Requerimientos para la producción e implementación de un Material Educativo Digital / Requirements for Producing and Implementing Digital Educational Materials

Introducción: La revolución digital ha llegado al campo educativo y exige que los entornos educativos digitales generen experiencias educativas contundentes. Para realizar este proceso, es fundamental diseñar y construir un material educativo digital (MED) ajustado a los lineamientos tecnológicos, técnicos y pedagógicos enmarcados en la neurobiología del aprendizaje (NA) del estudiante. Objetivo: Evaluar los elementos necesarios para la producción de un material educativo digital (MED) inédito, mediante su implementación en estudiantes. Métodos: Se realizó un análisis cuantitativo a través del Test de Wilcoxon SR con el software SPSS de IBM, y un análisis cualitativo con el software QDA Miner. Posteriormente, se triangularon los datos. Resultados: En el análisis cuantitativo se obtuvo una diferencia estadísticamente significativa entre el pretest y el postest (p < 0,001) y la mediana entre dicha diferencia de 22,6 por ciento. En el análisis cualitativo se definieron tres categorías: los comentarios positivos de la experiencia, las sugerencias de los estudiantes al proceso y las dificultades técnicas surgidas durante la implementación. Conclusiones: Son evidentes el interés, la motivación, el enganche y el disfrute de los estudiantes de una forma activa en el proceso de aprendizaje, que proporcionan un punto de partida para transformar las prácticas educativas con resultados significativos(AU)

Introduction: The digital revolution has reached the educational field and demands that digital educational environments generate powerful educational experiences. To carry out this process, it is essential to design and build a digital educational material adjusted to the technological, technical and pedagogical guidelines framed in the student's neurobiology of learning. Objective: To evaluate the necessary elements for the production of an unpublished digital educational material, through its implementation in students. Methods: A quantitative analysis was performed through the Wilcoxon SR test using the IBM SPSS software, together with a qualitative analysis using the QDA Miner software. Subsequently, the data were triangulated. Results: The quantitative analysis yielded a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest (p < 0.001), as well as a median difference of 22.6 percent. The qualitative analysis permitted to define three categories: positive comments on the experience, the students' suggestions to the process, and technical difficulties encountered during the implementation. Conclusions: The students' active interest in, motivation for, engagement towards and enjoyment of the learning process are evident, facts that provide a starting point for transforming educational practices with significant outcomes(AU)

[The psychopathology of the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard School and its relevance for present-day psychiatry]. / Die Psychopathologie der Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard Schule und ihre Bedeutung für die aktuelle Psychiatrie.

Historically, the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard School represents a countermovement to psychopathology as described by Karl Jaspers and Kurt Schneider. The School aimed to interlink psychopathological and neurobiological aspects. Starting from the model of different functional neuronal systems, each of which can be disturbed in the sense of a hypofunction, hyperfunction, or parafunction, it developed a comprehensive phenomenology of psychopathological symptoms and syndromes that finally culminated in Karl Leonhard's course descriptions. This school of thought can provide important impulses even today. Thus, on the one hand, the neurobiological models can serve as the basis for additional research projects and on the other hand, the psychopathological descriptions of disorders can perhaps also be interpreted in the sense of typological constructs that can contribute to pragmatic clinical decisionmaking.

Neurobiology of Trauma and Mindfulness for Children.

Adverse child experiences (ACEs) have a significant impact on developing children, both physically and psychologically, with ongoing consequences that may manifest throughout adulthood. These negative health consequences can be mitigated if a child is given a supportive environment in which to develop healthy coping mechanisms. Those who specialize in caring for children with ACEs must understand the neurobiology of trauma to conceptualize how trauma triggers the brain and body when encountering stressful events. Mindfulness is an evidence-based practice that can be used as a healthy coping mechanism to develop self-regulation and resiliency in children. The purpose of this article is to provide evidenced-based research on the neurobiology of trauma and mindfulness intervention as a recommended modality for use in children. Furthermore, the content in this article was utilized in developing a training module for a suburban, youth organization that provides residential housing, basic necessities, education, and therapy for children with ACEs. The training module is intended to assist staff members in understanding the neurobiology of trauma and mindfulness techniques in their interactions with the children, thereby improving child-staff relationships and encouraging the development of self-regulation and healthy coping mechanisms.

Attachment-informed mentorship.

