What does neuroscience bring to the world of learning?

What is neuroscience?

The neuroscience is the set of scientific disciplines that study the nervous system, in order to approach the understanding of the mechanisms that regulate nerve controlling reactions and behavior of the brain. There are multiple disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, neurochemistry ... etc. That is why neuroscience must be studied in an integrated and complementary way in order to understand the complexity of the brain.

Learning and Neuroscience

Learning is, in essence, being able to survive. The man learned how to make a fire to warm himself and cook the meat and thus make himself less ill. He learned to cultivate the land to secure food regardless of hunting luck, and built houses that resisted rain and cold. By learning man, a future was forged and only in this way ensured the continuity of the species.

The brain is still a great unknown, but 30 years ago it was even more. Advances in neuroscience have allowed us to understand how the brain works and to see the important role that curiosity and emotion have in the acquisition of new knowledge . Today it has been scientifically proven that, whether in the classroom or in life, knowledge is not achieved by memorizing, or by repeating it over and over again, but by doing, experiencing and, above all, getting excited. The emotions, learning and memory are closely related. From the point of view of educational neuroscience ,It should be noted that intelligence is a multidimensional concept, so the same learning environment must lead children to explore, think and express their ideas through a variety of different codes.

Neuroscience and education

As far as neuroscience in education is concerned , there is now ample evidence of how a balanced and motivating learning environment requires children to do better. That is why children learn "socially", actively building understanding and meanings through active and dynamic interaction with the physical, social and emotional environment with which they come into contact.

The neuroeducación recommends that during the first years of life children are in touch with nature and do not force yourself to sit still long because at this age is when the shapes, colors, movement, depth are built … With which the concepts will then be woven. In order to mature, that is, create new networks of neurons , the brain needs new experiences. On the other hand, from 10 to 12 years old, the brain is specifically receptive to learning skills, so it is time to enhance the understanding of a text and to learn to reason mathematically. And, in adolescence, the brain is fully emotional and collides with the current educational modelthat at this stage requires them to learn biology, physics, chemistry ... totally rational subjects.

To give an example, many people have forgotten the name of the Gothic Kings or the formula to calculate the fall speed of a body but, instead, they remember how fun the classes of that particular teacher were (maybe math, language, history ... each one will have their own) that aroused their interest with practical exercises and stories on each topic. It was he who managed to awaken your attention and interest, and for which you decided to study what you later studied ... Emotion is fundamental in learning , for those who teach and for those who learn. That teacher made us capture the information in class through our senses and then go through the limbic system or emotional brain before being sent to the cerebral cortex, in charge ofcognitive processes . Within the limbic system, the amygdala has an essential function: it is one of the most primitive parts of the brain and is activated by events that it considers important for survival, consolidating a memory more efficiently.

Another factor to consider is surprise, since it activates the amygdala. The brain is an organ that likes to process patterns (understand things that are always repeated in the same way); it is the way he faces the world around him. Now, everything that is not part of these patterns is stored more deeply in the brain. Hence, using elements in the classroom that break the monotony benefit their learning .

Finally, empathy (the emotional approach) is the door that opens knowledge and with it the construction of the human being. Furthermore, it has been discovered that, contrary to what was long believed, the brain is not static, but there are critical periods in which one learning is more favored than another. For example, to learn to speak, the brain is more receptive from the time one is born until the age of seven. But this does not mean that later you will not be able to acquire language: the plasticity of the brain will allow you to do it even if it costs more. This discovery of the existence of learning periods opens new debates on the educational system and the need to rethink a new model in accordance with this cerebral predisposition to acquire new concrete content in stages.

The number of unmotivated young people who do not want to continue their studies or believe that what they are learning is useless is alarming. And the only way to combat it is through teachers who teach children to face new challenges, who transform the brain of their students taking advantage of all the tools that neuroeducation offers to teach better. Some experts claim that if the classes were more experiential, more knowledge could be imparted in less time. Teachers should take advantage of what is known about how the brain works to teach better. Children should be excited about what they are learning.

