Neuroscience And Learning In Education
September 16, 2026
Minlo: Student Attentional Sustainability Ecosystem with a Neuroscientific Literacy and Integral Emotional Education Hub
Mariana Marques Arantes; Alaina Alves
DOI: 10.22167/2675-6528-202602274
Article derived from a Final Course Work (TCC), with content based on the student’s original work and adapted to the editorial format of the Revista E&S with the support of the ResumeAI tool, an artificial intelligence solution developed by the Pecege Institute for textual synthesis and organization.
Abstract
The study established the architecture of MinLO (Minimum Learning Object), an ecosystem to strengthen students’ attentional sustainability, focusing on neuroscientific literacy and integral emotional education for families and teachers. The research, of an applied and qualitative nature, investigated the attention crisis and low proficiency rates in Brazilian Elementary School II. It was based on indicators from SAEB, PISA, and PeNSE 2024, from the perspective of applied neurosciences, and employed Reverse Engineering of Requirements to identify cognitive gaps not addressed by the traditional pedagogical model. The diagnosis revealed that school failure resulted from factors such as working memory saturation due to synaptic fatigue, dopaminergic hyposensitivity aggravated by digital sedentary behavior, emotional block, parental bond fracture, and lack of neuroscientific literacy, which generated stigmas about neurodivergent behavior. Adopting Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a parameter of maximum vulnerability, the Transformation and Unblocking Engine was structured. This engine is responsible for atomizing content into short learning cycles and creating poles of emotional education and neuroscientific literacy in interdependent mediation layers for students, families, and teachers. The artifact integrated requirements from ECA Digital (Law No. 15.211/2025) and goals of the new PNE (2026-2036), aiming for the biopsychosocial protection of minors and the scalability of the solution for the public network.
Keywords: Adolescence; Elementary School; Microlearning; Neuroscience; Neurodiversity.
1. Introduction
Brazilian basic education has undergone a profound cognitive and structural reconfiguration, driven by the omnipresence of digital devices and the neurobiological transformations intrinsic to adolescence. In the second cycle of elementary education (Ensino Fundamental II), specifically in the ninth grade, the demand for autonomy and sustained focus has expanded significantly, colliding with a progressively fragmented attention span.
This scenario is corroborated by alarming data. The National Survey of School Health (PENSE 2024, IBGE, 2026) revealed that 36.7% of Brazilian adolescents maintain sedentary screen time exceeding two hours daily, a factor that contributes to working memory saturation. Reports from the Basic Education Evaluation System (SAEB) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (INEP, 2024; OECD, 2023) point to critical indicators of proficiency and engagement. PISA 2022, for example, indicated that 45% of students reported losing focus in all or most classes due to screen use (OECD, 2023).
Attentional dispersion can be directly correlated with low performance in fundamental skills. Data from SAEB 2023 showed that approximately 50% of students completing Middle School did not reach the basic proficiency level in reading (INEP, 2024). This mismatch is aggravated by the persistence of linear pedagogical models that disregard the biological limits of information processing, generating intrinsic cognitive overload (Sweller, 2011).
The lens of neuroscience applied to education allows us to interpret school failure not as a moral or disciplinary failing of the student, but as a collapse of working memory. During adolescence, the brain undergoes an intense process of synaptic pruning and maturation of the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for executive functions and inhibitory control (Roberts et al., 2023). Extensive expository lectures and linear texts exhaust synaptic processing capacity, highlighting a gap between biology and pedagogy.
This phenomenon is even more acute in the public with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which affects between 5% and 8% of the Brazilian school population (ABDA, 2023). The ADHD brain presents hypersensitivity to the dopaminergic reward system, requiring more frequent and fragmented stimuli to maintain alertness (Roberts et al., 2023). Furthermore, PENSE 2024 (IBGE, 2026) highlighted the increase in bullying cases, the tearing of school and family bonds, and increased digital sedentary behavior, which directly impact mental health and learning.
Given this scenario, the reversal of these indices is inseparable from the “Quality” and “Equity” goals of the new National Education Plan (PNE 2026-2036). Mitigating this situation requires the development of educational technologies that respect attentional sustainability and the new parameters of parental safety and supervision established by the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA Digital, Law nº 15.211/2025).
