Module 1

The content in Module 1 was informative and contained a brief overview of topics I find particularly interesting not only in the educational setting but in life in general. The first chapter contained a review of the different types of methods that are common practice in research, and as educators these are particularly important to be able to truly understand not only the information research we may see is presenting, but also how that information was obtained, and if it was done correctly and ethically or if there is a potential bias in the experimentation. I think this information is particularly relevant to the section of the unit I found most interesting, and that is the advances in brain imaging technology that is now allowing use to truly see how the brain works in more detail than ever before, and to ensure that we are studying these new developments not only ethically, but also correctly in order to make actual headway in the way of researching the learning process instead of producing studies that care more about “the wow factor” than the research itself.

One aspect of module 1 I found particularly interesting was the portion of chapter 2 that went into the development of the brain and how it affects cognitive and overall development of the students. And while most of it was a review about what particular parts of the brain affects functions such as language, emotions, information and etc, I was unaware of the the new technologies developing such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that is used to show the blood flow within the brain during different cognitive processes and the Event-related potential (ERP) that is used to measure electrical impulses when people are reading or doing other events such as learning. (p. 34-35) While the text itself only offers a brief description of these technologies, I believe that provide an exciting opportunity for future research to be conducted to further understand what exactly happens in our brains while we learn, and hopefully in turn, this research will produce new developments that will help us not only better understand the brain but will also allow teachers to better understand the learning process and improve education as a whole.

Overall, I believe these research developments are particularly exciting, and I am looking forward to further research being conducted using ERP and fMRI to further unravel the mystery the learning process still is. I would love to see these advances in technology impact me directly by providing new insight into the learning process and helping me by creating my lessons plans to be even more effective than ever before and tailored to these new details that may be discovered. I look forward to these research improvement, as well as the other information that will be found in our upcoming modules.