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Mind, Brain, and Literacy: Biomarkers as Usable Knowledge for Education
Author(s) -
Goswami Usha
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
mind, brain, and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.624
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-228X
pISSN - 1751-2271
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-228x.2009.01068.x
Subject(s) - usable , educational neuroscience , reading (process) , literacy , dyslexia , cognitive neuroscience , psychology , cognition , neuroscience , cognitive science , neuroimaging , computer science , education theory , higher education , pedagogy , political science , world wide web , law
Neuroscience has the potential to make some very exciting contributions to education and pedagogy. However, it is important to ask whether the insights from neuroscience studies can provide “usable knowledge” for educators. With respect to literacy, for example, current neuroimaging methods allow us to ask research questions about how the brain develops networks of neurons specialized for the act of reading and how literacy is organized in the brain of a reader with developmental dyslexia. Yet quite how these findings can translate to the classroom remains unclear. One of the most exciting possibilities is that neuroscience could deliver “biomarkers” that could identify children with learning difficulties very early in development. In this review, I will illustrate how the field of mind, brain, and education might develop biomarkers by combining educational, cognitive, and neuroscience research paradigms. I will argue that all three kinds of research are necessary to provide usable knowledge for education.