In this context, Integral Emotional Education (EEI®), developed by Arantes (2019), emerges as a methodology that recognizes emotion as a condition for accessing learning, promoting emotional literacy and affective regulation. Its ecosystemic perspective converges with neuroscientific findings on the role of executive functions and external regulation in adolescent development. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) also proves relevant, by proposing flexible learning environments that accommodate cognitive diversity, anticipating the failures of the linear and homogeneous pedagogical model in the face of the real neurobiological and socioemotional diversity of the Brazilian classroom (CAST, 2018).
The problem of this research lies in the identification of systemic attentional gaps in Elementary School II that hinder the consolidation of basic competencies, and in the need to ground an educational structure that promotes attentional sustainability in the Brazilian reality, respecting diversities and current legislation. Thus, this study is justified by the urgency of an approach that integrates neurosciences and emotional education to redesign the educational care ecosystem. The general objective of this study was to establish the architecture of MinLO (Minimum Learning Object), an ecosystem for strengthening the attentional sustainability of students with a focus on neuroscientific literacy and comprehensive emotional education for family members and teachers.
2. Material and Methods
This research was characterized as a study of an applied nature, with exploratory objectives and a qualitative approach (BIGATON et al., 2024). The adopted design consisted of documentary research, based on the analysis of publicly accessible secondary data, aiming at the foundation of a technological artifact focused on attentional sustainability.
Information collection was carried out between January and March 2026, through access to the transparency portals of INEP, OECD, and IBGE. SAEB (2023) and PISA (2022) microdata were used for proficiency and engagement analysis; the general summary of PeNSE 2024 (IBGE, 2026) for mental health and digital sedentary behavior diagnosis; the new PNE (2026-2036) as a quality goals benchmark; the full text of the ECA Digital (Law nº 15.211/2025 – Felca Law) for security and parental compliance requirements; and the statistical notes from the School Census 2024/2025 (INEP, 2025).
The central analytical procedure used the Reverse Engineering of Requirements technique (CHIKOFSKY; CROSS, 1990). Applied as a retrospective diagnostic method in the educational context, this technique allowed the decomposition of biological failures and cognitive blocks identified in secondary documents into functional and non-functional requirements for the MinLO ecosystem. The process started from the “unsatisfactory final product” (low proficiency, digital sedentary lifestyle, and emotional disengagement) to identify the unmet cognitive needs of the current teaching model. The analytical decomposition translated educational problems into technical requirements, structured in three stages: Failure Mapping, Biological Diagnosis, and Requirement Deduction. From this deconstruction, the Transformation and Unblocking Engine was structured, with technical specifications to convert pedagogical content into microlearning units and poles of neuroscientific literacy and emotional education. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was adopted as an operational parameter of “maximum vulnerability,” serving as a high-resolution lens on the limits of the contemporary educational system.
By exclusively using aggregated data from the public domain, the study fell under the hypotheses for exemption from registration by the CEP/CONEP system, according to CNS Resolution No. 510/2016 and USP/ESALQ (2025) regulations.
The application of Reverse Engineering allowed for the interpretation of indicators of inattention, low proficiency, and general student health presented in public data in light of neuroscience and integral emotional education. From this analysis, the study constructed a matrix that correlates biological and socio-emotional failures with architectural requirements, as detailed in Table 1.
Table 1. Matrix of neuroscientific diagnosis of national educational indicators
| Failure Evidence (Public Data) | Neuroscientific Diagnosis (Cause) |
|---|---|
| SAEB (2023): 50% low proficiency in reading (9th grade) | Working Memory Saturation: Synaptic Fatigue |
| PISA (2022): 45% severe distraction (screen usage) | Dopaminergic Hypersensitivity: Search for constant immediate reward |
| THINK (2024): 27.2% Constant bullying and violent Cyberspace | Hypervigilance State: Emotional block that deactivates learning. |
| THINK (2024): 76.8% of screens at meals / SAEB (2023): 14.5% family participation | Bond Fracture: deficit of external regulation of executive functions |
| School Census (2025): >80% of teachers without inclusion training | Mediation Barrier: stigma on neurodivergent behavior. |
Source: Elaborated by the author (2026)
From the cognitive diagnosis of the indicators, the MinLO (Minimum Learning Object) architecture was structured as an ecosystem to operate from a central processing core that feeds the different mediation layers: student, family, and teacher, as detailed in Table 2.
