31.01.2013

Applying neuroscience in schools

Knowledge gained from the cognitive neurosciences is only too rarely being applied in schools. To bring about a change in this situation, the French National Science Research Centre (CNRS) has initiated an international research project in which researchers from the University of Fribourg will participate.


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The potential of current research into the neuronal and behaviour-based fundamentals of understanding and learning is nothing short of enormous. Knowledge gained from neurological research could contribute significantly to solving crucial questions in the pedagogical sciences. Over the next four years, a new network set up by French research funding bodies will promote the transfer of this knowledge to the areas of schooling and education in their widest sense. This means that, in future, researchers from the French-speaking parts of Europe will work even more closely together within the framework of the CNRS project. Under the direction of Prof. Annie Vinter (University of Bourgogne) the research network will involve a total of 12 research groups from France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Prof Valérie Camos’ cognitive development group from the Department of Psychology at the University of Fribourg will be joining the network. Following on from their work modelling the working memory of the brain, the Fribourg researchers will examine in detail its development mechanisms, since it is extremely heavily utilized in children’s complex learning processes: for example in reading comprehension, when thinking or when solving arithmetical problems. The performance capacity of the working memory, therefore, has a direct influence on scholastic performance.

Contact:

Prof. Valérie Camos, Department of Psychology, 026 300 76 75, valerie.camos@unifr.ch