Sung-il Kim
What can neuroeducational research tell us about student motivation?
With the recent advent of cognitive and affective neuroscience, it has become possible to document both the cognitive mechanisms that are automatic and fast as well as the affective mechanisms that are implicit and fine-tuned in nature by measuring their neural underpinnings. Current educational theories of motivation should be expanded to account for the role of implicit processing. This renewed focus on nonconscious processing in the of motivation would yield new insights into student emotion, cognition and motivation, leading to significant implications for designing motivationally adaptive learning environment. In this talk, the contemporary neuroeducational research on various motivational variables such as interest, competence, feedback, competition, autonomy, and achievement goals will be presented. It also addresses unique features of the novel approach called "neuroeducation" that distinguishes itself from the basic cognitive neuroscience or affective neuroscience.
Profile
Sung-il Kim (sungkim@korea.ac.kr) is a professor of educational psychology and director of Brain and Motivation Research Institute (bMRI) at Korea University. Although his earlier research has focused on discourse comprehension and memory, his recent research interests revolve around the neuroeducational approach on motivation to learn. His current research projects include investigating neural bases of interest and motivation, developing motivationally adaptive intelligent tutoring agent, modeling interest-based learning, and designing fun and exciting learning environment. He has conducted functional neuroimaging research on motivational constructs in the classroom context. He is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Education and Centre for Neuroscience in Education during 2009.