Table 2. MinLO architecture requirements derived from neuroscientific diagnosis
| Neuroscientific Diagnosis (Cause) | Architecture Requirement (MinLO) |
|---|---|
| Working Memory Saturation: Synaptic Fatigue | Microlearning and Atomization in 5 to 10 minute pills |
| Dopaminergic Hypersensitivity: Search for constant immediate reward | Gamification: Constant feedbacks |
| Hypervigilance State: Emotional block that deactivates learning. | Neuroscientific literacy and emotional education |
| Bond Fracture: deficit of external regulation of executive functions | Parent-First Model; neuroscientific and emotional education literacy |
| Mediation Barrier: stigma about neurodivergent behavior in the classroom. | Neuroscientific literacy and emotional education |
Source: Elaborated by the author (2026)
To deal with working memory saturation, considering synaptic fatigue and dopaminergic hyposensitivity, a central technological core called the Transformation and Unblocking Engine was created. Based on source code, this engine must have the following functions for all mediation layers: Intake Processing (capturing information via digital or physical files, using character recognition technologies – OCR); Atomization and Micro-sessions (fragmentation of disciplinary content into minimum learning units of 5 to 8 minutes, based on the sustained focus window of ADHD); Pedagogical Gamification (engagement, motivation, and increased active participation of students, with a guide character and reinforcement of the principle that making mistakes is exploration); and Neuroscientific and Emotional Literacy Hub (based on the EEI® methodology – ARANTES, 2019, disseminating knowledge about brain function and emotion management for students, guardians, and teachers, with micro-lessons and content adapted to each audience).
The MinLO architecture operationalizes the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in an integrated manner with the Transformation and Unlocking Engine. Multiple representation is addressed by the capacity to ingest and reprocess content in different formats (text, audio, image, and video). The multiple means of action and expression principle is contemplated by pedagogical gamification, which offers different ways to demonstrate understanding. Multiple means of engagement is addressed by the combination of calibrated micro-sessions, immediate reward feedback, and the emotional literacy hub. MinLO also provided for a parental supervision layer to comply with the Digital ECA (2026), establishing the guardian’s journey as a system control point, with access to the adolescent’s profile via PIN and sending a weekly report via WhatsApp with suggestions for family activities.
3. Results and Discussion
The application of Reverse Engineering to the database allowed the systematization of findings structured along three main axes: (1) the cognitive diagnosis of indicators; (2) the technical architecture of the MinLO ecosystem; and (3) the guidelines for parental compliance and systemic support.
Cognitive Diagnosis of Indicators
Reverse Engineering allowed for the interpretation of indicators of inattention, low proficiency, and general student health, according to public data, in light of neuroscience and integral emotional education. This analysis resulted in the construction of a matrix that correlates biological and socio-emotional failures with architectural requirements, as detailed in Table 1.
Table 1. Matrix of neuroscientific diagnosis of national educational indicators
| Failure Evidence (Public Data) | Neuroscientific Diagnosis (Cause) |
|---|---|
| SAEB (2023): 50% low proficiency in reading (9th grade) | Working Memory Saturation: Synaptic Fatigue |
| PISA (2022): 45% severe distraction (screen usage) | Dopaminergic Hypersensitivity: Search for constant immediate reward |
| THINK (2024): 27.2% Constant bullying and violent Cyberspace | Hypervigilance State: Emotional block that deactivates learning. |
| THINK (2024): 76.8% of screens at meals / SAEB (2023): 14.5% family participation | Bond Fracture: deficit of external regulation of executive functions |
| School Census (2025): >80% of teachers without inclusion training | Mediation Barrier: stigma on neurodivergent behavior. |
Source: Elaborated by the author (2026)
The discussion of the results presented in the matrix revealed five fundamental axes of intervention. The low reading proficiency in the 9th grade, pointed out by SAEB (2023), was interpreted as working memory saturation due to synaptic fatigue when faced with extensive texts, not just as a lack of repertoire (Sweller, 2011).
The PISA (2022) analysis demonstrated that severe distraction, with 45% of students reporting loss of focus due to screen use, is a response to the dopaminergic hyposensitivity of the adolescent brain, which constantly seeks immediate reward to maintain alertness (Roberts et al., 2023). This finding was corroborated by PeNSE 2024 (IBGE, 2026), which indicated that 36.7% of Brazilian adolescents maintained a digital sedentary pattern exceeding two hours daily. This digital hyperstimulation can generate emotional block and resistance to prolonged cognitive effort, rendering conventional pedagogical strategies ineffective.
