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| Image Source: Carnegie Mellon Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Science |
Topics: Computer Science, Education, Mathematics, Neuroscience, STEM
Brain Activity Patterns Reveal Distinct Stages of Thinking That Can Be Used To Improve How Students Learn Mathematical Concepts
A new Carnegie Mellon University neuroimaging study reveals the mental stages people go through as they are solving challenging math problems.
Published in Psychological Science, researchers combined two analytical strategies to use functional MRI (fMRI) to identify patterns of brain activity that aligned with four distinct stages of problem-solving.
"How students were solving these kinds of problems was a total mystery to us until we applied these techniques," said John Anderson, the R.K. Mellon University Professor of Psychology and Computer Science and lead researcher on the study. "Now, when students are sitting there thinking hard, we can tell what they are thinking each second."
Carnegie Mellon: Watching the Brain Do Math, Shilo Rea
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