system (i.e. putamen) is suppressed after the removal of extrinsic reward

Understanding Developmental Dyscalculia

Children with and without developmental dyscalculia (DD) –how are they DIFFERENT when doing maths?

Children with and without DD

• An fMRI study by Kucian and colleagues (2011)

• Schoolchildren with and without DD to do a non‐symbolic magnitude comparison task

• Numerical distance effect: an inverse relation of reaction time to the distance between numbers in a magnitude comparison task

Magnitude comparison task

Behavioral data

fMRI data

Differential brain activations

• Different brain activations DESPITE similar behavioral performance in children with and without DD

• Children with DD showed greater activations in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and R fusiform gyrus

• Children with DD recruit brain functions not being used by children without DD, possibly as a compensatory mechanism

Making Sense of Adolescent Impulsivity

What makes them so impulsive?

Why adolescents are impulsive?

How do we make decision?

Comparing ADHD with typically developing adolescents

Bechara 2005 Nature Neuroscience

How does the brain make decision?

1. Impulsive system (reward center)‐ amygdala‐striatum network

2. Reflective system (executive control)‐ prefrontal network

Brain development through adolescence

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/publications/rethinking-schizophrenia.shtml

Brain development through adolescence

Adolescents

• Fully developed; excited by the surge of hormones during puberty

• Hypersensitive to reward

Impulsive system (reward center)

• Immature and under‐developed• Hypofunction in inhibitory control

Reflective prefrontal system

Any other factors?

• An fMRI study by Chien and colleagues (2011)

• Invited both adolescents and adults to play the Stoplight game

• Under 2 conditions:1. Alone2. Peer observation

– participants were made aware that their performance was being observed on a monitor by two same‐age, same‐sex peers

Behavioral data

fMRI data

What makes adolescents impulsive?

• Their peers!

• ONLY the adolescents took significantly more risks when they were being observed by peers than when they were alone

• Brain structures implicated in reward valuation (ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex) showed greater activation in the peer‐condition scans relative to the alone‐condition scans

• This effect was not observed for adults

AD/HD are just naughty kids?Neurological basis of AD/HD

What is AD/HD?

Attention Deficit / Hyperactive disorder

Core problems of ADHD

• Inattentive • Over‐active • Impulsive

One of the fastest growing child psychiatric disorders, affecting around 10% children and

adolescents worldwide

Have you heard these before?

“舊時邊有咁多 AD/HD”

“咪即係嗰啲特別曳坐唔定嘅學生”

“如果咁計我都有過度活躍症”

Is there any difference in the brain of ADHD student?

Previous studies

Impulsivity

Impulsive system activity

Typically developing adolescents

How about AD/HD?

Brain mechanism of impulsivity in AD/HD

Previous studies

Impulsivity



ADHD

Our hypothesis (to‐be‐tested)

Impulsivity


ADHD


Challenges


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What is growing even faster?Brain‐based learning programmes

Can neuroscience really inform education practice?

Published in 1997


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How can neuroscience inform education practice?

Thank you!!

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