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2020 future: briefing paper 5
The impact of brain science on education
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The impact of brain science on education
The situation in 2009
Since the 1980s there has been an explosion of
research on the structure and functioning of the
brain. It has been said that we have learned more
in the last few years than in all of history before
that. The results over the last decade have fed into
what has been called ‘brain-based education’. Brain
science has been used to support co-operative
learning, whole-language instruction, thematic
learning, listening to classical music, greater use of
mental visualisation techniques in teaching and
so on.
Neuroscience – the investigation of how the
brain learns and remembers by studying the
organisation and development of nerve cells,
molecular changes and neural pathways – is still
a young science. Almost certainly there is more
we don’t know than we do. And some of what
purports to be brain-based education is not
grounded in a scientific understanding of the
brain. However, the potential of brain research to
help educators understand fundamental questions
is enormous – questions such as:
lHow
far is intelligence a given at birth
or developed during childhood and
adolescence?
lHow
far is the effective learning of specific
knowledge and skills age related?
lAre
some styles of learning more effective
than others – and more suited to some kinds
of students than others?
lWhy
do some find it so hard to acquire literacy
and numeracy skills and what are the most
effective ways of tackling learning difficulties?
This briefing looks first at the ways that
neuroscientists conduct research into how the
brain develops and works? The briefing then
maps out the territory where brain science has the
most to offer educators over the next ten years
and discusses myths about the functioning of
the brain that have the potential to distract and
mislead those involved in learning. It concludes
by suggesting that one of the next challenges
for neuroscience will be to help understand what
makes for effective teaching and instruction.
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Organisation of the brain 1
The human brain weighs around 1,300 to
1,400 grams. The largest part of the brain is the
cerebrum. The cerebrum is divided into two halves
(right and left hemispheres) by a deep fissure. Each
hemisphere has its own specialties but they work
together through a thick bundle of nerves, called
the corpus callosum, at the base of the fissure. Each
hemisphere controls functions that for reasons that
are not understood operate on the opposite side
of the body.
The outermost layer of the cerebrum covering
both hemispheres is the cerebral cortex which
is about a quarter of an inch thick. The cerebral
cortex is like the information processing centre of
the brain enabling us to make sense of sensory
data, communicate using language, think, learn,
plan, recall memories, move our body parts and a
myriad of other functions.
Each hemisphere has four lobes (see Figure 1).
lThe
frontal lobe controls thinking, planning,
organising, problem solving, short-term
memory and movement. In the rearmost
portion of each frontal lobe is a motor area,
which controls voluntary movement. A nearby
place on the left frontal lobe called Broca’s
area allows thoughts to be transformed into
words. The cortex covering the frontal lobes is
referred to as the association cortex.
lThe
parietal lobe interprets sensory
information, such as taste, temperature, spatial
relationships, touch and pain.
lThe
occipital lobe processesimages from the
eyes and link that information with images
stored in memory. The occipital lobes are
covered by the visual cortex.
lThe
temporal lobes processes information
from senses of smell, taste and sound. They
also play a role in memory storage and are
covered by the auditory cortex.
Below and behind the rest of the brain is the
cerebellum. Its main function is to combine sensory
information from the eyes, ears and muscles to
help coordinate movement and balance. The
Figure 1: Areas of the human brain
Source: Oregon Health and Science University
brainstem links the brain to the spinal cord and
controls functions vital to life, such as heart rate,
blood pressure and breathing.
Below the cerebral cortex are functions that form
the limbic system of the brain. They control our
emotional responses. Key elements include:
lthe thalamus, which acts as a gatekeeper for
messages passed between the spinal cord
and the cerebral hemispheres
lthe
hypothalamus, one of the busiest
parts of the brain. It has been likened to a
thermostat regulating a body’s temperature
and controlling crucial urges – such as eating,
sleeping, aggression and sexual arousal
lthe
hippocampus, which sorts our memories.
