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Recent Submissions
Oromia Human Rights Abuse Coverage: Cataloging the Coverage of Human Rights Abuses in the Oromia Region
(2024-05-01) Adema-Jula , Biftu; Dakwa-Agyekum, Oketekyie; Diis, Abdirizak
Utilizing a literature review, this project catalogs and analyzes the coverage of human rights abuses in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. The Oromia region, like other parts of Ethiopia, has been blighted by ethnically motivated civil conflicts for decades. Our client, the Oromo Legacy Leadership and Advocacy Association, sought to understand any discernible trends in the level of human rights abuse coverage the Oromia region received over the last six years and the nature of that coverage. We tallied the amount of coverage human rights issues in Oromia received from 2018 to 2023 for seven select media organizations and human rights-focused international non-governmental organizations (INGO). We highlighted any discernible trends in the level of coverage the region received from the selected organizations. Additionally, we analyzed the formal human rights abuse reporting prepared by four human rights-focused governmental bodies to identify the amount of coverage focused on human rights abuses received by the region, recurring themes across their reporting, and analyzed the major themes noted for congruence with the prevailing socio-political situation in Ethiopia at the time. To provide some comparative basis from other regions in the country we also completed the steps detailed above for tallying coverage for the Amhara and Tigray regions for the years 2018 and 2020. We also analyzed the reporting on the Amhara and Tigray regions in the formal report reviewed in conjunction with the Oromia region. We found that 2020 represented the peak year of coverage for the Oromia region but only as a by-product of the increased focus on the fledgling conflict in the Tigray region despite the conflict in the Oromia region having been ongoing for years by then. We also found that the onset of the Tigray conflict brought with it an increased level of coverage in the formal human rights reporting that was absent from ongoing conflicts in other regions. We recommend additional research here with an expanded timeline and more defined parameters to analyze the articles and reports published by the media and INGOs for a comprehensive and qualitative analysis.
Taking an educational psychology course improves neuroscience literacy but does not reduce belief in neuromyths
(Public Library of Science, 2018-02-18) Im, Soo-hyun; Cho, Joo-Yun; Dubinsky, Janet M; Varma, Sashank
Educators are increasingly interested in applying neuroscience findings to improve educational practice. However, their understanding of the brain often lags behind their enthusiasm for the brain. We propose that educational psychology can serve as a bridge between basic research in neuroscience and psychology on one hand and educational practice on the other. We evaluated whether taking an educational psychology course is associated with increased neuroscience literacy and reduced belief in neuromyths in a sample of South Korean pre-service teachers. The results showed that taking an educational psychology course was associated with the increased neuroscience literacy, but there was no impact on belief in neuromyths. We consider the implications of these and other findings of the study for redesigning educational psychology courses and textbooks for improving neuroscience literacy.
The neuroscience of active learning and direct instruction
(Elsevier, 2024-05-23) Dubinsky, Janet M; Hamid, Arif A
Throughout the educational system, students experiencing active learning pedagogy perform better and fail less than those taught through direct instruction. Can this be ascribed to differences in learning from a neuroscientific perspective? This review examines mechanistic, neuroscientific evidence that might explain differences in cognitive engagement contributing to learning outcomes between these instructional approaches. In classrooms, direct instruction comprehensively describes academic content, while active learning provides structured opportunities for learners to explore, apply, and manipulate content. Synaptic plasticity and its modulation by arousal or novelty are central to all learning and both approaches. As a form of social learning, direct instruction relies upon working memory. The reinforcement learning circuit, associated agency, curiosity, and peer-to-peer social interactions combine to enhance motivation, improve retention, and build higher-order-thinking skills in active learning environments. When working memory becomes overwhelmed, additionally engaging the reinforcement learning circuit improves retention, providing an explanation for the benefits of active learning. This analysis provides a mechanistic examination of how emerging neuroscience principles might inform pedagogical choices at all educational levels.
Acceptability of Neuroscientific Interventions in Education
(Springer, 2021-08-05) Schmied, Astrid; Varma, Sashank; Dubinsky, Janet M
Researchers are increasingly applying neuroscience technologies that probe or manipulate the brain to improve educational outcomes. However, their use remains fraught with ethical controversies. Here, we investigate the acceptability of neuroscience applications to educational practice in two groups of young adults: those studying bioscience who will be driving future basic neuroscience research and technology transfer, and those studying education who will be choosing among neuroscience- derived applications for their students. Respondents rated the acceptability of six scenarios describing neuroscience applications to education spanning multiple methodologies, from neuroimaging to neuroactive drugs to brain stimulation. They did so from two perspectives (student, teacher) and for three recipient populations (low-achieving, high-achieving students, students with learning disabilities). Overall, the biosciences students were more favorable to all neuroscience applications than the education students. Scenarios that measured brain activity (i.e., EEG or fMRI) to assess or predict intellectual abilities were deemed more acceptable than manipulations of mental activity by drug use or stimulation techniques, which may violate body integrity. Enhancement up to the norm for low-achieving students and especially students with learning disabilities was more favorably viewed than enhancement beyond the norm for high-achieving students. Finally, respondents rated neuroscientific applications to be less acceptable when adopting the perspective of a teacher than that of a student. Future studies should go beyond the acceptability ratings collected here to delineate the role that concepts of access, equity, authenticity, agency and personal choice play in guiding respondents’ reasoning.
Active Learning in a Neuroethics Course Positively Impacts Moral Judgment Development in Undergraduates
(Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 2015-03-09) Abu-Odeh, Desiree; Dziobek, Derek; Torres Jimenez, Natalia; Barbey, Christopher; Dubinsky, Janet M
The growing neuroscientific understanding of the biological basis of behaviors has profound social and ethical implications. To address the need for public awareness of the consequences of these advances, we developed an undergraduate neuroethics course, Neuroscience and Society, at the University of Minnesota. Course evolution, objectives, content, and impact are described here. To engage all students and facilitate undergraduate ethics education, this course employed daily reading, writing, and student discussion, case analysis, and team presentations with goals of fostering development of moral reasoning and judgment and introducing application of bioethical frameworks to topics raised by neuroscience. Pre- and post-course Defining Issues Test (DIT) scores and student end-of-course reflections demonstrated that course objectives for student application of bioethical frameworks to neuroethical issues were met. The active-learning, student-centered pedagogical approaches used to achieve these goals serve as a model for how to effectively teach neuroethics at the undergraduate level.