Learn How Environmental Factors Affect the Functioning of Adolescent Brains – Free Course

Our brain continues to develop throughout childhood and adolescence. It becomes fully matured only after the age of twenty. This development is influenced by environmental factors such as physical activity, nutrition, and the amount and quality of sleep. But how do these environmental factors affect the functioning of adolescent brains and what is the effect that upbringing has on this? The MOOC “Adolescent Brain: Brain, lifestyle and learning” examines these factors in greater depth.

Adolescent Brain MOOC Content

The MOOC includes the following topics:

How learning can be explained from the perspective of neuroscience;
Which environmental factors determine learning in general and learning of adolescents in particular;
How physical activity, nutrition, sleeping and nurture influence learning of adolescents;
What evidence there is concerning the impact of these environmental factors;
What the practical implications are for you as a parent, as a teacher or a policy maker.

The course is organized into the following six lessons, each of approximately 3 – 5 hours study load:

Lesson 1 – Getting to know EMMA and the topic of the MOOC
Lesson 2 – How does the adolescent brain learn?
Lesson 3 – Nutrition and learning
Lesson 4 – Sleep and learning
Lesson 5 – Physical activity and learning
Lesson 6 – Nurture and learning
Lesson 7 – Integration

The learning materials consist of short introduction texts, interviews with experts and learning activities and assignments that you can find on the EMMA platform.

Summary of Main Course Features

Teacher: Renate de Groot

Coauthors: Francis Brouns, Olga Firssova, Inge van der Wurff, Marije Broens, Jérôme Gijselaers

Start date: April 14 2016

Duration: 7 weeks

Certification: Certificate of participation available when you submit the final course assignment.

The MOOC has been designed in Dutch. Part of the content will be translated into English, however additional study materials could be available in English only. Videos are either Dutch or English spoken.