Abstract
Teachers face a daunting challenge in balancing the demands of employing student-centered pedagogies in contexts where mandated testing and district teaching expectations can easily constrain or compromise their pedagogy. In this pilot study, we investigated how professional development based on the “neuroscience of learning” impacted non-science teacher understanding of basic neuroscience; and, in turn, how that knowledge impacted their reflections on pedagogy. In a pre/post design, teacher understanding of neuroscience improved significantly after the 36-h course based upon a set of educational neuroscience concepts. Furthermore, teacher revisions of their lesson plans after the course revealed the integration of more student-centered pedagogies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 87-98 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Teaching and Teacher Education |
| Volume | 83 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Dr. S. S. Guzey for critical reading of earlier versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Steffen Palko Endowment for the SW Center for Mind, Brain and Education.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Conceptual change
- Lesson planning
- Neuroscience
- Pedagogy
- Society for neuroscience neuroconcepts
- Student-centered learning