Attachment theory has been widely integrated into how clinicians view personal development and enduring relationships. Through the burgeoning field of interpersonal neurobiology, this model has also been applied to adult professional, training, and family relationships. However, the medical and integrated care literature currently lacks attempts to apply attachment principles to the mentorship relationships that are created between trainees and the faculty of a training program. Through this conceptual article, the authors introduce the attachment-informed mentorship model to bridge this gap. It is based on seven guiding principles that we hope can assist mentors and mentees: (a) Mentorship is an enduring relationship focused on the professional and personal development of the mentee. (b) Lived experience leads to attachment styles. (c) The mentoring relationship evolves across training. (d) The mentor and training program provide a secure base for the mentee. (e) The mentor and program provide a safe haven for the mentee. (f) Both mentor and mentee should address ruptures in trust. (g) Other roles may conflict with the mentor role. (PsycINFO Database Record

Implementation of a Collaborative Series of Classroom-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Spanning Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, and Neurobiology.

Classroom undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide students access to the measurable benefits of undergraduate research experiences (UREs). Herein, we describe the implementation and assessment of a novel model for cohesive CUREs focused on central research themes involving faculty research collaboration across departments. Specifically, we implemented three collaborative CUREs spanning chemical biology, biochemistry, and neurobiology that incorporated faculty members' research interests and revolved around the central theme of visualizing biological processes like Mycobacterium tuberculosis enzyme activity and neural signaling using fluorescent molecules. Each CURE laboratory involved multiple experimental phases and culminated in novel, open-ended, and reiterative student-driven research projects. Course assessments showed CURE participation increased students' experimental design skills, attitudes and confidence about research, perceived understanding of the scientific process, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. More than 75% of CURE students also engaged in independent scientific research projects, and faculty CURE contributors saw substantial increases in research productivity, including increased undergraduate student involvement and academic outputs. Our collaborative CUREs demonstrate the advantages of multicourse CUREs for achieving increased faculty research productivity and traditional CURE-associated student learning and attitude gains. Our collaborative CURE design represents a novel CURE model for ongoing laboratory reform that benefits both faculty and students.

What is so special about smell? Olfaction as a model system in neurobiology.

Neurobiology studies mechanisms of cell signalling. A key question is how cells recognise specific signals. In this context, olfaction has become an important experimental system over the past 25 years. The olfactory system responds to an array of structurally diverse stimuli. The discovery of the olfactory receptors (ORs), recognising these stimuli, established the olfactory pathway as part of a greater group of signalling mechanisms mediated by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are the largest protein family in the mammalian genome and involved in numerous fundamental physiological processes. The OR family exhibits two characteristics that make them an excellent model system to understand GPCRs: its size and the structural diversity of its members. Research on the OR binding site investigates what amino acid sequences determine the receptor-binding capacity. This promises a better understanding of how the basic genetic makeup of GPCRs relates to their diversification in ligand-binding capacities.

Reducing the stigma of depression through neurobiology-based psychoeducation: a randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: Attribution theory claims that people who are stigmatized experience more negative emotional and behavioral reactions from others when they are thought to be responsible for their problems. Accordingly, this study proposed a neurobiology-based psychoeducational intervention, which attempted to reduce people's blameworthy attitudes toward and social distance from depressed individuals. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-two college students were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. Participants in the experimental group received a 30-min lecture on neurobiology-based psychoeducation for depressive disorders, and were asked to fill out questionnaires before and 2 weeks after the intervention. The control group, with no intervention, also filled out the same questionnaires before and 2 weeks after the experiment. The main contents of the neurobiology-based psychoeducation concerned the neurotransmission processes and biological mechanisms of depression, in order to emphasize the biological attribution of depression. RESULTS: An ancova indicated that the neurobiology-based psychoeducational intervention significantly elevated the biological attribution of depression and reduced the social distance from depressed individuals. Psychological blameworthy attitudes toward depression, however, did not significantly change. CONCLUSIONS: Through a brief psychoeducation program about depression, knowledge of neuroscience could lead to positive benefits. Public awareness that depression can be effectively prevented and treated may be a way in which people can accept depressed individuals. Further studies are needed to certify the mechanisms of the effect of neurobiology-based psychoeducation.

An avant-garde professorship of neurobiology in education: Christofredo Jakob (1866-1956) and the 1920s lead of the National University of La Plata, Argentina.