The worsening of constant bullying, evidenced by the PeNSE 2024 (27.2%), was interpreted as a state of hypervigilance that leads to “amygdala hijacking”, blocking the prefrontal cortex and access to executive functions (Roberts et al., 2023). In this context, Integral Emotional Education (EEI®) acts as a prerequisite for learning, promoting emotional literacy and restoring the minimum neurobiological conditions for cognitive engagement (Arantes, 2019).
The 2024 PeNSE also showed that the invasion of screens in family rituals, present in 76.8% of meals, weakened moments of relational presence, which function as anchors for emotional regulation. This data indicated a fracture in bonds and the absence of support for the maturation of executive functions, which depend on external regulation provided by the reference adult (Roberts et al., 2023). The EEI® addresses this rupture through an emotional literacy hub for caregivers, offering affective vocabulary and mediation strategies for screen use (Arantes, 2019).
Finally, the School Census (2025) revealed that over 80% of teachers do not have adequate training to deal with neurodiversity, creating a Mediation Barrier. This leads to the interpretation of neurodivergent behavior, such as ADHD, as indiscipline, rather than an unmet neurobiological need. EEI® acts as a continuing education hub for teachers, offering tools for identifying emotional states and creating relational environments that favor regulation and learning (Arantes, 2019).
This initial analysis demonstrated that dispersion and low school proficiency are complex and involve not only the student, but also family members and teachers.
Deepening the look at PeNSE 2024, a scenario was observed in which, despite the greater connectivity of adolescents and the higher schooling of mothers, there was a sharp decline in physical and relational well-being (IBGE, 2026). The study highlighted a “chronically sedentary” adolescent, with 36.7% using screens for more than two hours daily, and technology negatively interfering with vital rituals, such as meals (76.8%), resulting in an erosion of sustained attention. This student frequently feels incapable when faced with linear pedagogical models, aggravated by the high prevalence of bullying (27.2%) and veiled isolation, which culminated in rates of 22.1% unauthorized absenteeism (IBGE, 2026).
The data also mapped a rift in the care ecosystem, where reduced family supervision left adolescents in digital vulnerability. Guardians, although more educated, revealed exhaustion and a lack of emotional repertoire to mediate conflicts generated by screen use and school obligations. It is inferred that the “structural vacuum” between home and school catalyzed daily fights, with parental guilt and helplessness fueling the student’s cognitive block (Arantes, 2019).
The school, in turn, suffers from the overload of the deconstruction of family rituals and the lack of active supervision, aggravating the challenge of managing classes with severe attentional fragmentation and neurodiversity needs (ADHD) often undiagnosed or poorly assisted. Professionals feel helpless due to continuing education models that do not contemplate the entirety of their human development (Arantes, 2019).
The research indicated that mitigating the problem of attentional sustainability requires a pedagogical artifact with a modular and interdisciplinary technological solution, acting as an interface between pedagogical content and neurobiological and socio-emotional limits. These findings supported the creation of the artifact’s transformation and unlocking engine and the poles of neuroscientific literacy and emotional education, aiming for the quality and age-appropriate literacy goals of the new PNE (2026-2036).
Architecture and Functioning of the MinLO Ecosystem
From the cognitive diagnosis of the indicators, the MinLO (Minimum Learning Object) architecture was structured as an ecosystem with a central processing core that feeds the mediation layers: student, family, and teacher, as detailed in Table 2.
Table 2. MinLO architecture requirements derived from neuroscientific diagnosis
| Neuroscientific Diagnosis (Cause) | Architecture Requirement (MinLO) |
|---|---|
| Working Memory Saturation: Synaptic Fatigue | Microlearning and Atomization in 5 to 10 minute pills |
| Dopaminergic Hypersensitivity: Search for constant immediate reward | Gamification: Constant feedbacks |
| Hypervigilance State: Emotional block that deactivates learning. | Neuroscientific literacy and emotional education |
| Bond Fracture: deficit of external regulation of executive functions | Parent-First Model; neuroscientific and emotional education literacy |
| Mediation Barrier: stigma about neurodivergent behavior in the classroom. | Neuroscientific literacy and emotional education |
Source: Elaborated by the author (2026)
To deal with working memory saturation and dopaminergic hyposensitivity, the Transformation and Unblocking Engine, a central technological core, was created. Its functions for all mediation layers include Ingestion Processing, which captures information from digital or physical files using character recognition (OCR) to convert unstructured data into processable databases.
