Courses

EDUC 907 - Educational Neuroscience: Background, Theories, and Methods

COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT

Simon Fraser University
Faculty of Education
Special Topics Course Announcement  

Course Number: 907-5
Credit Hours:  5
Vector:  Seminar 3; Lab 2

First semester offered:  Spring, 2006
Next offering: Spring, 2013

Title of Course:  Educational Neuroscience: Background, Theories, and Methods

Course description:
This course provides an overview of a potentially foundational new area of educational research. It will introduce new quantitative perspectives to areas of qualitative research in education concerned with cognition, affect, and learning. The course has no prerequisites, but is specifically aimed toward graduate students in education, and graduate students in the cognitive sciences with a humanist interest.

Prerequisite(s) (or special instructions):
Enrollment with consent of instructor, with an enrollment limit of 12 (max. 6-8 preferred)
 
Objectives:
The course will enable students to (a) understand the emergence of educational neuroscience as a new scientifically-grounded evidence-based approach to educational research in context with the emergence of cognitive neuroscience, and to differentiate it from more popular “brain-based” educational initiatives (b) engage theoretical issues and orientations of concern to educational neuroscience, and (c) provide opportunities to become familiar with methods of educational neuroscience through hands-on study.

Rationale for course offering:
The instructor has received funding to establish an educational neuroscience laboratory that will be operational Fall 2005. This laboratory will be equipped with integrated high-density electroencephalography, eye-tracking, biofeedback, and related systems for quantitatively augmenting clinical qualitative behavioural studies. This course has been designed to allow interested graduate students to become familiar with the many possibilities of educational neuroscience and to conduct studies in this lab.

Student Assignments:
Five 2-page discussion points         50%
Laboratory project                         50%

Further Information:
Contact Stephen Campbell

COURSE OUTLINE

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION 907-5
(Cat. #11389)


EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE:
THEORIES, METHODS, AND APPLICATIONS
Spring  Semester, 2007
Day/Time/Room: Tuesdays, 4:30PM-9:20PM, EDB 7610
___________________

Instructor:    Stephen R. Campbell, Ph.D.
Office:    EDB 8643;     Lab: EDB 7504
Office Hours:    by appointment
Voice-mail:    1-604-291-3630
E-mail:    sencael@sfu.ca
        
Course Description
This course provides an overview of a potentially foundational new area of educational research. It will introduce new quantitative perspectives to areas of qualitative research in education concerned with cognition, affect, and learning. The course has no prerequisites, but is aimed toward doctoral students in educational psychology and curriculum theory and implementation.

Course Requirements
In addition to attendance and participation in discussion, there will be five 1-page, (~150-250 word), “discussion paper” assignments (50%), students in groups will design, conduct, analyze, interpret, and write up a pilot project experiment in educational neuroscience chosen from a list of possibilities provided by the instructor (50%). Sample possibilities will be provided.

Course Text
Byrnes, J. P. (2001). Minds, brains, and learning: Understanding the psychological and educational relevance of neuroscientific research. The Guilford Press.         ISBN: 1572306521

Conduct of the Seminar
Participants will be expected to read, reflect upon, write about, and discuss approximately 30 to 50 pages of primary and/or secondary literature per week. Readings will be drawn from, but optional readings not necessarily restricted to, the required texts. Individual exploration, research, and exegesis of various threads of thought germane to the focus of the seminar will be encouraged.

Final Outline
Some slight modifications, corrections, or additions to this outline may be forthcoming at the beginning of the first class.

Course Schedule:

Week 1   
Introductions and Overview of the Course
Tour of the ENGRAMMETRON

Week 2
Background to Educational Neuroscience: Part 1
From Psychophysiology to Cognitive Neuroscience

Week 3
Background to Educational Neuroscience: Part 2
From Brain Based Education to Educational Neuroscience

Week 4
Theoretical Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 1
Fundamentals of Dynamic Systems Neuroscience

Week 5
Theoretical Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 2
Fundamentals of Educational Neuroscience

Week 6
Methodological Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 1-2
Pt. 1: Introduction to Experimental Design
Pt. 2: Experimental Design of a Sample Project

Week 7
Guest Lecture

Week 8
Methodological Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 2-3
Pt. 2: Experimental Design of a Sample Project
Pt. 3: Data Acquisition in the ENGRAMMETRON

Week 9
Methodological Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 4
Pt. 4: Data Analysis in the ENGRAMMETRON

Week 10
Methodological Issues in Educational Neuroscience: Part 5
Pt. 5: Data Interpretation

Weeks 11-13
Work on Sample Projects, Presentations, and Discussion