Trends in Neuroscience and Education最新文献

Background

Predictive models for academic performance forecasting have been a useful tool in the improvement of the administrative, counseling and instructional personnel of academic institutions.

Aim

The aim of this work is to develop a Radial Basis Function Neural Network for prediction of students’ performance using their past academic records as well as their cognitive and psychomotor abilities.

Methods

We obtained data from a secondary school repository containing academic, cognitive and psychomotor scores of the students. The preprocessed dataset was used to train the RBFNN model. The impact of Principal Component Analysis on the model performance was also measured.

Results

The results gave a sensitivity (pass prediction) of 93.49%, specificity (failure prediction) of 75%, overall accuracy of 86.59% and an AUC score (aggregate measure of performance across the possible classification thresholds) of 94%.

Conclusion

We established in this study that psychomotor and cognitive abilities also predict students’ performance. This study helps students, parents and teachers to get a projection of academic success even before sitting for the examination.

Background

. An increasing number of people who are neurodiverse (people who have conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia) are pursuing higher education, including education and employment in the field of audiology

Methods

. This conceptual article was written by neurodivergent professionals to promote a cultural shift of inclusion for students, clinicians, researchers, and professors who identify as neurodivergent.

Findings

. People with these conditions thrive with supportive accommodations in higher education and workplaces but little has been reported in the literature on neurodiversity accommodations in audiology education and practice

Conclusions

. This article reviews the current literature on neurodiversity as it relates to audiology and discusses the practical and ethical considerations for neurodiversity inclusivity in the discipline of audiology.

Purpose

İn line with the objective of this special issue to unveil the challenges, opportunities, experiences, and perspectives of learners while they engage with technology during the global pandemic especially in a broader context, this study decides to examine their perceptions on the use of technology-based learning environments during the post covid semesters. This is on the premise that understanding the learners perceptions on using technology for learning after the pandemic unpacks numerous success and challenges which is essential in making propositions that would enhance learners' digital experience and while steering educational policy to the appropriate direction.

Design

To achieve this, a mixed-method research design was adopted for this study and 36 participants were purposively selected. Semi-structured interview questions and a 5 point Likert-type questionnaire were used to collect information from the participants on their perceptions on using technology-based instruction during the post-pandemic semesters.

Findings

Based on the data that was collected and analyzed, the study unveiled that though technology was perceived to enhance learning among the learners, it significantly creates boredom when used for educational purposes. Other novel findings of this study were instrumental in making valid empirical conclusions on this topic.

Originality

This study adds to the corpus of studies showing learners' experiences and perspectives on the use of technology for learning during the post-pandemic semester. The study is a starting point for more discussions on the need for developing learner-friendly technologies for better learning experiences among learners.

Background

Many learning methods of mathematical reasoning encourage imitative procedures (algorithmic reasoning, AR) instead of more constructive reasoning processes (creative mathematical reasoning, CMR). Recent research suggest that learning with CMR compared to AR leads to better performance and differential brain activity during a subsequent test. Here, we considered the role of individual differences in cognitive ability in relation to effects of CMR.

Methods

We employed a within-subject intervention (N=72, M_Age=18.0) followed by a brain-imaging session (fMRI) one week later. A battery of cognitive tests preceded the intervention. Participants were divided into three cognitive ability groups based on their cognitive score (low, intermediate and high).

Results

On mathematical tasks previously practiced with CMR compared to AR we observed better performance, and higher brain activity in key regions for mathematical cognition such as left angular gyrus and left inferior/middle frontal gyrus. The CMR-effects did not interact with cognitive ability, albeit the effects on performance were driven by the intermediate and high cognitive ability groups.

Conclusions

Encouraging pupils to engage in constructive processes when learning mathematical reasoning confers lasting learning effects on brain activation, independent of cognitive ability. However, the lack of a CMR-effect on performance for the low cognitive ability group suggest future studies should focus on individualized learning interventions, allowing more opportunities for effortful struggle with CMR.

Objectives

This study reports on sports science students’ educational experience in times of the COVID-19 pandemic and explores their interactions with online technologies, exclusively for learning purposes.

Methods

A total of 181 Tunisian final-year sports science students were surveyed using, a custom-designed questionnaire, following the end of the academic year 2020/2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for triangulation and validation of the findings.