It converts things that are in our mind at the
moment (short-term memory) into things
we will remember for a long time (long-term
memory) and sends them to appropriate parts
of the cerebrum
lthe
amygdala, that learns and stores
information about emotional events and plays
a role in regulating cognitive functions such as
attention and perception
These parts of the brain come in pairs, with mirror
image halves in the left and right sides of the brain.
The brain contains billions of nerve cells known
as neurons. All sensations, movements, thoughts,
memories and feelings result from lightning
fast signals that pass through neurons. At any
one moment a huge number of neurons are
simultaneously active.
A neuron communicates with other cells through
electrochemical impulses when the nerve cell
is stimulated (see Figure 2). An axon, a fibrous
cable-like projection from the cell, passes the
messages to other neurons. The messages pass
through a junction between two nerve cells (the
synapse), and attach to receptors on the receiving
cell (dendrites). It is these synaptic connections
between neurons that create the complex neural
network of the brain’s circuitry – a process called
‘synaptogenesis’.
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The impact of brain science on education
Figure 2: Functions and make-up of neurons
a time, and are quite slow and limited in
what they can ‘hold in mind’. Conversely,
automatic processes are not under control
and may occur in parallel (many things
can be processed at the same time). This
makes automatic processing extremely
fast: the controlled system is like a personal
computer from the 1980s, the automatic
system like a supercomputer.” 2
These are not two separate systems –
the contolled and automatic processes
work together. The author of the above
quote gives the example of a crossword
puzzle. The controlled brain instructs
the automatic brain in what to look
for and the automatic brain carries
out the search. Various options for the
right answer may be presented and the
controlled brain decides which ones are
right.
Source: Teachnet.ie/farmnet
The process is illustrated in Figure 2 which shows
the make-up of three different types of neurons.
Motor neurons conduct impulses from the
central nervous system to the muscles or glands.
Sensory neurons conduct impulses from the sense
organs to the central nervous system, stimulating
sensations of touch, pain, heat, cold, vision, hearing
and taste. Interneurons connect the sensory and
the motor neurons.
Working at two levels
The human brain works at two levels – the
controlled and the automatic:
“Controlled brain processes such as making a
conscious decision or devising a plan happen one at
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Controlled processes can also influence
automatic ones.
“For example, self-control seems to result in
part from overriding unconscious desires
to seek immediate gratification. Or, when
through our automatic brains we become
aware of a behavioural response that
is based on experience but is unsuitable
for a novel situation, we may through
our controlled brains ‘restructure’ past
thoughts and memories to come up with
a new response.” 3
Neuroscientists also describe how our memory
systems operate at two inter-linked levels: the
declarative and the nondeclarative memory.
Declarative memory describes information that we
can consciously recall and declare. It defines our
capacity to recollect everyday facts and events.
Nondeclarative memory is an umbrella phrase
for all the other kinds of memory systems which
are less conscious. For example, one type of
nondeclarative memory supports the acquisition
of skills and habits such as tying our shoelaces or
riding a bike. Another is associated with priming
– this refers to “our capacity to use part of a
representation in our nondeclarative memory to
retrieve the rest of it, such as when the first one
or two letters of a word allow us to recall it in its
entirety” 4.
How the brain develops 5
The period during a baby in the womb will
develop most of the neurons that comprise the
mature brain by seven months into pregnancy.
What happens after birth is the crucial process of
wiring the brain through synaptogensis. At birth
the brain only has a relatively small proportion of
the billions of synapses that it will eventually have.
Synaptic connections are added in two ways.
First, in a mechanism that is fundamental to brain
development, synapses are overproduced and
selectively lost – particularly during a child’s early
development. The brain processes information
from experience to work out how to function
most effectively, selecting the appropriate synaptic
connections and discarding the inappropriate
ones. For example, in the visual cortex (the area
that controls sight) a person has many more
synapses at six months than as an adult. The period
during which the ‘pruning’ of synapses occurs
varies for different parts of the brain. For the sight
function it will take two to four years but for the
Figure 4
reasoning and planning functions, in the prefrontal
cortex, it can take between ten and 20 years.
