Looking for the Brain Inside the Initial Teacher Training and Outreach Books in Portugal

Abstract

The fascination with brain research is widespread, and school teachers are no exception. This growing interest, usually noticed by the increased supply of short-term training or books on how to turn the brain more efficient, leads us to think about their basic training and outreach resources available. Little is known about what the official Initial Teacher Training (ITT) offers concerning the brain literature and if it meets scientific standards. Also, what are the science communication materials that teachers can access to learn about the developing brain remain undiscussed. First, we examined the ITT courses taught in Portuguese Higher Education, both in public and private institutions, to identify the syllabus with updated neuroscientific knowledge. Second, we searched for the neuroscience-related books published in the last 6 years through the National Library of Portugal database. Thirty ITT courses and 35 outreach publications were reviewed through a rapid review methodology. Our results showed an absence of curricular units indicating in their programs that brain research, and its relationship with learning, would be taught in a representative and updated way. In contrast, the number of brain-related books for educators increased in Portugal, corroborating the demand for this field of study by these professionals. Based on the literature that shows how misunderstandings about the brain have increased in school contexts, our discussion recognizes that science outreach could be a way to increase the scientific literacy of school teachers with the research community working more in this direction, but, since a previous problem seems to be unsolved, there is an urgent need for specialized attention to the development of training curricula for future kindergarten and elementary school teachers.

The Effect of the Empirical Base Nature of Science Learning Model on the Understanding of Nature of Science in Empirical Aspect

“…Judging from the students' interest in science, the increase in scores between students who have an interest in science and students who do not have an interest in science is the same, namely around 0.50 seen from the score of understanding the NOS empirical aspects before and after learning EBNOS. The results of this study are in line with the study conducted that show a person's understanding of NOS is not influenced by gender bias, conflicts of interest, economic status, and their interest in science (Allchin, 0,00 0,50 (Rato et al, 2022;Rudolph, 2003). However, the results of this study are contrary to a study conducted which stated that someone who has an interest in understanding science is proven capable of assessing and proving how valid and reliable an information or claim is (Pellegrino, 2002).…”

Making neuroscience a priority in Initial Teacher Education curricula: a call for bridging the gap between research and future practices in the classroom

“…Because of this, schools and classrooms are ideal for neuroscience-based interventions to improve the learning potential of typical and atypical developing learners. In many countries, ITE curricula lack educational neuroscience content or the scope and depth required for accurate application in the classroom (Arnaiz-Sánchez et al, 2023;Ching et al, 2020;Coch, 2018;Rato et al, 2022). Limited knowledge and understanding of educational neuroscience have led to the high prevalence of neuromyths among teachers and the difficulty experienced by teachers in discriminating available information correctly (Arnaiz-Sánchez et al, 2023;Gleichgerrcht et al, 2015;Rato et al, 2022).…”

“…In many countries, ITE curricula lack educational neuroscience content or the scope and depth required for accurate application in the classroom (Arnaiz-Sánchez et al, 2023;Ching et al, 2020;Coch, 2018;Rato et al, 2022). Limited knowledge and understanding of educational neuroscience have led to the high prevalence of neuromyths among teachers and the difficulty experienced by teachers in discriminating available information correctly (Arnaiz-Sánchez et al, 2023;Gleichgerrcht et al, 2015;Rato et al, 2022). For teachers to be able to deploy the most effective practice in response to a learner, they require a foundation of why those practices are effective in terms of a learner's brain.…”

“…Despite the rigorous nature of educational neuroscience research, the evidence is often ineffectively translated into pedagogical practice, hampered by a lack of teacher training in neuroscience education and a negative tension between the recent evidence and what happens inside the classroom. Lack of neuroscience in teacher training and oversimplification of findings dilute approaches, resulting in poor translation (Rato et al, 2022). Neuromyths like hemisphere dominance and preferred learning styles have spread due to teachers' lack of educational neuroscience knowledge (van Dijk & Lane, 2018;Vig et al, 2023).…”

The Effectiveness of Neuroscience to Improve Teacher Pedagogic Competence: Systematic Literature Review

“…In other words, neuroscience brings a mechanistic, biologically based approach that can explain why a practice occurs. For example, the discovery of the mirror neuron system helps explain why mimicry and social interaction are so influential on learning, especially for language acquisition and related cognitive processes (Dubinsky et al, 2019;Rato et al, 2022).The teacher's understanding of student characteristics in the intellectual and emotional aspects is also seen in the research conducted which says that students are unique, meaning that students have their own learning character (Chang et al, 2021). Neuroscience concepts influence teachers' views of how physiological and emotional needs influence learning.…”