Short-term research projects in cognitive neuroscience for undergraduate students: a contingency plan to maintain quality teaching during COVID-19 pandemic.

The Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed serious restrictions for academic institutions to maintain their research and teaching practical subjects. Universities have implemented adaptive measures to maintain educational activities and achieve the learning objectives for undergraduate and postgraduate students by shifting to online teaching and learning. Although such approaches have enabled delivering the theoretical content of courses during the pandemic, universities have faced serious difficulties in running practicals with actual research experiments and teaching hand-on skills because such activities potentially override the required safety guidelines. Here, we report an adaptive measure, implemented at Monash University, to run home-based studies in cognitive neuroscience and achieve learning objectives, which are normally delivered in face-to-face practicals. We introduce two specifically designed short-term research projects and describe how different aspects of these projects, such as tutorials, experiments, and assessments, were modified to meet the required social distancing. The results of cognitive tests were closely comparable between the laboratory-based and home-based experiments indicating that students followed the guidelines and the required procedures for a reliable data collection. Our assessments of students' performance and feedback indicate that the majority of our educational goals were achieved, while all safety guidelines and distancing requirements were also met.

Comparative cognition and cognitive ecology in the classroom.

The scientific study of animal cognition has roots in both experimental psychology and evolutionary biology, with researchers often working in related disciplines such as neuroscience, computing science, or ecology. The interdisciplinary nature of the endeavor is both a strength and a challenge for the field. We begin this review with a brief history of comparative cognition and cognitive ecology, focusing on cognitive processes as a mechanistic link between ethology and behaviorism. We then present a "snapshot" of modern-day undergraduate courses in Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom that focus on animal cognition, highlighting the various course names and host departments. We emphasize the value of keeping (or adding) this subject material within curricula, either as independent courses or as enhanced material in other courses. We also present pedagogical approaches to teaching animal cognition that include techniques in large lecture-based courses and in smaller courses that emphasize hands-on experiential learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

An Educational Scenario for the Learning of the Conic Section: Studying the Ellipse with the Use of Digital Tools and Elements of Differentiated Instruction and Cognitive Neurosciences.

This study presents an educational scenario for the learning of the conic section, the ellipse. The scenario was designed based on the results of neuroeducation research and upon the principles of differentiated instruction. The proposition includes utilization of multiple representational tools as well as several tangible tools, the use of which can support the context of differentiated instruction according to the principles of cognitive neurosciences. In addition, it includes a large number of activities derived from the real world and other disciplines. The proposed scenario lasts four teaching periods, during which students will have the opportunity to discover, to experiment with, and above all to collaboratively pursue learning while choosing their own learning path in the context of differentiated instruction.

Neurociencia y ejercicio: un indicador de salud y aprendizaje en el contexto educativo / Neuroscience and exercise: an indicator of health and learning in the educational context

RESUMEN En los últimos años, la neurociencia ha demostrado los beneficios particulares y globales del ejercicio y de la vida activa en la salud de los escolares, ya que enriquecen las redes neuronales, la plasticidad y producción de neurotransmisores que favorecen distintos dominios del comportamiento y condición humana. En este contexto, el objetivo del ensayo es dialogar en función de la importancia de una vida activa en el contexto educativo y de una disciplina que no solo cumple un rol a nivel cerebral o morfofuncional, sino más bien multidimensional, que emerge desde el nivel molecular, celular, cerebral, sistémico, psicológico y social. Por ello, una de las principales conclusiones tiene que ver con la posibilidad de permitir a los y las estudiantes que sean capaces de comprender y reflexionar en función de sus procesos vitales, que posibilitan sus aprendizajes como un continuo armónico entre la organicidad y la cultura, entre vida y lenguaje.(AU)

ABSTRACT In recent years, neuroscience has shown the particular and global benefits of exercise and active life in the health of students. They enrich neural networks, plasticity and production of neurotransmitters that favour different domains of human behavior and condition. In this context, the objective of this essay is to dialogue based on the importance of an active life in the educational field and a discipline that not only plays a role at the brain or morphofunctional level, but rather multidimensional, which emerges from the molecular level, cellular, cerebral, systemic, psychological and social. Because of this, one of the main conclusions is related to the students' possibility of having the ability to understand and reflect processes that enable learning according their own life, as an harmonic continuum between organicity and culture and between life and language.(AU)

Two birds with one stone: experiences of combining clinical and research training in addiction medicine.

BACKGROUND: Despite a large evidence-base upon which to base clinical practice, most health systems have not combined the training of healthcare providers in addiction medicine and research. As such, addiction care is often lacking, or not based on evidence or best practices. We undertook a qualitative study to assess the experiences of physicians who completed a clinician-scientist training programme in addiction medicine within a hospital setting. METHODS: We interviewed physicians from the St. Paul's Hospital Goldcorp Addiction Medicine Fellowship and learners from the hospital's academic Addiction Medicine Consult Team in Vancouver, Canada (N = 26). They included psychiatrists, internal medicine and family medicine physicians, faculty, mentors, medical students and residents. All received both addiction medicine and research training. Drawing on Kirkpatrick's model of evaluating training programmes, we analysed the interviews thematically using qualitative data analysis software (Nvivo 10). RESULTS: We identified five themes relating to learning experience that were influential: (i) attitude, (ii) knowledge, (iii) skill, (iv) behaviour and (v) patient outcome. The presence of a supportive learning environment, flexibility in time lines, highly structured rotations, and clear guidance regarding development of research products facilitated clinician-scientist training. Competing priorities, including clinical and family responsibilities, hindered training. CONCLUSIONS: Combined training in addiction medicine and research is feasible and acceptable for current doctors and physicians in training. However, there are important barriers to overcome and improved understanding of the experience of addiction physicians in the clinician-scientist track is required to improve curricula and research productivity.