Minding the Brain: Andragogies that Inspire Neuronal Firing and Wiring

Minding the Brain: Andragogies That Inspire Neuronal Firing and Wiring Emerging findings from the field of neuro-education appear to offer opportunities to better understand the scientific underpinnings of andragogy, to assist professionals in developing more accurate understandings of how to support and scaffold scholarly teaching and learning experiences among adult learners. The purpose of this scholar-to-scholar proposal is to better understand the education-neuroscientific dimensions of andragogy, in order to increase the quality of andragogical scaffolding. The connection between andragogy and neuro-education is socio-cognitive, as exterior spaces affect interior spaces. In other words, interactions occurring between individuals in shared spaces strongly affect both cognition and behavior. The first major finding is that scholarly andragogy appears to flourish in the presence of biochemical sparks known as neurotransmitters and neuro-proteins that are environmentally stimulated and positively correlated with elaboratively encoded and enduring understandings. The second major finding is that the sociocognitive dimensions of andragogy induces lasting, neuroplastic brain change in the form of restructured neuronal connections and networks. In short, changes in social spaces change cognitive spaces. This interactive session models research-informed SoTL dynamics and welcomes all participants, regardless of levels of neuro-education background knowledge. Teaching and learning methods will include sensory-rich media and participant-rich interactions. Learner outcomes will include summarizing and modeling examples of neuro-education and SoTL andragogies