Drawing Some Refers for Online Learning Management in the Light of Cognitive Neuroscience Attitude about Learning

پژوهش نامه مبانی تعلیم و تربیت

Volume 13, Issue 1 - Serial Number 25, August 2024, Pages 137-163   

Document Type: پژوهشی

DOI: 10.22067/fedu.2024.80817.1242

Authors

Saeid Zarghami-Hamrah^{* 1}; Hamid Ahmadi-Hedayat²; Azam Taherkhani³; Parvin Bazghandi³

¹Associate Professor, department of philosophy of Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

²Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

³Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education, University of Kharazmi, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of the current paper is to explain the attitude of cognitive neuroscience about learning and draw its hints in online learning management. Cognitive neuroscience has provided some experimental data to explain the concept of learning at the level of the brain, in this article, they and facing some challenges related to the nature of online learning, and policies for managing online learning environments are proposed. For this purpose, more than using brain imaging methods and behavioral experiments, it has been necessary to rely on the theories emerging from the field of education. In this way, first, the four interwoven processes of attention, active engagement, error feedback, and consolidation have been listed as necessary conditions for learning, and then it has been explained that in the process of online learning, it is necessary to modify the mental model of learners by following the aforementioned processes. Then we have addressed the question of what policies or macro strategies can be used to modify the mental model of the learners. These policies include individualized learning, providing content related to life, providing modular, dynamic, and multi-level content, arousing excitement, paying attention to the embodied nature of learning, modular evaluation and self-evaluation, and relying on long-term learning for the strength of learning. Also, in the following, some platforms have been proposed to realize these educational policies.
Keywords: online learning, cognitive neuroscience, policy, management, platform.
 
Synopsis
is not a neutral tool and it has an essence that with its emergence and expansion in life, the same essence is imposed on our lives as well, and human beings provide the ground for the emergence and development of the essence of technology. Inspired by Heidegger's thoughts, Ihde (2002) argues that Information and Communication Technology(ICT), other forms of technology, by strengthening some aspects of our human experience, weakens some other aspects of our experience. Accordingly, Duncan and Sankey (2019) have pointed out the profound and unfortunate consequences of Cartesian dualism in educational systems and have given examples of the undue emphasis of some educational systems on cognition versus following emotion, they believe that knowledge about the neural bases of cognition and emotion can lead to the reform of educational policies. As the same way evidences from virtual education since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Iran show that one of the reasons for students' dissatisfaction with the process of online learning is related to the embodied experience. For example, in response to expressing her feelings about online learning, the student said, "I learn when I'm in the classroom and my classmates are sitting around me" and her classmates often felt the same way. (Shabani Varaki et al., 2022) .
In the current study, to face such difficulty in the process of online learning, the perspective of cognitive neuroscience is used for learning. Cognitive neuroscience provides experimental data to explain the concept of learning in the brain, according to which it is possible to propose specific educational policies for managing online learning environments and some infrastructures or tools in line with the realization of these policies.
Conclusion
In the study, based on the findings of cognitive neuroscience, policies and strategies for managing online learning were presented. Such policies and strategies are capabilities for online learning, and two important points should be mentioned in this regard. First of all, such capabilities are only possibilities that can be realized under the condition of attention to them and the proper design of online education structures and systems. In this way, any online training does not provide such capabilities, and under the condition of proper design, it is possible to realize them in the process of online learning management. Second, such capabilities are not the result of ICT and its application in the form of online education, but online education has made it possible to realize them more than ever. In other words, these capabilities are the educational ideas that emerged from cognitive neuroscience in this research, and online education can provide the basis for their realization. Finally, the educational policies and strategies proposed in the current study are based on the four pillars of learning proposed in cognitive neuroscience, including, attention, active engagement, error feedback, and of learning.

