Select an item by clicking its checkbox
Cover image

The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking, and Peace in Higher Education

Book
Ludvik, Marilee J. Bresciani, ed.
2016
Stylus, Sterling, VA
LB1062..N48 2016
Topics: Cognitive Development   |   Teaching Critical Thinking   |   Constructivist & Active Learning Theory

Additional Info:
Is higher education preparing our students for a world that is increasingly complex and volatile, and in which they will have to contend with uncertainty and ambiguity? Are we addressing the concerns of employers who complain that graduates do not possess the creative, critical thinking, and communication skills needed in the workplace?

This book harnesses what we have learned from innovations in teaching, from neuroscience, experiential learning, and studies on mindfulness and personal development to transform how we deliver and create new knowledge, and indeed transform our students, developing their capacities for adaptive boundary spanning.

Starting from the premise that our current linear, course-based, educational practices are frequently at odds with how our neurological system facilitates learning and personal development, the authors set out an alternative model that emphasizes a holistic approach to education that integrates mindful inquiry practice with self-authorship and the regulation of emotion as the cornerstones of learning, while demonstrating how these align with the latest discoveries in neuroscience.

The book closes by offering practical ideas for implementation, showing how simple refinements in classroom and out-of-classroom experiences can create foundations for students to develop key skills that will enhance adaptive problem solving, creativity, overall wellbeing, innovation, resilience, compassion, and ultimately world peace. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword (Gavin W. Henning)
Foreword (Ralph Wolff)
Acknowledgments
Preface (Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik)
Introduction: Rethinking How We Design, Deliver, and Evaluate Higher Education (Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik)

ch. 1 Basic Brain Parts and Their Functions (Matthew R. Everard, Jacopo Annese, and Marliee J. Bresciano)
ch. 2 Unpacking Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis (Matthew Evrard and Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik, with review by Thomas Van Vleet)
ch. 3 Strategies That Intentionally Change the Brain (Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik, Matthew R. Evrard, and Philippe Goldin, with review by Thomas Van Vleet)
ch. 4 (Re)Conceptualizing Meaning Making in Higher Education: A Case for Integrative Educational Encounters That Prepare Students for Self-Authorship (Emily Marx and Lisa Gates)
ch. 5 Intentional Design of High-Impact Experiential Learning (Patsy Tinsley McGill)
ch. 6 Enhancing Well-Being and Resilience (Christine L. Hoey)
ch. 7 Enhancing Creativity (Shaila Mulholland)
ch. 8 Enhancing Compassion and Empathy (Sara Schairer)
ch. 9 Balance Begets Integration: Exploring the Importance of Sleep, Movement, and Nature (Bruce Bekkar)
ch. 10 Enhancing and Evaluating Critical Thinking Dispositions and Holistic Student Learning and Development Through Integrative Inquiry (Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik, Philippe Goldin, Matthew R. Evrard, J. Luke Wood, Wendy Bracken, Charles Iyoho, and Mark Tucker)
ch. 11 Mindfulness at Work in Higher Education Leadership: From Theory to Practice Within the Classroom and Across the University (Les P. Cook and Anne Beffel)
ch. 12 A Mindful Approach to Navigating Strategic Change (Laurie J. Cameron)

Afterword: Adoption, Adaptation, and Transformation (Marilee J. Bresciani Ludvik)
About the Editor and Contributors
Index
Wabash Center