With this objective, ISEP presented in 2015 the Neuroeducation program , a master's degree that provides neuropsychological knowledge on how to better take advantage of neurobiological development to acquire learning and the different neurological disorders or alterations that affect cognition and emotions in children and adolescents, providing tools to make the most of its possibilities. At the same time, and depending on the maturation of the CNS itself, it is also intended to develop the skills it possesses. It is known that human beings only take advantage of an average of 10% of our intellectual potential.

ISEP offers the possibility of specializing in the area of ​​Neuroscience applied to the educational field and child development, analyzing the relationships between the brain and learning from an evolutionary perspective. Finding the best way to acquire knowledge means ending many learning problems classified as such, but that may only be the wrong way to learn. Neuroeducation allows finding the most appropriate way to personalize the learning process and make the most of each one.

How to study to be a neurologist

Given the scope of Neuroscience, accessing this type of study prepares the student to develop different types of professional projections related to the nervous system.

Many of today's neuroscientists have developed or specialized in one of these fields related to Medicine :

Neurosurgery

It is one of the most important specialties of Neuroscience and Medicine and it involves many years of training and professional development.

As surgeons , they are involved in operations involving the spinal cord, spine, or brain injury.

They are also responsible for proceeding surgically in nerve injuries or brain tumors that affect the senses and cognitive abilities.

Neuropathology

It is the study of the diagnosis of diseases .

They are usually medical professionals specialized in diseases that occur in the central nervous system, such as brain tumors .

Its objective is to identify the causes of diseases of this type and how they modify the functioning of the human body.

They usually carry out their work in laboratories , investigating brain tissues and biopsy materials.

Biological psychology

The Biopsychology is one of the specialties in which biology and neuroscience is used to explain and investigate human behavior , and which are also oriented psychiatrists.

It focuses on the knowledge and study of brain circuits, neurotransmitters and  all the mechanisms that intervene in the things that humans do.

Understanding how schizophrenia originates or how people who suffer from it behave is one of the investigations that develops this specialty.

The Biology is another scientific branches with which to address and focus on neuroscience research and laboratory work.

The contributions of Neuroscience are decisive in discovering how to tackle degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, dementia or other disorders that alter human behavior and abilities.

The diagnosis of tumors or the rehabilitation of injuries caused by accidents or strokes are also fields that depend on the activity of neurologists and their ability to innovate with new therapies and treatments.

Our brain defines us, processes the world around us, and determines how we respond to stimuli. In the brain, processes occur such as falling in love with someone, being able to recognize yourself, or having a smell remind you of a place. But it also has dysfunctions caused by diseases, injuries or developmental deficiencies that affect the organ that make us even lose the sense of proprioception or our ability to communicate. All these processes have to do with neuroscience

The official definition of neuroscience is "science that deals with the nervous system and each of its various specialized aspects and functions." Although it is a correct definition, for the experts of the Future Trends Forum (meeting in Madrid in November 2019) it falls short, they conclude that to go more in detail and taking into account the complexity of the processes that occur in the brain, it could say that neuroscience arises with the aim of understanding the functioning and structure of the nervous system from different approaches, using different methodologies and techniques. 

The development of neuroscience needs the combination of several considerations:

- The collaboration of a multitude of disciplines to unravel the ins and outs of the brain and nervous system. Disciplines such as chemistry, physiology, psychology, pharmacology, genetics, engineering in various fields, more recently, computing ...

- The new discoveries mean that we should not talk about just one neuroscience, but rather about various neurosciences that work on things as varied as brain structures, synapses between neurons and mental processes. But also of emotions, neurological and mental illnesses.

- The current neuroscience is only understood related to new technologies. With them, the observation of the brain is more detailed than ever, we can be improved humans thanks to the brain-machine interfaces and even create machines with feelings thanks to artificial intelligence. The development of computing, big data, the advent of virtual reality, nanotechnology, and genetic sequencing machines, among other technologies, are redefining this science.

Next, we go into detail of the 3 main current areas of the study of neuroscience.