Keywords

online learning; cognitive neuroscience; policy; management; platform

References

Bagheri, Kh., Sajjadieh, N., & Tavasoli, T. 2011.Rooykardha va Raveshhaye Pazhuhesh Dar Falsafei Ta'lim o Tarbiat [RApproaches and research methods in philosophy of education, Tehran: Pazhuheshkadei motaleate farhangi va ejtemaee. (In Persian).

Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne, & Frith, Uta. (2005). The learning brain: Lessons for education: Blackwell publishing.

Cachia, Arnaud, Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes, Chiao, Joan Y, Friston, Karl, Hillman, Charles H, Linzarini, Adriano, . . . Jay, Thérèse. (2022). Brain development and maturation in the context of learning.

Clark, John. (2009). Neurophilosophy, education, and learning. The Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, 1-19.

Damasio, Antonio R. (2006). Descartes' error: Random House.

De Vignemont, Frédérique. (2015). Bodily awareness (2nd Ed): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy.

Dehaene, Stanislas. (2011). The number sense: How the mind creates mathematics: OUP USA.

Dehaene, Stanislas. (2020). How we learn: Why brains learn better than any machine... for now: Penguin.

DeSutter, D, & Stieff, M. (2017). Teaching students to think spatially through embodied actions: Design principles for learning environments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Cognitive research: principles and implications, 2, 1-20.

Doukakis, Spyridon, Niari, Maria, Alexopoulos, Evita, & Sfyris, Panagiotis. (2022). Online Learning, Students’ Assessment and Educational Neuroscience. Paper presented at the New Realities, Mobile Systems and Applications: Proceedings of the 14th IMCL Conference.

Dreyfus, Hubert L. (2009). On the internet in Action (2 ed.): Routledge.

Duffau, Hugues. (2016). Brain plasticity and reorganization before, during, and after glioma resection. In Glioblastoma (pp. 225-236): Elsevier Inc.

Duncan, Chris, & Sankey, Derek. (2019). Two conflicting visions of education and their consilience. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 51(14), 1454-1464.

Evers, Colin W, & Lakomski, Gabriele. (2015). Naturalism and educational administration: New directions. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(4), 402-419.

Flood, Virginia J, Shvarts, Anna, & Abrahamson, Dor. (2020). Teaching with embodied learning technologies for mathematics: Responsive teaching for embodied learning. ZDM, 52(7), 1307-1331.

Geary, David C. (2005). The origin of mind: Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Geary, David C. (2007). An evolutionary perspective on learning disability in mathematics. Developmental neuropsychology, 32(1), 471-519.

Ghafourifard, Mansour. (2020). The promotion of virtual education in Iran: The potential which turned into reality by Coronavirus. Iranian journal of medical education, 20, 33-34.

Guyton, Arthur C, & Hall, John E. (2016). Textbook of medical physiology, 13th. WB Sounders Company, Philadelphia.

Haji, Jamal, Mohammadi Mehr, Mojgan, & Muhammad Azar, Hadigha. (2021). Describing the Problems of virtual Education via Shad application in Corona Pandemic: This is a phenomenological study. Information and Communication Technology in Educational Sciences, 11(43), 153-174.

Hawkins, Jennifer Anne. (2021). Brain Plasticity and Learning: Springer.

Heidegger, Martin. (1977). The question concerning technology & other essays (W.Lovitt, Trans.). New Yourk: Harper Press.

Ihde, Don. (2002). Bodies in technology (Vol. 5): U of Minnesota Press.

Kalantzis, Mary, & Cope, Bill. (2015). Learning and new media. The Sage handbook of learning, 373-387.

Kästner, Lena. (2017). Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience: Causal Explanations, Mechanisms and Experimental Manipulations (Vol. 37): Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Lauria, Rita. (1997). Virtual reality: An empirical-metaphysical testbed. Journal of computer-mediated communication, 3(2), JCMC323.

