Pilot implementation of neurological testing of children’s emotional and cognitive responses to teaching about cultural heritage
Neurological testing in an innovative way checks and compares the reactions of primary school children when they in contact with cultural heritage during lessons and as part of the activity day. Testing establishes comparisons between the lesson of the subject, acorrding to the usual scenario of the school curriculum, and the lesson prepared within the framework of the new pilot program. The lesson of a specific subject, where the students’ response was tested, was changed so that it contains elements of cultural heritage, which are presented to the children through different metohds. Which means that the usual lesson is enriched and prepared in manner that offers children not only different content but also a different approach to learning or a different teaching method.
The experts have prepared a new teaching preparation for the subject, which appropriately includes elements of cultural heritage in the subject matter of the school lesson. This means that the content of the lesson is given through the aspect and examples of cultural heritage. For example, using heritage buildings when students are learning about expressions such as vertical and horizontal lines.
The main purpose of testing is to measure the cognitive response in the perception and processing of stimuli using techniques specific to applied neuroscience to investigate the experiences of a group of learners during different teaching methods.
The prepared measurements are intended to observe changes at the level of: cognitive load, attention, level of involvement and perceived well-being during the planned activities.
The aim is to obtain information about the lived experience directly from the user/pupils, using different measurement tools, namely: EEG (electroencephalogram), which records the electrical activity produced by the brain to obtain information with high temporal accuracy.
Motivated students achieve better results. By including outdoor invironment and cultural heritage in lessons, learning becomes more interesting, meaningful and motivated. This kind of approach also encourages innovative teaching methods that benefit the teacher-student relationship. This improves the quality of education and at the same time encourages and contributes to the protection of our natural and cultural heritage.
Many educational theories recognize the importance of physical space in a child’s physical and cognitive development, so the educational environment should be more stimulating. In order to positively attract attention and reduce environmental stressors, school environments should be designed according to the principles of attention maintenance theory.
According to this theory, attention can be restored through exposure to nature. The inclusion of innovative teaching methods that introduce elements of cultural heritage, both in the classroom and in nature, will also contribute to the improvement of the learning process.
The testing was carried out in a school environment in Norway and Slovenia, both in the classroom and outdoors during school hours and activity days