Exploring the link between neurophysiological activation and engagement during case study analysis in first year undergraduate students.
Session Type
Poster
Room
The Great Hall, Somerville House (room 3326)
Start Date
17-7-2025 4:00 PM
End Date
17-7-2025 6:00 PM
Keywords
Case-based teaching, encephalography (EEG), brain signals, attention, focus, science education, learning, Muse EEG Headband
Primary Threads
Education Technologies and Innovative Resources
Abstract
Cases are stories with a pedagogical objective. Qualitative research into designing case studies highly recommend engaging students in scenarios by bringing emotions, feelings, values, motivation, and attitudes to the forefront, thereby enabling an explicit move towards cognitive and affective reflections to case analysis. Despite the scholarship on effective use of case-based teaching and learning approaches as tools for engaging students, data on the subject matter is largely reliant of student and teacher self-assessment surveys and assessment of learning outcomes. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that active engagement during case analysis is associated with specific neurophysiological activation linked to engagement during the activity. In this study, we describe the research and design of a case-study for teaching and learning in a first-year undergraduate course in biology and testing its effectiveness via real-time changes in brain activity using lightweight portable electroencephalography device while students engaged in the case study activity. To do so, we compared neurophysiological data in students who read and answered questions related to the case, with students who answered the same subset of questions following reading a passage from a textbook on the subject matter of the case, and students answered the questions but did not read any text nor the case. We will discuss the effects of the case on student answers to the case questions, and how the data can provide feedback on how to improve the effectiveness of teaching with case studies. This study received uOttawa REB approval - H-11-24-10993.
Elements of Engagement
In this interactive poster session, participants will get the opportunity to wear a portable EEG headband and measure their own brainwaves while generating new research questions with the author.
Exploring the link between neurophysiological activation and engagement during case study analysis in first year undergraduate students.
The Great Hall, Somerville House (room 3326)
Cases are stories with a pedagogical objective. Qualitative research into designing case studies highly recommend engaging students in scenarios by bringing emotions, feelings, values, motivation, and attitudes to the forefront, thereby enabling an explicit move towards cognitive and affective reflections to case analysis. Despite the scholarship on effective use of case-based teaching and learning approaches as tools for engaging students, data on the subject matter is largely reliant of student and teacher self-assessment surveys and assessment of learning outcomes. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that active engagement during case analysis is associated with specific neurophysiological activation linked to engagement during the activity. In this study, we describe the research and design of a case-study for teaching and learning in a first-year undergraduate course in biology and testing its effectiveness via real-time changes in brain activity using lightweight portable electroencephalography device while students engaged in the case study activity. To do so, we compared neurophysiological data in students who read and answered questions related to the case, with students who answered the same subset of questions following reading a passage from a textbook on the subject matter of the case, and students answered the questions but did not read any text nor the case. We will discuss the effects of the case on student answers to the case questions, and how the data can provide feedback on how to improve the effectiveness of teaching with case studies. This study received uOttawa REB approval - H-11-24-10993.