Title: Why students need to learn biomimicry rather than select a correct answer? A neurological explanation

Authors: Jae-Young Oh; Seung-Hyuk Kwon; Yong-Ju Kwon

Addresses: Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju, Chungbuk 28173, South Korea ' Department of Science Education, Gongju National University of Education, Gongju, Chungnam 28173, South Korea ' Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju, Chungbuk 28173, South Korea

Abstract: For a long time, high school students have been forced to practice selecting correct answers on college scholastic ability tests. Recently, it has been suggested that schools introduce biomimicry activities for STEM education to develop students' 21st century competency. However, there have been arguments about which system is more appropriate in terms of enhancing a student's competency development. Therefore, we evaluated neurological evidence of students' competency using fMRI scans taken during the selecting a correct answer for a biology question and during a biomimicry activity. Results showed that the repetitive practice of selecting correct responses limited a student's neurological activities to the brain network of the visual cortex and the front-parietal working memory cortex. However, the biomimicry activity simultaneously involved diverse prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortexes, and the putamen, limbic and cerebellum lobes. Therefore, this study proposes that the biomimicry activities could stimulate their coordinated brain development.

Keywords: high school biology; biomimicry; competency development; brain development; STEM; fMRI.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2024.141880

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2024 Vol.17 No.6, pp.548 - 564

Received: 04 Mar 2022
Accepted: 05 Nov 2022
Published online: 02 Oct 2024 *

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