advances in neuroscience and building a global ... · soo-siang lim, ph.d. director and chair of...

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

4

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)

Thank You!

Soo-Siang Lim, Ph.D

slim@nsf.gov