A new approach to children's education quarterly

A new approach to children's education quarterly

Challenges and obstacles to implementing a curriculum based on executive brain functions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Fereshteh Ebrahimi 1
Mahboobeh Arefi 2
Vahid Sadeghi 3
Kiomars Zarafshani 4
1 PhD student in Curriculum development , Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University
2 Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
4 Professor, Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
10.22034/naes.2025.538060.1743
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to present the challenges and obstacles to implementing a curriculum based on executive functions of the brain. This qualitative research was conducted using the phenomenological method. The data collection method was semi-structured interviews. The statistical population of the present study was all curriculum planning experts who were familiar with the research topic. For this purpose, data were collected by interviewing 13 experts who had lived experience in the field. The data analysis method was carried out using content analysis. To ensure the validity of the research, Lincoln and Guba criteria were used. The analysis of the interviews indicated 1 overarching theme, 3 first-level organizing themes, 11 second-level organizing themes, and 27 basic themes. The results of the study indicated that the challenges affecting the implementation of the executive functions curriculum include hardware challenges, software challenges, lack of specialized personnel, lack of specialized knowledge, lack of appropriate content, ignorance and little knowledge of parents, ignorance and little knowledge of teachers, ignorance and little knowledge of students, ignorance and little knowledge of school administrative staff, ignorance and little knowledge of planners and policymakers, superficial view of education based on executive functions of the brain, teachers' resistance to implementing brain-based education, and intellectual poverty in relation to education based on executive functions of the brain
Keywords
Curriculum
executive functions of the brain
challenges
Subjects
Afrahteh S, Asadzadeh, H, Karami, A (2021). Designing a comprehensive curriculum model based on the theory of brain-based learning in organizational training (androgogy). Scientific-Research Bimonthly: Educational Strategies in Medical Sciences. 14 (6): 372-386. [Persian]
Alikhani G, Medina, B, Maryam, Rahmani, J & Dehbashi, M. (2013). Design and validation of brain-centered aesthetic curricula. Research in Educational Systems 15(54). 114-125. [Persian]
Asan, A., Terzi, R., & Azginoglu, N. (2021). Curriculum Learning for Age Estimation from Brain MRI. Appl. Comput. Syst., 26(2), 116-121.
Brown, B., Kang, G., Schwartz, A., Rink, A., Gallant, N., Magpantay-Monroe, E., & Marottoli, R. (2023). Cognition and dementia with Raymond and Brain: Curriculum development and evaluation using interactive animated flipped-classroom modules to impact nursing students’ attitude toward dementia care. Nurse Education in Practice, 71, 103696.
Choi, Y. W., Shin, H. B., & Lee, S. W. (2025). Brain-Guided Self-Paced Curriculum Learning for Adaptive Human–Machine Interfaces. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems.
Clement, N. D., & Lovat, T. (2012). Neuroscience and education: Issues and challenges for curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(4), 534-557.
Dadashzadeh, S. (2023). Identifying the desirable characteristics of the curriculum for teaching science based on neuroscience from the perspective of elementary school teachers. New Educational Approaches. 18(2). 179-202.
Davidesco, I., Matuk, C., Bevilacqua, D., Poeppel, D., & Dikker, S. (2021). Neuroscience research in the classroom: portable brain technologies in education research. Educational Researcher, 50(9), 649-656.
Dwiputra, D. F. K., Azzahra, W., & Heryanto, F. N. (2023). A Systematic Literature Review on Enhancing the Success of Independent Curriculum through Brain-Based Learning Innovation Implementation. Indonesian Journal on Learning and Advanced Education (IJOLAE), 262-276.
Feng, X., Feng, X., Qin, B., & Liu, T. (2023). Aligning semantic in brain and language: A curriculum contrastive method for electroencephalography-to-text generation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 31, 3874-3883.
Frank, J. L., Broderick, P. C., Oh, Y., Mitra, J., Kohler, K., Schussler, D. L., ... & Greenberg, M. T. (2021). The effectiveness of a teacher-delivered mindfulness-based curriculum on adolescent social-emotional and executive functioning. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1234-1251.
Gelb, D. J., Kraakevik, J., Safdieh, J. E., Agarwal, S., Odia, Y., Govindarajan, R., ... & Wilson, R. B. (2021). Contemporary neuroscience core curriculum for medical schools. Neurology, 97(14), 675-684.
Hosseini, H, & Kalateh Sadati, A. (2025). Educational strategies based on the social brain with an emphasis on interactive techniques. Quarterly Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education. 31(2). 1-20. [Persian]
Kepple, D., Engelken, R., & Rajan, K. (2022). Curriculum learning as a tool to uncover learning principles in the brain. In International Conference on Learning Representations.
Kitchen, W. H. (2021). Neuroscience and the Northern Ireland curriculum: 2020, and the warning signs remain. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 53(4), 516-530.
Mehrmohammadi, M (2016). Educational implications of the concept of powerful knowledge for curriculum theory. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 6(1).48-71. [Persian]
Mehrmohammadi, M, Ali Asgari, M, Haji Hossein Nejad, G (2019). Design and validation of the curriculum of the aesthetic approach to teaching in teacher education. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 4(2).30-47. [Persian]
Nozhoori Paharabad R, Fathi Azar E, Adib Y, Bafandeh Qaramaleki H, Rasouli S (2019). Investigating the elements of the brain-based curriculum model in preschool and its validation (qualitative research). Journal of Child Mental Health. 8 (2):30-45. [Persian]
Sadeghi, A. (2013). Refusal to change in Iranian curriculum; Analysis of the "founder's trap" theory. National Conference on Change in Curriculum of Education Courses. University of Birjand. [Persian]
Sadeghi.A (2013). Multicultural knowledge and lifestyle promotion in Iran. Counseling and Psychotherapy Culture, 4(13), 111-124. [Persian]
Talkhabi, M. (2008). Brain-based curriculum. Educational Innovations, 7(26), 127-150. [Persian]
Tarolli, C. G., & Józefowicz, R. F. (2023). Curriculum innovations: enhancing medical student neuroscience training with a team-based learning curriculum. Neurology® Education, 2(1), e200037.
Taziki, M. (2015). Comparing the executive functions of children in orphanages with normal children. Cognitive Sciences, Year 17. Issue 4. 63-70
Yang, H., Li, T., Zhao, L., Wei, Y., Chen, X., Pan, J., & Fu, Y. (2025). Guiding principles and considerations for designing a well-structured curriculum for the brain-computer interface major based on the multidisciplinary nature of brain-computer interface. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 19, 1554266.
Zare, A; Baratali, M (2014). Identifying the goals of the curriculum for brain-based education and positive training. Journal of Principles of Mental Health. 25(2). 67-78. [Persian]
Zare, H. Lotfi, R (2015). The effect of working memory load and capacity on the cognitive control process in the Stroop task. Journal of Psychology 74(19). [Persian]