The Teaching Brain: Examining Teaching as a Dynamic System Using Cognitive, Physiologic, and Neurologic Tools

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-9 - Systems Thinking in Brain Research, Higher Education, and School and Workplace Design and Value

Abstract

This paper session proposes a new and transformative model of teaching as a developmental cognitive and emotional skill that is inherently based in human social interaction. Drawing parallels to our understanding of learning and teaching as a complex, interpersonal phenomenon, we have used Dynamic Systems Theory to explore the “teaching brain” with an innovative, multi-disciplinary research approach. We will share the design, implementation and analytic process of three studies, each in various stages of execution, which measured physiological and neurological markers as well as self-reported cognitive-emotional states during naturalistic teacher-student dyadic interactions. This work will create a new foundation for teacher-training programs and further our understanding of new online models of education that vary the levels of human face-to-face contact.

Author

• Vanessa Rodriguez, Harvard University