In this way, brain volume quadruples between
birth and adulthood not because of new neurons
but because of synaptic connections. These
develop and are stimulated by the experiences
and environment in which children grow up.
However, there is not the evidence to say, as some
have suggested, that ‘enriched environments’ for
children can save synapses from pruning, or can
intensify the creation of synapses, thereby leading
to increased intelligence or learning capacity.
“Any normally stimulating human environment will be
(in neuroscientific terms) sufficient for normal human
infant development.” 6
The second way that synaptogenesis takes place
is through adding new synapses or modifying
existing ones in response to experiences, learning
or changes in the functioning of the body. An
adult developing new maths skills, taking up a new
musical instrument, or learning a new language,
creates or strengthens synaptic connections. Unlike
the overproduction and pruning of the early years
this synapse formation continues throughout life.
Figure 3: Learning from fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans
In scan 1, a subject is asked to remember a face.
Areas at the rear of the brain that process visual
information are active during this task, as is an area
in the frontal lobe.
In scan 2, the subject is asked to “think about this
face”. The scan shows how the hippocampus is
activated.
In scans 3 and 4, the subject was asked to compare
another face to the remembered face. Some of the
same visual areas are activated as during the initial
memory task, but other areas, such as a part of
the frontal lobe, are involved in making a decision
about the memory.
Source: Mark D’Esposito and Charan Ranganath, Department of Psychology and Helen Wills, Neuroscience
Institute University of California, Berkeley.
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The impact of brain science on education
In addition it has been recently found that the
hippocampus generates new neurons throughout
life.
Thus the brain is far from being a finished product
at adulthood – it is highly ‘plastic’ – and although
brain functions deteriorate with ageing new
learning experiences help the brain to keep
working efficiently. This finding provides a scientific
underpinning to investing in life-long learning and
also has significant implications for maintaining the
mental well-being of an ageing population.
How does neuroscience gather
knowledge? 7
The advances in brain science are linked with
advances in computer imaging technology. A brain
imaging machine constantly changes its focus
as it photographs and digitally stores thin slices
of a brain to create a three dimensional image.
The graphic displays it produces use the range of
the colour spectrum to represent different levels
of brain activity – red representing a high level
of activity. Three imaging techniques are most
prevalent:
lFunctional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI) measures the brain blood-flow patterns.
For example, a neuroscientist can study
specific brain regions that are active when
subjects are asked to carry out specific tasks,
such as recalling a memory, reading a book
or moving a part of their body (see Figure 3).
The performance of a ‘normal’ person can be
compared with someone who has difficulties
with these tasks.
lPositron
Emission Tomography (PET) works
on the basis of inserting a small amount
of radioactively tagged glucose into the
bloodstream of a subject. Because glucose
is the brain’s main food, PET scans will reveal
the brain areas with the most glucose (that
are the most active) when asked to undertake
different tasks.
lElectroenephalogram
(EEG) is the least
invasive, cheapest and most portable of the
imaging technologies. EEG measures electrical
brain waves via electrodes placed on the skull.
With the advent of wireless technology the
brain activity of a student in a classroom can
be studied via electrodes placed into a cap
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they would wear that would send signals to a
nearby computer.
What is neuroscience beginning to tell us?
Neuroscience is a young science. In some areas it is
doing no more than confirming what was already
known through cognitive science or behavioral
and educational research. But even in fulfilling this
function it can help to move the debate away from
opinions and theories to evidence and science.
In other areas, research is highlighting issues that
need further study. However, there are also some
emerging findings that will have policy implications
for the organisation of learning in schools and
colleges over the next decade.
