Centre for the Study of Human and Moral Development in Education

14/03/2022

In the past three decades there has been substantial growth in new scientific knowledge about how we learn. Our new book will provide an exciting and comprehensive introduction to this new understanding! Coming soon!!!!

19/12/2021

Our new paper shows that parents quite literally shape the architecture of the child’s moral brain, for better or worse. Parental justice beliefs influence their children’s early neural computations of moral norm violation, which are predictive of child’s costly intervention behaviour in response to real-life moral dilemmas

Parents quite literally shape the architecture of the child’s moral brain, for better or worse. Parental justice beliefs influence their children’s early neural computations of moral norm violation, which are predictive of child’s costly intervention behaviour in response to real-life moral di...

15/05/2021

The team is busy on Saturday running a pilot test for the upcoming project. We feel very thankful to the little scientists who kindly gave their Saturday morning time!

29/03/2021

Educators often say they should motivate their students so that they can engage with the learning. Isn’t there something wrong with this common belief?

In opposition to motivation and its notion of the learner this paper argues that every student is equipped with a brain that is value-orientated towards learning and will learn, when nested in suitably affordant learning environments. In place of expectancy-value, we argue for value-embedded learning (VEL), which provides a non-reductive and biologically plausible account of how value and emotional salience are dynamically interwoven in the learning process.

(2021). The limits of motivation theory in education and the dynamics of value-embedded learning (VEL). Educational Philosophy and Theory. Ahead of Print.

16/03/2021

Some lesson plan ideas for those who wish to help children and young people understand how brains work!

Introduce students to different aspects of brain science with our free lesson plans for elementary, middle school, and high school students! Topics include neuroanatomy, the senses, memory, illusions, and depression. https://dana.org/LessonPlans

National Science Teaching Association

18/07/2020

HAMDIE team’s symposium titled “Under the microscope: The dynamics of moral & empathic development and learning” is being presented (via online streaming) at the 46th Annual Conference of the Association for Moral Education.
The symposium provides an overview of findings from our ongoing projects, then address challenging questions regarding the nature of empathy and morality development. Please join us at:https://whova.com/portal/webapp/assoc_202010/

10/07/2020

Hello parents and teachers, your unintended expressions of social bias are embraced by your little children.

Most conscientious adults tend to avoid making biased or discriminatory comments in the presence of children.

15/06/2020

The positive impacts from our tablet-based empathy game are noticeable both in children’s behaviours and their brain imaging data (EEG/ERP)! For more details, please read our new paper published in a special issue of the Mind, Brain and Education!

Ongoing research is providing new insights into the biological rudiments of empathy and its neurobiological underpinnings. There is also growing awareness that tablet technology, when used educationa...

15/06/2020

There is an emerging concern that modern technology‐saturated environments are inhibiting children's social and emotional development. However, if educational game’s design is underpinned by insights from developmental sciences, engagement with such games may enhance children's empathic learning. Our new paper published in the British Journal of Educational Technology exemplifies how this is possible!

https://lnkd.in/g6zHu4p

There is an emerging concern that modern technology‐saturated environments, particularly computer games, are inhibiting the development of children’s empathic behaviour and social skills. We argue t...

27/10/2019

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50182681

Toddlers might better recognise the concept of quantity if numbers are counted out, scientists say.

18/01/2019

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/do-kids-have-a-fundamental-sense-of-fairness/

Experiments show that this quality often emerges by the age of 12 months

30/07/2018

Access Brain Facts, a primer on the brain and nervous system, published by the Society for Neuroscience. Brain Facts is a valuable resource for secondary school teachers and students who participate in the Brain Bee.