This spring OID is running a Faculty Study Seminar on James’ Zull’s From Brain to Mind: Using Neuroscience to Guide Change in Education (Stylus, 2011). The seminars provide a means for faculty with common interests to learn more about a teaching-related topic. Each group meets four times a semester, at times mutually agreed to by participants, to read and discuss a teaching-related book (books provided by OID). Your only obligation is to read and to show up for discussion.
If you are familiar with James Zull’s 2004 book, The Art of Changing the Brain, you know he has both a keen interest in how the brain learns and a knack for making specialized research accessible and relatable to what we do in higher education. In his latest book, Zull (Professor of Biochemistry and former Director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western Reserve) considers how recent findings in neuroscience can inform our teaching practice. Looking at how the brain receives and processes information, he gleans applicable insights about cognitive development and metacognition. Zull argues that due to major social and economic change, a teaching and learning approach that is informed by cognitive science is increasingly necessary. In an environment in which our students can expect to hold multiple jobs (some of which may not yet exist), where technology is constantly shifting, and where information and opinion seem infinitely available, the awareness of how and why we think as we do is essential to society’s well-being.
If you are interested in participating in this FSS, please contact Anne Kelsch at anne.kelsch@email.und.edu or 777-4233.