1 Acquiring language skills early is significant
The brain is biologically receptive to acquiring
language. The first ten months of a baby’s life
are particularly important in shaping the brain’s
response to hearing and understanding distinct
phonetic sounds. Equally important, there is
an optimum or ‘sensitive’ period for acquiring
grammatical skills. Studies show that grammatical
processing relies more on the frontal regions of
the left hemisphere, whereas semantic processing
(understanding the meaning of words) and
vocabulary learning activate regions at the back of
both hemispheres.
However, brain studies show that when English
is acquired late, for instance because of a hearing
problem or immigration to an English speaking
country, grammatical abilities do not develop at
the same rate or to the same extent. Late learners
rely not just on left hemisphere systems for
grammatical process but use both hemispheres.
The same is true when it comes to English speakers
learning a foreign language. If the brain is exposed
to a foreign language between one and three years
of age grammar is processed in the left hemisphere
as in a native speaker. Delaying the start of
language learning, until just four or six, means that
the child processes grammatical information with
both hemispheres. Starting language learning at 11
leads to a different pattern of brain activity.
These findings do not mean that individuals cannot
master or be fluent in second and third languages
if they start them later – we know from experience
that they can – but their brains will function
differently in order to acquire these skills.
2 The understanding of reading is growing8
Neuroscientists are increasingly understanding
how the neural pathway operates in learning to
read and write. It is affirming how different parts
of the brain complement each other to sound out
letters/phonemes/words on the one hand and
to recognise whole words on the other. An OECD
study 9 concludes that this points to adopting a
dual approach to teaching literacy that balances
phonetic and ‘whole language’ learning 10. In
practice this is what most primary teachers do
but in the current debate on the use of synthetic
phonics this conclusion is relevant.
Neuroscientists have also been able to identify the
glitch in the neural circuitry that explains dyslexia.
In those that read normally, the brain is active in
both the front and the back of the left hemisphere
of the brain. However, with dyslexic readers the
regions at the rear (that translate written into text
and enable comprehension of words) are relatively
under-active and the systems at the front of the
brain (that process syntax) try to compensate by
being more active.
“It appears that dyslexic readers are using the frontal
regions as a sort of ‘alternative back-up’ to try to
decode, because the areas that would normally serve
to interpret the written code are not working as they
should.” 11
Neuroscience is also contributing to effective ways
of helping those with dyslexia read effectively.
Neuroimaging suggests that the phonological
system (the ability to recognise, sound out and
put together phonemes) in dyslexic readers
is “immature rather than deviant” 12 and that
therefore remedial strategies should focus on
sound and word pronunciation. Essentially the
research points to focusing on helping dyslexic
readers to decode and sound out an ever growing
vocabulary of words and so help to create the
neural circuitry that will enable them to read
effectively. The earlier that dyslexia is identified and
tackled the more effective this strategy is likely
to be.
There is a further benefit from looking at dyslexia
from a neurological perspective. Rather than being
seen to have a permanent disability, a child or
young person becomes a student who can achieve
the same goal of being literate by an alternative
learning route.
3 The first implications for developing
mathematical skills are emerging 13
The understanding of how the brain works in
relation to maths is in its relative infancy. We do
know that infants are born with a sense of numbers
and by the age of three are demonstrating this by
the way they point, count in order, use their fingers
and link simple numbers to quantities. The research
suggests that the government is on the right lines
in using the Early Years Foundation Framework to
enhance children’s natural sense of numbers.
Neuroscientists also know that different
mathematical abilities are distributed across
different parts of the brain. Calculation skills seem
to be largely, though not always, confined to the
brain’s left hemisphere but there are separate areas
of the cortex for multiplication and subtraction
skills. Comparison and ordinality skills (the ordering
and sequencing of numbers) seem to be localised
in rear regions of the right hemisphere. The
linguistic area of the brain seems to store those
calculations that have been learned so well that
they are effectively recalled as facts.
