Bridging Conceptual Change and Cognitive Neuroscience: A Transdisciplinary Model Advantageous for Studying Teacher Growth

• In Event: Multiple Perspectives on the Lives of Teachers

Abstract

This analytic essay intersects two disciplines: conceptual change in cognitive science and memory in cognitive neuroscience. In doing so, the driving purpose is to attend to and focus on the ways that cognitive scientists have conceptualized the notion of concept formation and change with current neuroscientific findings of memory consolidation, retrieval, and manipulation. This paper proposes a transdisciplinary synthesis to more holistically analyze conceptual change through up-to-date research on how cortical interactions influence the decision-making process of teachers through their content, context, and motivational factors. By bringing together two different disciplines for consideration in conceptual change, this proposal provides a novel means to analyze teacher cognition and growth longitudinally.

Authors

• Phillip Andrew Boda, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Anlys Olivera, Teachers College, Columbia University