Centre for the Study of Human and Moral Development in Education

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!!!!

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

The moral brain in early childhood and the role parents play in moral development 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...

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!

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.

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

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

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/

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

Study: Children can ‘catch’ social bias through nonverbal signals expressed by adults Most conscientious adults tend to avoid making biased or discriminatory comments in the presence of children.

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!

See, Touch, and Feel: Enhancing Young Children's Empathy Learning Through a Tablet Game 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...

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

Developing young children’s empathic perception through digitally mediated interpersonal experience: Principles for a hybrid design of empathy games 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...

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

Babies 'count long before learning one-two-three' Toddlers might better recognise the concept of quantity if numbers are counted out, scientists say.

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

Do Kids Have a Fundamental Sense of Fairness? Experiments show that this quality often emerges by the age of 12 months

The Brain Facts Book 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.