Even less is known for certain about how the brain
processes more advanced maths working but it
does seem that it involves separate and additional
neural circuits. For example, neuroscientists think
that algebraic knowledge is mostly processed
independently of mental calculations and that
more complex calculations involve visuospatial
regions of the brain.
Neuroscientists are very cautious about drawing
firm conclusions from their work at this stage.
They do, however, say that because numerical
knowledge relies on widely distributed parts of the
brain’s circuitry, it is important for maths education
to be designed to coordinate and integrate these
functions and so “bring coherence and fluidity to
numerical knowledge”.14
Given the different areas of the brain that are
in play neuroscience also seems to provide
corroboration for what many maths teachers will
attest to – namely that just because a student
is strong or weak in one area of maths will not
necessarily mean s/he has the same propensity in
other areas. This may possibly raise issues about
whether it is right to automatically place students
in the same ‘set’ for all aspects of maths. Similarly
just because a student struggles with reading does
not mean that s/he will be weak in maths.
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The impact of brain science on education
The findings of neuroscience also point to the
value of the old maxim ‘show me your working’
– that is, students practising estimating and
demonstrating when a solution is sensible
and correct and when it is not – as a means
of entrenching learning in the brain’s neural
pathway. This in turn emphasises the significance
of formative assessment in ensuring that students
understand and follow the correct learning
pathway.
As with dyslexia, neuroscientists can pinpoint the
part of the brain that gives rise to dyscalculia (the
left hemisphere elements involved in arithmetic).
Although further research is needed they are
confident that the problems can be addressed
because of the ‘plasticity’ of the brain circuitry
involved in processing maths.*
4 Adolescence is a key time in the brain’s
development 15
Before brain imaging became widely available it
was widely thought that the brain was a finished
product by the age of 12. However, a study that
has tracked a cohort of young people in the United
States has shown how several areas of the brain
go on developing well into puberty and beyond.
There is a second wave of generating and pruning
synapses and interestingly the order in which this
happens reflects the history of human evolution.
Those areas of the brain which belong to the
earliest stages of human evolution mature first,
with later evolutionary developments maturing
later.
In adolescence the first areas of the brain to mature
(those at the extreme front and back of the brain)
are those with the most basic functions that
process senses and movement. The parts of the
brain associated with evaluating risk and reward
(the right ventral striatum) also develop early on.
Areas involved in spatial orientation and language
(parietal lobes) follow. That leaves the areas
controlling more advanced ‘executive’ functions
(the prefrontal cortex) to mature last.
This pattern of development means that in the
teenage years the parts of the brain that fuel
sensation-seeking are operating at full throttle and
racing away while the parts that act as a brake on
our urges are still developing.
Sleep patterns also change during adolescence.
The brain’s pineal gland arranges for the hormone
melatonin, which is critical in enabling the body
to sleep, to be secreted much later in the day in
adolescence than in childhood or adulthood.
Sleep also plays an important role in the process of
myelination which develops during puberty. The
process involves the axons which carry messages
to and from neurons (see Figure 2) being coated
with a fatty substance called myelin. The myelin
sheaths enable messages in the brain to be
communicated more efficiently.
All this happens, of course, alongside the surge in
the production of hormones in the teenage years
– testosterone in boys and oxytocin in girls, which
are associated with bonding and commitment,
although imbalances can contribute to aggression.
These developments combine to make
adolescence a time of deep physical, emotional
and mental change.
The fact that the adolescent brain continues
to develop – and at different rates in different
young people – would seem to be at variance
with policies or approaches that result in the rigid
streaming of young people in education. The
performance of young people should be seen as
dynamic and kept under review. Most significantly,
the findings on the nature of adolescent brain
development add extra force to the need to
address pastoral and well-being issues – as
discussed below.
