Translating education neuroscience for teachers

• Main Author: Tham, Rachel Yi Ning
• Other Authors: Chen Shen-Hsing Annabel
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/74083
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Translating neuroscience to education is about bridging the gap between neuroscience and education. One of the ways to achieve this is to translate the abstracts of scientific journal articles on neuroscience so that teachers have access to updated readings that are accurate and do not spread neuromyths. This paper uses surveys, experimental manipulation, and focus group discussions to explore the feasibility of translating neuroscience abstracts for teachers. A total of 30 teachers (N = 30) from two neighbourhood primary schools in Singapore participated in this study. Teachers were examined for their baseline knowledge levels of neuroscience and their self-rated attitudes towards neuroscience abstracts, and asked to provide their opinions and feedback about the abstracts’ translations. The results showed that teachers had similar baseline knowledge levels of neuroscience, and that the translated neuroscience abstracts did not lead to a statistically significant improvement in self-perceived attitudes towards the abstracts compared to the untranslated neuroscience abstract. In addition, the focus group discussions revealed that the teachers were more interested in the classroom implications of neuroscience research than the brain. They also do not usually read up much about neuroscience on their own, preferred straightforward websites over scientific journals and articles, and preferred the translations to be further simplified. These findings provide important insights into the needs of educators and how neuroscience research can be better translated for educators. This study also emphasises the importance of communication between neuroscientists and educators to bridge the gap between neuroscience and education.