Brain-to-brain synchrony in STEM learning

STEM课堂是一个高度动态的社会环境，学生和教师可以实时面对面地互动。这些互动是学习过程的基础。然而，我们对课堂上社会互动的大脑基础的理解非常有限。该项目将使用新型便携式脑电图（EEG）技术来记录高中科学教室中一名教师和一群学生的大脑活动。目的是调查教师和学生大脑活动的相似和差异是否能预测STEM的参与和学习成果。建议的研究将在许多方面有助于教育实践。例如，学生的脑电波在多大程度上表现出相似的模式，可以作为学生参与STEM内容的在线隐性衡量标准。因此，脑波同步在未来可以被证明是有用的，作为教学实践有效性的客观衡量标准，提供对实时学习过程的洞察。此外，作为拟议研究的一部分，一个基于脑电图的高中神经科学课程将被开发和测试。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）项目资助，该项目支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作。本项目采用一种新颖的、具有潜在变革性的方法，利用尖端的便携式脑电图（EEG）技术研究课堂互动。该项目扩展了以前nsf资助的工作，使实验装置和分析工具的发展成为可能，同时记录教师和一群学生的大脑活动。该项目将通过以下方式促进我们对自然课堂互动的理解：(a)使用最先进的无线脑电图耳机，该耳机有望提供比先前研究中低级便携式脑电图耳机更准确、更丰富的神经生理学数据；(b)不仅记录学生的大脑活动，也记录教师的大脑活动；(c)从不同学校和学校类型的学生和教师样本中收集数据；(d)调查学生和教师的脑对脑同步、学习成果和注意力的客观测量之间的关系；(e)在STEM学习文献中尚未解决的问题——虚拟实验室环境的有效性——的背景下探索脑对脑同步。该项目将把神经科学研究从实验室带进课堂，在整合神经科学研究和教育实践方面迈出了重要的一步。通过验证新的神经科学方法和分析方法，本研究将为未来认知神经科学在教育实践中的研究铺平道路。此外，本研究的结果将从一个新的角度阐明课堂互动，并为教师提供对学生参与与学习成果之间关系的更深层次的理解。

The STEM classroom is a highly dynamic social environment where students and teachers interact face-to-face in real time. These interactions are fundamental to the learning process. Yet our understanding of the brain basis of social interactions in the classroom is very limited. This project will use novel portable electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to record brain activity from a teacher and a group of students in a high school science classroom. The goal is to investigate whether similarities and differences in brain activity between teachers and students predict STEM engagement and learning outcomes. The proposed research will contribute to educational practice in a number of ways. For example, the extent to which brainwaves exhibit similar patterns across students can be used as an online, implicit measure of student engagement with STEM content. As such, brainwave synchrony can prove useful in the future as an objective measure of the effectiveness of teaching practices, providing insight into the learning process in real time. In addition, as part of the proposed research, an EEG-based neuroscience curriculum for high schools will be developed and tested. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning. This project pursues a novel and potentially transformative approach to studying classroom interactions using cutting-edge portable electroencephalogram (EEG) technology. The project extends previous NSF-funded work that enabled the development of the experimental setup and analytical tools required to simultaneously record brain activity from a teacher and a group of students. The project will advance our understanding of naturalistic classroom interaction by: (a) using state-of-the-art wireless EEG headsets that are expected to provide much more accurate and richer neurophysiological data than the low-grade portable EEG headsets from prior research; (b) recording brain activity not only from students, but also from teachers; (c) collecting data from a sample of students and teachers in different schools and school types; (d) investigating the relationship between brain-to-brain synchrony across students and teachers, learning outcomes, and objective measures of attention; and (e) exploring brain-to-brain synchrony in the context of an unresolved issue in the STEM learning literature, the effectiveness of virtual laboratory environments. This project will take neuroscience research outside of the laboratory and into the classroom, taking an important step in integrating neuroscience research and education practices. By validating novel neuroscience methods and analytic approaches, this research will pave the way for future cognitive neuroscience research on educational practices. Further, the results of this study will illuminate classroom interactions from a novel perspective and provide teachers with a deeper understanding of the relationship between student engagement and learning outcomes.