BU COURSE #: SE 590

NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH AND CHILD
& ADOLESCENT LEARNING

This course explores some of the new research in the neurosciences, and in particular what this new research says about the working of the child and adolescent brain. Significantly for educators, the course will examine how neuroscience research informs our understanding of learning as well as obstacles to learning. Research in the areas of memory, perception, reading, language acquisition, the nature of depression and other mental disorders such as autism and maldevelopments in sensory integration, are not only intriguing in themselves, but carry implications for the ways we think about how the brain learns, and in turn, how we approach the work of teaching children and youth.

By conjoining the workshops and lectures offered in the three day "Learning and the Brain" conference held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional seminar class time, this two academic credit course offers students an opportunity not only to explore various topics in brain research, but in addition, consider these issues in the context of learning and actual classroom activities. The course requires students to enroll in the "Learning & the Brain" conference and a pre-`conference workshop as well as pay tuition fees to Boston University.

Students are required to meet as a seminar and to critically assess the material learned in lecture and workshops. These meetings will commence prior to the conference and continue throughout the conference. Seminar discussions will turn to an exploration of how the material presented in lectures and workshops enlighten us about the various processes involved in learning, and whether educational practices are consistent with these processes. The instructor will require specific conference lectures for all of the students as part of the common plan of study while allowing the students a set number of unassigned sessions from which students will choose. Students will be expected to have read the assigned readings prior to attending the conference and to prepare a final paper in which they will have an opportunity to critically appraise some aspect of neuroscience research from course readings and conference sessions.

Given the compressed nature of this course, the instructor will remain in contact with the students as they write their final papers that will be due within three months after the actual completion of classroom and conference work. The assigned course readings are to be mailed to registered students several weeks in advance of the Learning and the Brain Conference.

These two graduate credits are issued through the Department of Special Education, School of Education, Boston University.

Cost: $495 for Conference, $135 for Pre or Post workshop, $25 for food, & BU Tuition and Fees: $1096.
(Includes BU tuition, processing fees, etc.). Must be paid in full by check or credit card by April 14. Does not include the conference registration pre-conference registration fees.

Click here to register for the conference and BU course.

Applicants may cancel the academic credit program prior to April 20 to receive a refund of tuition and fees, less a $27 cancellation processing fee. No cancellations are accepted after April 20. The course may be canceled if enrollment is less than 10 people.

PIRI and BU reserve the right to cancel this academic credit program at any time and for any reason. If academic credit program is canceled by PIRI or BU, registrants will receive a full refund of tuition and fees, but will remain registered in the conference. If you wish to cancel from the conference, there will be a $125 cancellation fee.

For academic credit information, call 617-469-6789 ext. 15.