What do faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences think about, and how do they approach, brain-friendly teaching-learning in Iran?

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences Volume 6 | Issue 2 Article 16 2019 What do faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences think about, and how do they approach, brain-friendly teaching-learning in Iran? Sahar Ghanbari Fariba Haghani Malahat Akbarfahimi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/jmms Part of the Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons, Health Information Technology Commons, Medical Education Commons, and the Research Methods in Life Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Ghanbari, Sahar; Haghani, Fariba; and Akbarfahimi, Malahat (2019) "What do faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences think about, and how do they approach, brain-friendly teaching-learning in Iran?," Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences: Vol. 6 : Iss. 2 , Article 16. DOI: 10.22543/7674.62.P286303 Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/jmms/vol6/iss2/16 This Research Article is brought to you for free and open access by ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at . https://scholar.valpo.edu/jmms/ https://proscholar.org/jmms/ ISSN: 2392-7674 J Mind Med Sci. 2019; 6(2): 286-303 doi: 10.22543/7674.62.P286303 Received for publication: July 4, 2019 Accepted: August 08, 2019 Research article What do faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences think about, and how do they approach, brain-friendly teachinglearning in Iran? Sahar Ghanbari1, Fariba Haghani2, Malahat Akbarfahimi3 1 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (MUI), Occupational Therapist-Ph.D. Candidate of Medical Education, Medical Education Research Center, Isfahan, Iran. 2 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (MUI), Associate Professor, Medical Education Research Center, Isfahan, Iran. 3 School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Science (IUMS), Associate Professor, Occupational Therapist-Ph.D. of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Occupational Therapy, Tehran, Iran. Abstract Objective: to investigate the perspectives and experiences of the faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences regarding brain-friendly teaching-learning in Iran. Methods: 17 faculties from 5 universities were selected by purposive sampling (2018). In-depth semi-structured interviews with directed content analysis were used. Results: 31 sub-subcategories, 10 subcategories, and 4 categories were formed according to the “General teaching model”. “Mentorship” was a newly added category. Conclusions: A neuro-educational approach that consider the roles of the learner’s brain uniqueness, executive function facilitation, and the valence system are important to learning. Such learning can be facilitated through cognitive load considerations, repetition, deep questioning, visualization, feedback, and reflection. The contextualized, problemoriented, social, multi-sensory, experiential, spaced learning, and brain-friendly evaluation must be considered. Mentorship is important for coaching and emotional facilitation. Keywords : education, cognitive sciences, neuroscience, neuro-educational studies Highlights : ✓ Faculty awareness about brain-friendly teaching-learning and special attention to neuroeducation studies have been suggested. ✓ Executive function facilitation for the learners was considered, which included goal setting, educational planning, organization, study skills, self-monitoring, and evaluation skills. ✓ Careful contextualized learning, consideration of the role of sleep for information consolidation, cognitive load issues, problem-oriented learning, social learning, multisensory learning, experiential learning, spaced learning, brain-friendly evaluation, and some techniques such as repetition, deep questioning, visualization, reflection, faculty and learner's reflection were among the items considered in the brain-friendly teaching-learning process. ✓ Mentorship is an important process related to the professional and humanistic attitude transfer to learners, with special emphasis on coaching and the emotional facilitation of the teaching-learning process. To cite this article: Ghanbari S, Haghani F, Akbarfahimi M. What do faculties specializing in brain and neural sciences think about, and how do they approach, brain-friendly teaching-learning in Iran? J Mind Med Sci. 2019; 6(2): 286-303. DOI: 10.22543/7674.62.P286303 *Corresponding author: Fariba Haghani, Medical Education Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (MUI), Isfahan, Iran. Email: Sahar Ghanbari et al. Introduction Learning is the formation of novel neural connections or the refinement of ineffective neural connections, which involves the formation of new dendrites and the reconstruction or reactivation of the previously formed connections (1). Therefore, the structure and function of the brain can change due to the property of neuroplasticity under the impact of experience and learning (2). In fact, faculties are designers of experiences that will eventually lead to an alteration in synapses and neural circuits in the brain irrespective of their form: formal or informal learning (3-5): thus, the reason teaching is defined as the “Art of brain changing” (6). The challenge is to design experiences that take full advantage of this capacity of “brain change.” Thus, faculty awareness of evidence-based educational theories, strategies, and techniques could improve teaching quality and learning outcomes (7). One of the topics highlighted in the 21st century is Brain-friendly teaching-learning (BfT-L). Brain-based learning studies have tried to bring variety into teaching strategies and maximize the learning process according to the natural learning process in the brain (8-10). Nowadays, the current science of BfT-L is based on the direct connection between neuroscience and education, as well as an indirect connection between the two through educational and cognitive psychology (11-14). The relationship between neurobiology and education was initially acknowledged in the 20th century. However, since the 1990s (Brain Decade), with the growing advancements in brain imaging technology, this connection has led to theoretical advancements in neuro-educational studies (13, 15-17), with ongoing development due to the new research findings in related fields (8). Since learning is influenced by both formal and informal education, previous knowledge, contextual factors, attitude, and personality traits (9), BfT-L is designed in a way that consider the many factors affecting the teaching-learning process in order to achieve optimal learning outcomes (1, 9, 18, 19). Studies have revealed that, under intense states of emotion, the amygdala is metabolically overactive, and the information transfer to the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex is diminished in comparison with their natural state. There (...truncated)