Assessing the changes in the brain representations of individual STEM concepts in the course of learning

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Discovering how STEM concepts are represented in the brain will allow us to both assess student learning of science and to teach STEM concepts more effectively. This project makes use of previous work by the investigators that demonstrated the remarkable new ability to determine the neural correlates (brain signature) of an individual concept, using fMRI brain imaging. Knowing the brain signature of physics concepts like gravity and velocity makes it possible to observe how the brain representations develop in a learner's brain, how they are organized, and how they depend on that person's learning background and on the teaching method. If we know the brain's way of organizing STEM concept knowledge, we can design curricula that teach to that organizational system and measure student learning at the brain level. This approach will not replace conventional tests, but it will provide a new type of basis for those tests such that they can assess alternative instructional methods. The investigators had previously shown that neural signatures can be decomposed into meaningful underlying dimensions that are remarkably similar across people, making it possible to precisely compare the neural representations of student learners to the representations of instructors or of other successful learners. What has not been attempted before, and is the major goal of this project, is relating the neural signatures of concept learning to various learning outcomes. Behavioral tests will assess the students? acquisition of the concepts and fMRI scans will assess the acquisition of the concomitant brain representations of the individual concepts. The students' neural representations will be analyzed for their intrinsic integrity, measured by a machine learning classifier's accuracy in identifying a concept from its fMRI signature. These will be compared to the neural representations of people with demonstrated mastery of the concepts (such as advanced students and the class instructors). Additionally, the project will assess changes in brain tissues (gray and white matter) that co-occur with concept learning, as well as changes in synchronization (functional connectivity) between brain regions involved in the concept representations. A central contribution of this project will be a brain-based understanding of how individual scientific concepts are learned and how this learning can be related to behavioral measures and individual differences. The long-term goal is to build the foundation for neuroscience findings to inform teaching techniques and assessments, and as inspiration for additional strategies to promote successful learning in both the general student population and students at risk for failure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.