Atomization and Micro-sessions break down disciplinary content into 5- to 8-minute learning units, based on the sustained focus window identified in the ADHD diagnosis. Pedagogical Gamification aims for engagement, motivation, and active participation, facilitating content retention and making learning interactive, playful, and efficient, mediated by a guide character that reinforces the principle that making mistakes is an attempt at exploration.
The Polo de Letramento Neurocientífico e Emocional, based on the EEI® methodology (Arantes, 2019), integrates and disseminates knowledge about brain function and emotion management. For students, it offers micro-lessons on emotional self-regulation and focus recovery strategies. For guardians, it provides content on adolescent brain development, non-punitive communication, and mediation of screen use, aiming to restore the external regulation function of the family bond. For teachers, it offers training in neuroscientific literacy applied to the classroom, with an emphasis on recognizing emotional states and pedagogical strategies aligned with attentional sustainability.
The MinLO architecture operationalizes the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in an integrated manner with the Transformation and Unlocking Engine. Multiple representation is addressed by the capacity to ingest and reprocess content in different formats (text, audio, image, and video), ensuring accessibility to distinct sensory and cognitive profiles. The principle of multiple means of action and expression is contemplated by pedagogical gamification, which offers diverse ways to demonstrate understanding. Multiple means of engagement is addressed by the combination of calibrated micro-sessions for sustained focus, immediate reward feedback, and the emotional literacy hub, which acts on the affective blocks that precede cognitive engagement. Thus, UDL functions as a functional design criterion in each layer of the ecosystem.
The MinLO also envisioned a parental supervision layer to comply with the Digital Child Rights Act (2026), establishing the guardian’s journey as a system control point. Access to the adolescent’s profile is preceded by the legal guardian’s validation using a PIN, ensuring active supervision. To strengthen the bond, the MinLO was designed to send weekly reports via WhatsApp with suggestions for family leisure and relaxation activities.
In summary, the research, by investigating public indicators from the perspective of neuroscience and emotional education, identified that the attention crisis and low proficiency in Elementary School II result from a systemic rupture between pedagogical models and adolescent neurobiology. Reverse Engineering diagnosed five interdependent collapse axes: working memory saturation, dopaminergic hyposensitivity, hypervigilance state, fracture of the parental bond, and teacher mediation barrier. The MinLO architecture was built as a pedagogical artifact with a Transformation and Unblocking Engine, capable of atomizing content into gamified micro-sessions and poles of neuroscientific literacy and integral emotional education, aimed at students, families, and teachers, seeking a structured response to these failures.
4. Conclusion
The study sought to establish the architecture of MinLO (Minimum Learning Object), an ecosystem to strengthen students’ attentional sustainability, with a hub for neuroscientific literacy and comprehensive emotional education for family members and teachers. To this end, it was found that the attention crisis and low proficiency rates in Brazilian Elementary School II resulted from a systemic rupture between current pedagogical models and adolescent neurobiology. The application of Reverse Engineering of Requirements diagnosed five interdependent axes of collapse: working memory saturation due to synaptic fatigue, dopaminergic hyposensitivity aggravated by digital sedentary behavior, hypervigilance state due to bullying exposure, fracture of the parental bond, and the teacher mediation barrier. This analysis, based on indicators from SAEB, PISA, and PeNSE 2024 from the perspective of applied neurosciences and comprehensive emotional education, highlighted the complexity of the problem, which transcends the student and involves family members and teachers.
Based on these findings, the MinLO architecture was established as a pedagogical artifact with a Transformation and Unlocking Engine, capable of atomizing content into gamified micro-sessions, lasting five to eight minutes, and integrating poles of neuroscientific literacy and integral emotional education, aimed at students, family members, and teachers. This solution offers a practical and managerial contribution by proposing a redesign of the educational care ecosystem, aligning with the quality and equity goals of the new PNE (2026-2036) and the parental supervision requirements of ECA Digital (Law nº 15.211/2025), becoming a viable and scalable alternative for the public network. However, it is recognized that the artifact, by adopting ADHD as a parameter for maximum vulnerability, may not fully meet the needs of students with dual exceptionality, sensory disabilities, or autism spectrum disorders, suggesting future studies to expand its applicability.
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Article originating from a Final Course Work on Neuroscience and Learning in Education
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