Lindquist, Kristen A, Wager, Tor D, Kober, Hedy, Bliss-Moreau, Eliza, & Barrett, Lisa Feldman. (2012). The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review. The Behavioral and brain sciences, 35(3), 121-143.

Marcovitch, Harvey. (2005). Black's medical dictionary: A&C Black.

Means, B, Bakia, M, & Murphy, R. (2017). Applying Cognitive Science to Online Teaching and Learning Strategies.

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, & Smith, Colin. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (Vol. 2012): Routledge London.

Murray, Stuart J, & Holmes, Dave. (2013). Toward a critical ethical reflexivity: Phenomenology and language in Maurice Merleau‐Ponty. Bioethics, 27(6), 341-347.

Nestler, Eric Jonathan, Hyman, Steven E, Malenka, Robert C, & Holtzman, David Michael. (2015). Molecular neuropharmacology: a foundation for clinical neuroscience, (4nd Ed): McGraw-Hill Medical New York.

Nouri, Ali. (2016). The basic principles of research in neuroeducation studies. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education, 4(1), 59.

OECD. (2007). Understanding the Brain: the Birth of a Learning Science. In: OECD Publishing.

Piazza, Manuela, De Feo, Vito, Panzeri, Stefano, & Dehaene, Stanislas. (2018). Learning to focus on number. Cognition, 181, 35-45.

Sankey, Derek. (2006). The neuronal, synaptic self: Having values and making choices. Journal of Moral education, 35(2), 163-178.

Shabani Varaki, Bakhtiar, Qamsari, Alireza Sadeqzadeh, Sefidkhosh, Meisam, Sajjadi, Seyed Mahdi, Chaboki, Reza Mohammadi, Kalatehjafarabadi, Tahereh Javidi, . . . Barkhordari, Ramazan. (2022). Philosophy of education in a new key: Reflection on higher education in Iran. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 54(8), 1198-1215.

Subramanian, Ajay, Chitlangia, Sharad, & Baths, Veeky. (2022). Reinforcement learning and its connections with neuroscience and psychology. Neural Networks, 145, 271-287.

Taherkhani, Azam, Zarghami-Hamrah, Saeid, Ashayerih, Hasan, & Ghaedi, Yahya. (2022). Learning of Mathematical Analysis Based on the Integration of Philosophical Analysis and Neurocognitive Findings of Symbolic Mathematics. Foundations of Education, 11(1), 86-110.

Welsh, Talia. (2006). From Gestalt to structure: Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s early analysis of the human sciences. Theory & Psychology, 16(4), 527-551.

Will, Paris, Rothwell, Austin, Chisholm, Joseph D, Risko, Evan F, & Kingstone, Alan. (2020). Cognitive load but not immersion plays a significant role in embodied cognition as seen through the spontaneous act of leaning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(11), 2000-2007.

Wixted, John T, & Serences, John. (2018). Stevens' Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Sensation, Perception, and Attention (Vol. 2): John Wiley & Sons.

Yeo, Darren J, Pollack, Courtney, Merkley, Rebecca, Ansari, Daniel, & Price, Gavin R. (2020). The “Inferior Temporal Numeral Area” distinguishes numerals from other character categories during passive viewing: A representational similarity analysis. Neuroimage, 116716.

Zakersalehi, G. (2020). Futurology on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on higher education. Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(2), 181-211.

Zarghami-Hamrah, Saeid, & Ahmadi Hedayat, Hamid. (2022). A philosophical view on the virtual education. Tehran: Kharazmi University Press.

Zarghami-Hamrah, Saeid, & de Vries, Marc. (2016). Revisiting the role of teaching practice in authentic communication in MOOCs. Paper presented at the th conference of the International Network of Philosophers of Education, Warsaw, Agust.

Zarghami-Hamrah, Saeid, & de Vries, Marc J. (2018). Ubiquitous learning and massive communication in MOOCs: Revisiting the role of teaching as a praxis. Ethics and Education, 13(3), 370-384.