Revealing The Secret Of Learning
Award of the Hector Stiftung goes to Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder, University of Hamburg
HEIDELBERG/WEINHEIM. Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder (University of Hamburg) received this year’s Hector Science Award of the Hector Stiftung for her outstanding achievements in research on the interplay of different sensory systems (multisensors) as well as the age dependency of the functional organization of the human brain (neuroplasticity) and the resulting learning processes.
Together with her team, Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder works among others on the question, why people can no longer learn some skills in old age, if they lack certain early childhood experiences. A deeper understanding of the imprint of the brain in these sensitive stages of development, when humans learn particularly quickly and easily, could help to promote those skills at a later stage.
Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka, President of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), emphasized in his laudation that Brigitte Röder's excellent research could have concrete significance for the organization of institutional educational processes. For example, when it comes to the question when which knowledge should be taught. Especially with regard to the training of junior scientists, Holger Hanselka wondered whether orientation and counseling services as well as pre-courses and programs at the start of the study are offered too late. Particularly important would be offers that begin much earlier — even at primary school age — to give children the opportunity to generate knowledge. The Hector Stiftung pursues exactly this approach with the Hector Children's Academies, in order to inspire children sustainably for natural sciences, Holger Hanselka acknowledged the exceptional dedication of the founders Josephine and Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector.
![Hector Science Award 2017 Hector Science Award 2017](https://hector-fellow-academy.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HectorWissenschaftspreis2018_550x367px.jpg)
f.l.: Dr. Hans-Werner Hector, Josephine Hector, Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder, Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka, President of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology