Teaching methods based in cognitive neuroscience play a big part in how Erin Panda structures her courses \u2014 and not just because she is a cognitive neuroscientist.<\/p>\n
The 2023 Faculty of Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching recipient builds her approach to teaching and mentoring around both her research in educational neuroscience and students\u2019 feedback on their learning.<\/p>\n
Panda, Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies, says students are much more likely to form and consolidate new memories of course content if they can attach what they are learning to what they already know.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning is about binding new information to pre-existing structures to create new representations. For example, combining content heard in lecture or read in a textbook with personal experiences stored in episodic memory,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to remember something for the long term, you need to activate what you already know so you can integrate new with old.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panda enhances learning in her classes through active-learning tactics such as the flipped classroom, where students watch video lectures prior to class and then work through discussion questions and activities to deepen their connection with the material.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose \u2018aha\u2019 moments rarely happen when you\u2019re passively listening or reading,\u201d she says. \u201cThey happen when you say things in your own words or apply facts to new situations, which is why the flipped classroom is so conducive to learning. It makes space for repetition and for students to identify main ideas, key drivers in forming long-term memories.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also makes lectures more fun, which Panda says aligns with science suggesting that “learning happens best when there’s that dopamine kick.”<\/p>\n
Panda also uses peer assessment to help students build understanding. Since her first year at Brock in 2018, Panda has used a platform called Kritik that randomly and anonymously assigns students\u2019 work to other students for evaluation.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents evaluate each others\u2019 work, giving at least one positive and one helpful suggestion for each rubric component, and also evaluate the evaluations they received, sharing how the feedback made them feel and how useful it was,\u201d says Panda. \u201cThis process embeds opportunities to develop critical thinking, communicating constructive feedback and working with others \u2014 all extra levels of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Panda, this layering of soft-skill development with teaching strategies designed to be most effective for learners is \u201cintegral\u201d to her knowledge mobilization work around evidence-based practices, especially because so many of her students will become teachers or mental health professionals working with young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cA really rewarding part of my job is the idea of a ripple effect,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat students learn here about the different ways people process information and the various challenges they may face will allow them to adapt their own teaching or the ways they interact with children and families so they can better support the people they\u2019ll work with.\u201d<\/p>\n