5.5.1 Neurosciences in Education

Research Area 5. Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Social Behavior  → Research Program 5.5 Neurosciences in Education

Project period

2020-2025

Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital

The achievements of modern neuroscience can contribute to the realization of many educational goals through embedding them in the practice of development and evaluation of the components of human potential, both cognitive and noncognitive, taken into account in the training of teaching staff, etc.

The research project Neuroscience in Education focuses on the development of tools for assessing educational results using the achievements of neuroscience, which will expand the possibilities of assessment in education and allow using the results obtained in practice

Project Aim

Approbating and adapting the results of neurocognitive research for the practice of education: develop tools for assessing the components of human potential formed within the educational system based on the results of neurocognitive research and transfer of the results of neuroscience research into the practice of forming components of human potential

Project Objectives:

1. Developing new approaches to measuring educational outcomes and educational achievements using neurocognitive tools and the results of neurocognitive research
2. Developing, adapting and evaluating psychometric qualities of a line of tools for evaluating subject (personal and/or meta-subject) educational results and related constructs using neurocognitive tools and the results of neurocognitive research
3. Developing recommendations for the education system aimed at improving educational outcomes based on the results of neurocognitive research

Key Findings

2020

Approaches have been studied and a review has been prepared on the use of neurocognitive tools and research results for assessing students' personal educational outcomes, describing problems and challenges for modern neuroscience in education and modern research and educational centers and programs dealing with this issue

2021

A study of the characteristics of the stimulus material for assessing the processes of perception of persons at different age cohorts (from 6 to 18 years) has been conducted, a study of the contribution of non-symbolic sense of number to the mathematical achievements of students in elementary school has been conducted, a study design has been developed aimed at studying the features of non-verbal communication among participants in the educational process in a virtual environment

2022

Individual differences in emotion recognition have been revealed (empirical data amounted to about 5,000 respondents and 294 stimuli – images of a face expressing a particular emotion). We have found out that respondents were more accurate in determining the valence of emotions than in their differentiation, joy and surprise were most easily recognized by respondents, and emotions of neutral valence, such as pride and relief, were the most difficult to recognize.

Recognition of emotions on the face of individuals of different ages

2023

It is shown that most practitioners in the field of education define neuroscience as a “network of disciplines” that study “everything related to thinking and the brain”; our respondents associate their acquaintance with neuroscience to a greater extent with the process of self-development and at the same time report a lack of acquired knowledge when receiving higher education.

Discussing the attitude of educational practitioners to the sciences studying the brain, it can be argued that it is mainly expressed in doubts and fears when understanding the importance of this area (fear of manipulation of people's thinking by scientists; distrust of the evidence of neuroscience beyond neuroscience and neurosurgery; fear about the possibility of conducting research in an educational context due to fears of parents and teachers).

Due to the lack of systematic theoretical knowledge in the field of neuroscience, it is difficult for educational practitioners to systematically apply neuroscience-based methods in their work (in addition, exposure to neuromyphs is traced).

Educational Programs

Master's Program Science of Learning and Assessment

Educational trajectory Designing Educational Products. Pedagogy Master’s Program

Researcher at EdTech Minor

HSE and RANEPA Joint Educational Workshops Social and Humanitarian Dimension of Human Potential

Study Course Comparative Analysis of Education Systems

Online Course Universal Competencies and New Literacy

Publications

1. Kuzmina Y., Antipkina I. The Association between Approximate Number Sense (ANS) and Math Achievement Depends on the Format of the ANS Test // Journal of Cognition and Development. 2022. P. 545-570
2. Beliaeva A.Yu. (2024) How Students Behave While Solving Critical Thinking Tasks in an Unconstrained Online Environment: Insights from Process Mining. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 3 (1), pp. 4–26. doi

3. Strukova A. S. et al. The ideas of primary school teachers about the socio-emotional development of students //Education issues. - 2023. – No. 2. – pp. 187-213. doi

   4. A.V. Petrakova, E.I. Lebedeva, Yu.V. Kuzmina, E.N. Yurchik, The experience of creating a Russian database of persons depicting various emotions: The first stage, psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics. 2024. Vol. 21. No. 2. pp. 423-431, doi: 10.17323/1813-8918-2024-2-423-431

Tools

Russian test for the recognition of emotional expressions

Conferences

HSE Open Seminar on Education:
Grigorenko E., Professor at the University of Houston (USA) How Can the Neuroscience of Education Help in Mastering Reading Skills? (RU) (Moscow, Russia, October 11, 2021)

Interdisciplinary Seminar Neuroscience in Education (RU) (regular joint seminar of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain) (Moscow, Russia, 2022)

Seminar "The History of research in the field of Neuroeducation" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience in Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, April 22, 2022)

Seminar "Neurobiological foundations of Cognitive Development" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience in Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, May 20, 2022)

Report: Arsalid M. "Neurobiological foundations of Cognitive Development"

Seminar "Neuromyphs" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience in Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, June 8, 2022)

Seminar "Phonological deficit and its brain correlates in children with dyslexia" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience in Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, September 16, 2022)

Report: Dorofeeva S.V., Bolgina T.A. "Phonological deficiency and its brain correlates in children with dyslexia"

Seminar "How Categorical Learning research can be useful in Education" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience of Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, October 7, 2022)

Report: A.A. Kotov "How categorical learning research can be useful in education"

Seminar "Are they reading or pretending?" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience of Education" of the Institute of Education of the Higher School of Economics, the Department of Psychology of the Higher School of Economics, the Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research of the Higher School of Economics, the Center for Language and Brain of the Higher School of Economics (Online, October 28, 2022).

Report: Bakai E.A., Yusupova E.M. "Are they reading or pretending?" Test reading strategies for 4th grade students"

Seminar "What do we know about the brain of a gifted student?" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience of Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, November 18, 2022)

Seminar "Application of Multilevel voice Analysis technology in an educational context" within the framework of the regular interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience of Education" of the HSE Institute of Education, the HSE Department of Psychology, the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, the HSE Center for Language and Brain (Online, December 9, 2022)

Report: Potashov A.I. "Application technologies of multilevel voice analysis in an educational context"

Interdisciplinary seminar "Neuroscience of Education":

- Assessment of flexible skills in children with attention disorders (Moscow, Russia, February 3, 2023)

- Dialogue of speech therapy schools: Russia and Germany (online, March 3, 2023)

- Management of cognitive load in the creation of digital educational material (Moscow, Russia, March 31, 2023)

- Research topics, which teachers choose (online, June 9, 2023)

- Search for biomarkers of dyslexia: how and why (online, June 23, 2023)

- Mental model as a factor of social competence of primary and secondary school students (online, September 22, 2023)

- Children with autism spectrum disorder: occurrence, symptoms and interventions (online, October 27, 2023)

- Interdisciplinary studies of social interaction in learning (online, November 17, 2023)

XXIV Yasin (April) International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development(Moscow, Russia, April 4-14, 2023):

- Special round table "Neuroscience in education" (14/04/2023)