The interdisciplinary trend in "Mind, Brain, and Education" has witnessed dynamic international growth in recent years. Yet, it remains little known that the National University of La Plata in Argentina probably holds the historical precedent as the world's first institution of higher education that formally included neurobiology in the curriculum of an educational department, having done so as early as 1922. The responsibility of teaching neurobiology to educators was assigned to Professor Christofredo Jakob (1866-1956). In the present article, we highlight Jakob's emphasis on interdisciplinarity and, in particular, on the neuroscientific foundations of education, including special education.

Interview with Michael Gazzaniga.

Widely considered the father of the field of cognitive neuroscience, Professor Michael S. Gazzaniga is one of the world's premier neuroscientists. He founded the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis; the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College; the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute; Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience; and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. He is currently the director of the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Born on December 12, 1939 in Los Angeles and educated at Dartmouth College, he received his Ph.D. in psychobiology at the California Institute of Technology under the tutelage of Roger Sperry. As a graduate student, Professor Gazzaniga initiated the first lateralized testing of human split-brain patients, leading to a fundamental shift in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another. His many scholarly publications and pioneering work during the last 50 years have produced significant contributions to our understanding of how the brain enables the mind. His landmark 1995 book for MIT Press, The Cognitive Neurosciences, now in its fourth edition, is recognized as the sourcebook for the field. He has also published many books accessible to a lay audience, including Mind Matters, Nature's Mind, and The Ethical Brain.

Neuroscience, power and culture: an introduction.

In line with their vast expansion over the last few decades, the brain sciences -- including neurobiology, psychopharmacology, biological psychiatry, and brain imaging -- are becoming increasingly prominent in a variety of cultural formations, from self-help guides and the arts to advertising and public health programmes. This article, which introduces the special issue of "History of the Human Science" on "Neuroscience, Power and Culture," considers the ways that social and historical research can, through empirical investigations grounded in the observation of what is actually happening and has already happened in the sciences of mind and brain, complement speculative discussions of the possible social implications of neuroscience that now appear regularly in the media and in philosophical bioethics. It suggests that the neurosciences are best understood in terms of their lineage within the "psy"-disciplines, and that, accordingly, our analyses of them will be strengthened by drawing on existing literatures on the history and politics of psychology -- particularly those that analyze formations of knowledge, power and subjectivity associated with the discipline and its practical applications. Additionally, it argues against taking today's neuroscientific facts and brain-targetting technologies as starting points for analysis, and for greater recognition of the ways that these are shaped by historical, cultural and political-economic forces.

The psychobiology of aggression and violence: bioethical implications.

Bioethics is concerned with the moral aspects of biology and medicine. The bioethical relevance of aggression and violence is clear, as very different moral and legal responsibilities may apply depending on whether aggression and violence are forms of behaviour that are innate or acquired, deliberate or automatic or not, or understandable and justifiable based on causes. Biological research and natural science theories are a basic ingredient for reflections, arguments and decisions on such matters. This study presents the problem of the causes of aggressive behaviour, the evolutionary understanding and definition of aggressive behaviour, the biological basis for this behaviour and the link between emotions and aggression. A growing body of evidence suggests that innate factors of behaviour (be they genetic or neurobiological) do not by themselves define behaviour and nor do acquired factors such as learning, cultural norms or worldviews. Both types of factor interact from the outset to shape a development process that mutually interacts to define beliefs or behaviour.

Modular laboratory exercises to analyze the development of zebrafish motor behavior.

The embryonic zebrafish is an excellent research model to examine the neural networks that coordinate locomotive behavior. It demonstrates robust locomotive behavior early in development, its nervous system is relatively simple and accessible compared to mammalian systems, and there are mutants available with specific molecular and motor deficits. We have developed a series of four exercises that provide students with a basic understanding of locomotive behavior development, nervous system organization, development of neurotransmitter responsiveness, and genetics. The first two exercises can be performed in one 3-h laboratory period, and the third and fourth exercises, which build on the first two, can be completed in one or two subsequent periods. In the first exercise, students observe and quantify two distinct behaviors that characterize different developmental stages, spontaneous movement, and touch-evoked tail coiling. In the second, the students use a pharmacological approach to determine if the neurotransmitter glycine is required for the embryo to perform each behavior. In the third, they use simple lesions to assess whether the brain is required for each type of behavior. In the fourth, the students examine bandoneon, a zebrafish motility mutant that has a glycine receptor defect, by observing its behavior during spontaneous movement and touch-evoked tail coiling, performing lesions, and applying pharmacological drugs. These exercises are readily adaptable, such that portions can be omitted or expanded to examine other neurotransmitter systems or later stages of locomotive behavior development.