Findings

Participants reported that COVID-19-induced educational disruptions had detrimental effects on their learning experiences. Even though they deemed emergency remote teaching to be less effective than classroom-based teaching, participants recognized the role technology had played in mitigating the impact of the pandemic on their graduation year. They reported using a wide range of online technologies to complement remote curriculum delivery. Ranking second after Google Meet, with a marked difference from the rest of the list, YouTube seemed to be sports science students’ best “learning companion” in times of COVID-19. YouTube helped them better understand instructional content delivered remotely and compensate for the missed opportunities for knowledge and motor skill acquisition.

Conclusions

It is very likely that curriculum-based YouTube videos can smoothen emergency implementation of flipped classrooms during future crises that may force teachers and students into home confinement once again, but further empirical research is needed in this area.

Background and Purpose

We examined students perceived changes in their attention, motivation, affect, and time perception following the implementation of the pandemic-related restrictions.

Methods

One year after the restrictions were implemented, we surveyed students’ (N = 153) perceived changes in their experiences relative to their remembered pre- and early-pandemic ones, as well as their predicted future changes.

Results

Consistent with prior work, when students compared their current experiences (March/April 2021) to their remembered pre-pandemic ones, they perceived increases in mind-wandering, technology use, external distraction, and negative affect, as well as decreases in focus, flow, motivation, and time perception. Although somewhat attenuated, students also noted changes in these behaviours when comparing the memory of their early pandemic experiences to their current experiences. Finally, they further anticipated negative changes in their future experiences, possibly due to continued pandemic-related isolation.

Implications

Reducing students’ sense of isolation might improve their cognitive and affective experiences.

Purpose

Many studies have investigated the effect of signaling on graph processing, but not the effect of a question's timing as attentional guidance (AG). We investigated how the AG, task level, and visual load affect graph processing, among university students.

Design

We developed a graph processing task. The AG process created by displaying the question before the graph was displayed. We used behavioral measures and observation duration of eye movements to evaluate graph processing.

Findings

AG has more significant impact on graph processing than the cognitive load of the graph. This means that understanding the context before looking at the graph is important to graph processing. In addition, AG influencing was seen mainly in process duration, rather than on decision-making accuracy.

Originality

The results have important implications both for teachers and students how to develop interpretations of visual information into

Conclusions

These results are discussed broadly in the article.

Recent educational trends point to an interest in educational neurotechnology. While these tools have the potential to change education, little is known about whether their use improves educational outcomes. Additionally, their adoption may be negatively impacted by teachers’ lack of knowledge about the brain. In this paper we outline the potential of educational neurotechnology including what we know, what we do not yet know, and additional considerations for the ethical, successful adoption of these tools in classrooms around the world. Special consideration is given to the training needs of pre- and in-service educators whose support will be essential to the successful adoption of educational neurotechnology.

Background

Previous research suggests that visuospatial working memory (WM) is a unique predictor of mathematics. However, evidence from neuropsychology and cognitive studies suggests dissociations between visual and spatial WM.

Procedure

We examined the differential relationships between visual and spatial WM with mathematics using a new task that 1) utilized the same paradigm across visual and spatial tasks and 2) required executive WM.

Main findings

We found that our new spatial WM task related to mathematics scores while visual WM did not. Spatial WM related to mathematics scores for fourth-graders and not second graders, consistent with previous findings on the relationship between spatial skills and mathematics as mathematics becomes more complex. No relationship was found between spatial WM and reading scores at either grade level.

Conclusions

Our results highlight the dynamic relationship between WM components and mathematics over the elementary school years and suggest that spatial WM is a unique predictor of mathematics starting from middle childhood.

Purpose

Play is a powerful influence on children's learning and parents can provide opportunities to learn specific content by scaffolding children's play. Parent-child synchrony (i.e., harmony, reciprocity and responsiveness in interactions) is a component of parent-child interactions that is not well characterized in studies of play.

Procedures

We tested whether children's executive function relates to mother-child synchrony during physical and digital play in sixty mother-child dyads.

Main findings

Mother-child synchrony did not relate to children's executive function or differ by play type (physical, digital), though during digital play mother-child synchrony was higher for girls relative to boys.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that mother-child synchrony is not influenced by children's executive function and physical and digital play can be similarly beneficial in offering the opportunity for responsive, reciprocal, dynamic interactions. The sex difference suggests that further factors should be explored as influences of play synchrony.