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A report commissioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department reviewed the potential of the findings of Neuroscience research to influence educational practice. This review of brain-based learning and what is currently known of its implications for learning was undertaken during 2004 by the SCRE Centre of the University of Glasgow. It was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department. The aim is to review recent research on brain function and development and the possible impact on young people’s learning.
The main findings are summarised below with some points for discussion reported afterwards:
The 1990s were the ‘decade of the brain’ in the USA, and this led to increased interest in the implications of recent neuroscientific research for education.
- Important reviews of this area have been conducted for the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme and for the OECD, as well as others written by individuals and teams for journals.
- We must be careful to distinguish between neuroscience, psychology, and education and be cautious about how we translate findings from one area into another.
Inside the brain
- The human brain contains 100 billion active neurons which are connected via synapses.
- The number of neurons in the brain remains more or less constant throughout life. The growth of the brain between childhood and adulthood is almost entirely due to the formation of new connections between neurons (synaptogenesis).
- The processes of synaptogenesis, pruning and plasticity are all important to the development of the brain.
- The brain is divided into two hemispheres, each of which has four lobes which are associated with cognitive functions.
- The brain has an evolved modular structure in which elementary functions are widely distributed; it is a parallel processor, with high connectivity, and high redundancy, and operates in a probabilistic manner.
What do we know about the brain?
- Brain research has used a variety of research methods, including invasive techniques, animal studies, and a range of imaging techniques. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses, and produces results which need to be interpreted with care.
- Studies with rats have shown that ‘enriched’ environments increase synaptic density.
- Studies of cats and monkeys have suggested that some functions may be subject to ‘critical periods’ for their development.
Neuroscience and Education
- Imaging studies of the developing human brain have shown that growth and development continues until early adulthood.
- Imaging studies of adults have shown continuing plasticity in the adult human brain.
- There are a number of ‘neuromyths’ which need to be debunked. These include ideas about ‘right and left brains’, ‘critical periods’ in the early years, and ‘enriched environments’ for young children.
Towards a consensus?
- Early disagreements between ‘enthusiasts’ and ‘sceptics’ appear to be giving way to a new consensus with a number of ideas now generally accepted.
- These ideas include the continued plasticity of the human brain, and the possibility of sensitive periods affecting the ease of certain types of learning.
- These sensitive periods extend at least into the teenage years, and possibly further.
- Neuroscience can also offer specific insights into some aspects of skills development, and is beginning to suggest new avenues of exploration in the investigation of some skills deficits.
- Neuroscience is confirming earlier psychological theories about the importance of emotional engagement in learning.
A summary and full report are linked to below after a few related web based resources. Some points for education are now outlined.
Hall reviewed differences in focus and emphasis between research in neuroscience, psychology and education which hindered interdisciplinary working to share knowledge. This has been described by Bruer (1997) as a bridge too far between education and cognitive science.
Hall characterises these differences as levels of explanation:
- “ At the first level, scientists are concerned with the inner workings of the brain. This is the level of ‘neuroscience’ where various aspects of biology, physiology, and chemistry are concerned with the structure, organisation and development of the brain as a physical organism;
- At the second level, the brain is thought of as a ‘black box’, studied experimentally from outside. This is the level of ‘psychology’, particularly in its experimental and cognitive forms, and is interested in the behavioural impact of various types of input applied in specified contexts;
- At the third level we are dealing with the practical application of knowledge about human behaviour to promote effective teaching and learning. This is the realm of ‘education’ which is as much a social endeavour as a scientific
one.”
Because of this education has been susceptible to what Usha Goswami (2004) and others call 'Neuromyths'. These myths have influenced the development of some spurious educational approaches and guidance.
Hall lists some of the key neuromyths:
Brain laterality
This is the assumption that the two frontal hemispheres have very different specialities of function with the left hemisphere is involved in different cognitive functioning from the right hemisphere. The brain, however, has many connections, has a high degree of plasticity that means that functionality may develop and compensate after injury. Joining both hemispheres is the corpus callosum which facilitates a great deal of interconnectivity. A number of so-called ‘brain based’ interventions pretend to exploit the specialisation of brain laterity.
‘Critical’ periods
This can be summarised at its most extreme as the ‘use it or lose it’ argument where certain learning needs to occur at set times especially in the first three years of life. The research suggests that, there are sensitive periods when the brain may be at its optimum to learn certain things but learning can occur through out life.
An example is given of a comparison of the posterior hippocampi of London taxi drivers who have to learn ‘The Knowledge’ which is an exacting understanding of the roads and streets of London and how best to get from a to b. It was found that the ‘posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects’ and that the hippocampal volume correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver.
This demonstrates that learning can occur through out the course of life and that brain changes occur with that learning.
Enriched environments
This is based upon research on rats raised in “enriched” or “deprived” environments. The rats brought up in the ‘enriched’ environment were found to have greater synaptic density in their brains. Commentators have extrapolated from this that young children should be brought up in an ‘enriched’ environment in order to enhance their learning potential. It is a case of extrapolating facts from a study of rats to humans in a way that goes way beyond the evidence presented.
Examples of impact
An example of the potential impact of neuros science to education is suggested by Hall from the work of Genessee (2000).
Noting that ‘the flow of neural activity is not unidirectional, from simple to complex; it also goes from complex to simple’, he goes on to suggest that this implies that:…
‘effective teaching should include a focus on both parts and wholes.
Instructional approaches that advocate teaching parts and not wholes or wholes and not parts are misguided, because the brain naturally links local neural activity to circuits that are related to different experiential domains. For example, in initial reading instruction, teaching phonics independently of the meaning of the words and their meaningful use is likely to be less effective than teaching both in parallel. Relating the mechanics of spelling to students' meaningful use of written language to express themselves during diary writing, for example, provides important motivational incentives for learning to read and write. Second, and related to the receding point, teaching (and learning) can proceed from the bottom up (simple to complex) and from the top down (complex to simple). Arguments for teaching simple skills in isolation assume that learners can only initially handle simple information and that the use of simple skills in more complex ways should proceed slowly and progressively.
Brain research indicates that higher order brain centers that process complex, abstract information can activate and interact with lower order centers, as well as vice versa.
(Genessee, 2000)
Further reading:
Bruer, J.T. (1997) 'Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far.' Educational Researcher. 26(8): 4-16.
Genessee, F. (2000) Brain Research: Implications for Second Language Learning.
ERIC Digest ED447727. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.
Goswami, U. (2004) 'Neuroscience and education.' British Journal of Educational
Psychology. 74: 1-14.
LC/NIMH (2000) Project on the Decade of the Brain. Retrieved, 22 January 2004, http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/loc/brain/.
OECD (2001a) Brain Mechanisms and Early Learning. Preliminary Synthesis of the First High Level Forum on Learning Sciences and Brain Research: Potential Implications for Education Policies and Practices. Retrieved, 26 September 2003
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/18/15300896.pdf.
OECD (2001b) Brain Mechanisms and Learning in Ageing. Preliminary Synthesis of the Third High Level Forum on Learning Sciences and Brain Research: Potential Implications for Education Policies and Practices. Retrieved, 26 September 2003,
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/39/15302896.pdf.
OECD (2001c) Brain Mechanisms and Youth Learning. Preliminary Synthesis of the Second High Level Forum on Learning Sciences and Brain Research: Potential
Implications for Education Policies and Practices. Retrieved, 26 September 2003,
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/40/15302628.pdf.
Pinker, S. (2000) The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. San
Francisco, CA: Harper Perenniel.
Whitebread, D. (2002) The implications for Early Years education of current research in cognitive neuroscience. Paper presented at British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Exeter. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002545.doc.