Neuroeducation and Exercise: A Teaching Framework for Multidimensional Well-Being and Exercise Sustainability

This case study examined the outcomes of using a novel brain-body teaching framework in group exercise classes at a Southwestern United States metropolitan YMCA. This mixed- methods needs assessment revealed that group exercise instructors lacked a teaching framework for scaffolding multiple dimensions of wellness into existing classes. The Brain-Body Fitness Framework (B-BFF) was created using literature from neuroscience, psychology, and the learning sciences to fill this gap. Three domains emerged as necessary for addressing mind-brain health and exercise sustainability—brain-body knowledge, unified mind-body perceptions, and intrinsic motivation during exercise. Mechanisms of change were neuroscience based—teaching neuroscience facts during classes and using the neuroscience of intrinsic motivation to guide instructor cues and methods. Group exercise participants’ experiences were analyzed using qualitative data from 14 females (ages 18–74) during and after participating in six researcher- instructed exercise classes using the B-BFF. Triangulated data from journal entries, post- participation surveys, and focus groups suggests that teaching methods and cues in the B-BFF led to increased brain-body knowledge, intrinsically motivating experiences during exercise, and stronger unified mind-body perceptions. Findings reveal how methods in each of the three B- BFF domains reinforce and strengthen one another to support these proximal outcomes. Using the B-BFF supports enculturation of exercise for multidimensional well-being, increased physical activity levels, and progress toward better global mental health outcomes

Knowledge on the Move: Studies on Mobile Social Education

This book draws on work undertaken by colleagues involved with the Erasmus+ project called SoMoveED, or Social Education on the Move. The broader aim of the project is to develop, implement, and disseminate innovation in the form of a model of mobile social education in higher education, of which this book makes up one small part.The project draws together institutions and organizations from ten European countries (Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom), including eight universities, two non-governmental organizations and one social enterprise. Approximately 40 people are working on the project, including academic teachers and researchers, entrepreneurs, and social activists. The project’s main objective is to explore and develop ways in which the teaching process can be organized in motion, outside the university walls, with the participation of stakeholders from outside the academic community (citizens, representatives of institutions and organizations, activists, people at risk of marginalization). This model incorporates three important features into the educational process: (1) mobility; (2) participation; and (3) inclusion