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Written by Shambhu Sharan, The Shorthorn staff |
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 08:48 PM |
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In a new course, offered under the university’s newly-created Southwest Center for Mind, Brain and Education, graduate students are learning how to integrate separate fields, such as neuroscience and psychology, to better understand how students learn. The new master’s level course borrows from a Harvard program designed for students interested in “connecting cognition, neuroscience, and educational practice,” according to the Harvard program’s Web site. While UTA’s course is currently standalone, the college expects to launch a master’s program in September 2010, said center’s director Marc Schwartz. Schwartz said the program needs more professors to teach the classes. The department is planning to spend $250,000 of grant money to create a lab and buy an electroencephalogram, or EEG, he said. Deborah Cockerham, mind, brain and education student, said she found the program on the Internet when looking for a program focusing on the brain. “I think the program as a whole has the capability to strengthen the entire American educational system,” Cockerham said. Cockerham said the field of education cannot function independently of the neuroscience and psychology fields. If teachers ignored the mental strengths and weaknesses of the students, little would actually be taught, she said. “Students might absorb information, but they would not learn how to learn,” Cockerham said. Gerlach was inspired to start the program by some of her research on cognitive issues, she said. Harvard started its program in the mid ’90s. Schwartz said teachers in the Metroplex can become classroom researchers by enrolling in the program, thus better understanding educational challenges. “I am trying to reproduce Harvard’s program in a way that meets local needs,” he said. It will take more research in the Metroplex until he finds out those needs, he said. Schwartz said some questions about the way people learn can be answered by using an EEG to study brain activity. An EEG is a technique for studying the electrical current within the brain, according to MedTerms.com. Electrodes are attached to the scalp. Wires attach the electrodes to a machine, which records the electrical impulses. Different patterns of electrical impulses can denote various problems in the brain. “EEG is very useful to understand temporal sequences the brain undergoes trying to solve problems,” Schwartz said. Luis Reyes, mind, brain and education student, said he was intrigued to learn how his field could help him become an effective teacher. Reyes said he chose to enroll because the study of the brain attracted him. “I saw an article in Time magazine that discussed how MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, was being used to study teens’ behavior and all the implications that this had concerning the legal system, parenting and education,” Reyes said. Reyes said he hopes this course will challenge him to consider new educational approaches that could contradict the accepted educational dogma. “I think that this course will provide me with a foundation to understand an emerging field that, in my opinion, promises to revolutionize the way we understand the learning process,” Reyes said. |