Educational Neuroscience in the Classroom

Book excerpt: The human brain, as described by Crick, is nothing more than a complex network of neurons; a statement which is as reductive as it is fascinating. There has been a growing interest in neuroscience in relation to education. Schools are eager to understand how the brain functions to improve teaching and learning. The central challenge for educational neuroscience lies in using brain research to inform educational practices and understand the cognitive processes behind learning. Imaging has opened up new research territories, including brain exploration. Learning appears, in fact, to occur primarily through changes in the strength and number of connections between existing neurons, a process called synaptic plasticity. Neural pathways, learning and “new knowledge” are optimized when ideas are considered from a multidimensional approach.