The learning brain: Lessons for education : a précis

This book highlights the importance of anchoring education in an evidence base derived from neuroscience. For far too long has the brain been neglected in discussions on education and often information about neuroscientific research is not easy to access. Our aim was to provide a source book that conveys the excitement of neuroscience research that is relevant to learning and education. This research has largely, but not exclusively, been carried out using neuroimaging methods in the past decade or so, ranging from investigations of brain structure and function in dyslexia and dyscalculia to investigations of the changes in the hippocampus of London taxi drivers. To speak to teachers who might not have scientific backgrounds, we have tried to use nontechnical language as far as possible and have provided an appendix illustrating the main methods and techniques currently used and a glossary, defining terms from Acetylcholine, Action Potentials and ADHD to White Matter, Word Form Area and Working Memory. We start with the idea that the brain has evolved to educate and to be educated, often instinctively and effortlessly. We believe that understanding the brain mechanisms that underlie learning and teaching could transform educational strategies and enable us to design educational programmes that optimize learning for people of all ages and of all needs. For this reason the first two-thirds of the book follows a developmental framework. The rest of the book focuses on learning in the brain at all ages. There is a vast amount brain research of direct relevance to education practice and policy. And yet neuroscience has had little impact on education. This might in part be due to a lack of interaction between educators and brain scientists. This in turn might be because of difficulties of translating the neuroscience knowledge of how learning takes place in the brain into information of value to teachers. It is here where we try to fill a gap. Interdisciplinary dialogue needs a mediator to prevent one or other discipline dominating, and, notwithstanding John Bruer’s remarks that it is cognitive psychology that ‘bridges the gap’ between neuroscience and education (Bruer, 1997), we feel that now is the time to explore the implications of brain science itself for education.