advances in neuroscience and building a global ... · soo-siang lim, ph.d. director and chair of...
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Soo-Siang Lim, Ph.D.
Director and Chair of Coordinating Committee for the
Science of Learning Centers Program, National Science Foundation
Advances in Neuroscience and
Building a Global, Interdisciplinary Science of Learning
IV International Education Conference - FIESC
“Education is about enhancing learning, and neuroscience is about understanding the mental processes involved in learning. This common ground suggests a future in which educational practice can be transformed by science, just as medical practice was transformed by science about a century ago”
(p. v, Report by the Royal Society, UK 2011)
“Human Learning is distinguished by the range and complexity of skills that can be learned and the degree of abstraction that can be achieved compared to those of other species. Homo sapiens is also the only species that has developed formal ways to enhance learning: teachers, school and curricula.”
Melzoff, A.N., P.K. Kuhl, J. Movellan, T. Sejnowski (2009) Science 325: 284
• Life-long, from infancy to adulthood
• Life-wide, occurring across a wide variety of
settings
• Life-deep, culturally embedded and
intertwined with our value systems
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Some insights from neuroscience …
• Brain development is highly variable
• Brain is plastic; it changes as a result of
learning.
• Both genes and environment affect the
learning brain
• Physical health, exercise, sleep and
nutrition affect the cognitive functions of
the brain
• Altered patterns of cortical maturation is
linked to high childhood anxiety
• Brain has mechanisms for self-regulation
• Effective interventions require understanding of
underlying mechanisms
• Need to go beyond the correlational, to causal evidence
Biological Sciences and
Neuroscience
Engineering
Social and Economic
Sciences
Education
Science of
Learning
Behavioral and
Cognitive Sciences Computer and
Information
Sciences
Mathematical and
Physical Sciences
Convergence and integration of research from diverse
disciplines towards an interdisciplinary Science of
Learning
Geosciences
Biological
Sciences/
Neuroscience
Engineering
Philosophy,
Psychology,
Linguistics
Education Science of
Learning
Social and
Behavioral Sciences
Mathematical
and Physical
Sciences
Computer
and
Information
Science
Knowledge Integration Requires Collaboration
The Parable of the Blind Men and the
Elephant
Goals of SLC Program
• Advance the fundamental knowledge of learning through integrated research
• Connect research to societal challenges
• education
• technology
• workforce
• Enable research communities to capitalize on new opportunities and discoveries, respond to challenges, and form a collaborative research network
Current SLC Portfolio 2004 Cohort
• CELEST: Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science and Technology (Boston U)
• LIFE: Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (U of Washington)
• PSLC: Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (Carnegie-Mellon U)
2006 Cohort
• SILC: Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (Temple U)
• TDLC: Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center
(UC-San Diego)
• VL2: Visual Language and Learning Center
(Gallaudet U)
www.nsf.gov/slc
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Andrew N. Meltzoff, Patricia Kuhl (LIFE) Javier Movellan, Terry Sejnowski (TDLC)
Foundations for a New Science of Learning
“Human infants have an intense interest in people and their
behavior and possess powerful implicit learning mechanisms
that are affected by social interaction. Neuroscientists are
beginning to understand brain mechanisms underlying learning
and how shared brain systems for perception and action
support social learning. Machine learning algorithms are being
developed that allow robot and computers to
learn.”autonomously. New insights from many fields are
converging from many different fields to create a new science
of learning that may transform educational practice. “
Social factors affect early language learning
LIFE CENTER Social Factors affect language learning
UW MEG Brain Imaging Center
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Magnetic fields generated by neuronal
activity in the brain are recorded
outside the brain by magnetometers.
LIFE reported the first in the
world MEG recordings of
awake infants engaged in a
cognitive task (Imada, Kuhl
et al., 2006).
Awareness of covert aspects of an infant’s
mind helps inform parent-child interactions.
Brain Dynamics Matter for Learning • The (in-)ability of infants to rapidly
process even non-linguistic sounds
leads to language deficits much later.
• The power of brain fast oscillatory
activity over the the frontal lobes
(when the baby is at rest) at 18
months of age can predict language
and cognitive skills in kindergarten
and first grade.
• These abilities can be improved
through a very simple intervention
that includes auditory conditioning.
Benasich Lab, TDLC
The Gamelan Project Initial study found significant correlation between ability at rhythmic synchrony and attentional performance. Currently preparing to conduct a randomized intervention study investigating possible translational effects of improved rhythmic synchrony through group music practice.
Alexander Khalil, Victor Minces, and Andrea Chiba, Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, UCSD
Slides Provided by: Nina Kraus (Beginning) Northwestern University www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu
Musical Training Changes Sound Processing in the Brain
musicians non-musicians
Musacchia, Sams, Skoe, Kraus , PNAS 2007
for music
and also speech!
Musical Experience Refines Brain Processing
Requires:
• tracking stimulus regularities (e.g., voice pitch, timing & timbre)
Hearing Speech in Noise
• excluding irrelevant information
Parbery-Clark et al. (2009) J Neurosci
musicians non-musicians
quiet
noise
Musicians have Enhanced Neural Processing of Speech in Noise
musicians non-musicians
Hearing in noise—a common difficulty among older adults.
Problems hearing speech in noise can lead to social
isolation and depression.
better speech in noise
Hearing Among Older Adults
**
Parbery-Clark ....Kraus (2011) PLOS One
regular engagement with
music influences a variety of
nonmusical brain functions
attention language
speech in noise
reading
memory
vocal emotion
Kraus and Chandrasekaran (2010) Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Slides Provided by: Nina Kraus (Ending) Northwestern University www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu
Four Main Challenges • How to harness expertise from all relevant disciplines to
achieve a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of learning?
• How to better use out understanding of how people learn to inform educational practice and policy, and conversely, how can we use knowledge and experience gained from educational practice to raise questions that test and refine our research priorities for understanding learning?
• How to prepare a new generation of researchers who could bridge the research and practice gap?
• How to provide a sustainable “ecosystem” to support such two way interactions between the researcher and practitioner communities?
Education Practice and Public Policy
Building Bridges
Translation and development
People, Ideas & Technology
Science of
Learning
Knowledge and Experience
People, Ideas & Technology
Connecting basic science to education research and practice
• Stable, long term partnerships of researchers and teachers that: – Better alignment of research agendas to education issues – Bring teacher input to research - career development – Enable longitudinal studies of learning trajectories – Build capacities of a new generation of scientist educators
• Evaluation over long term and development of standards for quality control.
Strategic Partnerships
*-Disciplinary Learning and
Education
Small Scale Implementing
Building Capacity of People and Organizations
Large Scale Deploying
Development Research
Evaluation
Learning
Knowledge and Experience
Knowledge and Innovation
Development Research Development Research Development Research Development Research
Evaluation Evaluation Evaluation Evaluation
People
People
Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody Technology
Connecting Research and Education
• Build a basic research foundation to fuel innovations in education
A Scientific Network & Scientific Infrastructure
• 100+ academic institutions, 100+ non-academic institutions, more than 300 researchers, & more than 350 students & post-docs
• Annual meetings within and across centers, plus student & international meetings, workshops
• New infrastructure: neuroimaging, motion-capture, data collection & data mining
SLC Network – International Collaboration
• SLC Collaborates – Green (~20 Countries) • Telluride Collaborate – Orange (~38) • Spatial Network – Yellow (~16)
