AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEUROSCIENCE TO THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS AND TEACHER TRAINING

Abstract

This study analyzes the contributions of neuroscience to the educational process and teacher training at José Afonso Tinoco Municipal School and Professor Freitas Municipal School, with the participation of elementary and middle school teachers. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodology, it includes a questionnaire for teachers and a documentary analysis of the Pedagogical Political Project (PPP) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Based on these methodological procedures, the study sought to reflect on the following question: How can neuroscience contribute to the educational process and teacher training in municipal schools in the city of Galinhos, Rio Grande do Norte? In this sense, stimulating learning is both an action and a reaction for all those committed to the educational process. According to Flor (2011), neuroscience comprises a set of disciplines that address the functioning of the nervous system in its various aspects. It is an interdisciplinary set of sciences related to the study or scientific investigation of brain function, referred to in the plural as neurosciences. According to the author, this disciplinary set has been one of the fastest-growing and developing fields of scientific research worldwide, and particularly in Brazil. New specialties emerge constantly, and with them, new methodologies for studying the nervous system are being described. Therefore, neuroscience deals with an interface between anatomy, physiology, neurology, neurobiology, and neuropsychology that can be articulated with other areas of knowledge such as psychology, psychoanalysis, education, linguistics, among others. Education aims to develop new knowledge or behaviors, mediated by a process involving learning. It is commonly said that someone learns when they acquire the ability to solve problems and perform tasks, using attitudes, skills, and knowledge acquired throughout a teaching-learning process. In other words, we learn when we are able to exhibit and express new behaviors that allow us to transform our practice and the world we live in, fulfilling ourselves as individuals living in society. In recent years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has promoted global forums to discuss the interface between neuroscience and education. Topics include assessing the influence of nature (genetics) and nurture ("a healthy home and a good school") on learning success; the true importance of the early years for successful learning throughout life; the influence of age on the acquisition of specific attitudes, skills, and knowledge; differences in learning between young people and adults; the meaning of intelligence; the functioning of motivation; and the neuropsychological basis for learning to write, read, and math (CONSENZA; GUERRA, 2011). From this desirable and necessary dialogue between education and neuroscience, challenges emerge that can contribute to the advancement of both fields. One of these is clarifying the true contribution of neuroscience to education and also its limitations, which demands seriousness and ethical commitment from the media that promote scientific dissemination. Guidance from educators, teachers, and parents—all educators—on the general organization, functions, limitations, and potential of the nervous system will enable them to better understand how children learn and develop, how the body can be influenced by what we sense from the world, and why the stimuli we receive are so relevant to an individual's cognitive, emotional, and social development (CONSENZA; GUERRA, 2011). Saltini (2008) believes that education must be sensitive, because when we approach a child, we must consider how to prepare them for life twenty or thirty years from now. We cannot guide them toward lessons, information, and solutions that are only valid for today. Based on this idea, it is interesting to explain that education presents neuroscience with the proposal of relevant topics to be studied, such as the functioning of the nervous system in learners with different brains, such as those with autism, intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, and others. Inclusion policies require the training of support professionals in regular schools. Studies and discoveries of specific pedagogical strategies, considering the distinct brain functioning of learners with a wide range of syndromes, are essential to making inclusive education for children and adolescents with special educational needs a reality. Neuroscience has a fundamental contribution to make, and this contribution must be constantly nurtured by the observations and experiences of educators. who work with students who learn differently (CONSENZA; GUERRA, 2011). Based on the ideas of Cosenza and Guerra (2011), our behaviors are products of the activity of our brain, or rather, of our nervous system. Our sensations and perceptions, motor actions, emotions, thoughts, ideas, and decisions—that is, our mental functions—are associated with the functioning of the brain. The authors further emphasize that if behaviors depend on the brain, the acquisition of new behaviors, an important objective of education, also results from processes that occur in the learner's brain. Educators need a substantial understanding of the human brain in order to better develop, define, and organize concepts about learning. They need to identify, through the central nervous system, its processes and how they produce more or less permanent changes, translated into functional or behavioral modifications, allowing for better adaptation of the individual to their environment in response to an internal or external demand of the organism. The research drew on the thinking of theorists such as Cosenza, Guerra, Saltini, Delduque, and Relvas, among others, who led their studies to a more detailed understanding of teaching, with neuroscience at the forefront. Neuroscience's contribution to teacher training is crucial, given that teachers must keep pace with the changes of the 21st century, and knowledge of human brain function is essential in this process.