5 Effective cognitive thought requires emotional
maturity and stability 16
Teachers experience on a daily basis how emotions
affect performance and learning. Neuroscience
is giving us deeper insights into the relationship
between cognitive and emotional thought
processes. It is not, as one study has described,
that our emotions are like messy toddlers in a
china shop running around and damaging delicate
cognitive glassware. Emotions are more like shelves
on which the glassware sits – without them
cognition has less support 17.
Learning, attention, perception, memory, problem
solving, decision making and motivation are
affected by the level of emotional well-being
and maturity. This points to the importance of
* Similarly just because a student struggles with reading does not mean that they will be weak in maths.
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identifying and addressing the needs of students
with severe emotional problems, having good
counselling and pastoral care services and
providing parenting support to help foster stable
emotional family lives.
In one respect, however, the china shop allusion
is appropriate. Stress can play havoc with effective
learning.
Moderate stress is normal and healthy – it
stimulates our response to external events and
risks and contributes to effective operation of
the memory. But severe stress damages learning
and memory. The brain produces a number
of hormones to help manage the response to
stress but when stress is excessive the high levels
of hormones generated damage the neural
connections in the hippocampus (that controls
long-term memory) and make the amygdala
(that regulates emotions) highly active in sending
messages to the hippocampus. There is also
evidence that stress interferes with the ‘executive’
functions in the pre-frontal cortex.
Learning is therefore likely to be disrupted during
periods of high stress. That disruption will not
necessarily be limited to the particular child or
student suffering the stress. The operation of what
are called ‘mirror neurons’ in the brain means that a
person observing another’s emotional experience
can find him or herself registering similar feelings.
Again teachers will recognise the syndrome where
the behaviour or reactions of one student can
affect a whole class. Similarly if a teacher is stressed
this can communitcatre itself to a whole class.
This understanding makes it important for staff
to understand the significance of defusing
rather than exacerbating stressful situations: of
enabling students to regain their composure
and self-control. Sanctions may be necessary if
unacceptable behaviour is involved but they are
more likely to be recognised and accepted when a
student is in a calm rather than agitated state.
Student voice and feedback can be a valuable and
effective way of identifying when teachers are
stressed and not communicating as effectively as
they can.
When the period of excessive stress ends, the brain
is able to regrow the neural connections that have
been disrupted. The brain is resilient. However,
where severe stress is not just the result of a
specific incident but part of a long-term problem
(for example, bullying, a very disrupted home life or
severe deprivation) learning is likely to be affected
on a prolonged basis.
Other ways that the impact of stress can be offset
are discussed in the next section.
6 Supporting brain functioning with good
physiology 18
A good diet is important not just for physical health
but also to enable the brain to work in an optimum
fashion. Studies have repeatedly shown that foods
such as fish oils are important for hormone balance
and the immune system, and that skipping meals
- in particular, breakfast - interferes with cognition
and learning. The OECD report argues that
educators and schools have not sufficiently taken
on board the link between nutrition and academic
performance.
Regular moderate aerobic exercise does not just
contribute to cardiovascular health, it also helps
improve brain performance. Physical activity
increases the amount of oxygen in the blood and
the concentration of oxygen affects the brain’s
ability to function. There is evidence that higher
concentrations of oxygen in the blood significantly
enhance cognitive performance.
Physical activity also helps improve motor coordination and control by stimulating neural
connections in the cerebellum. This is significant
because the cerebellum is increasingly thought to
connect not just to the part of the cortex related to
motor functions but also to other areas of the brain
that relate to cognitive functions.
“The more we study the cerebellum, the more we
realise that movement is inescapably linked to learning
and memory.” 19
Researchers also argue that incorporating
opportunities for movements into lessons and
between lessons helps students to use up some
of their kinesthetic energy (the ‘wiggles’) and aids
attention and concentration.
Sleep, and how much children and young
people have, is not something that educators
can influence very directly but sufficient sleep is
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The impact of brain science on education
important to the learning process. Different phases
of our sleep patterns consolidate skill memories
and declarative memories (the memory of facts)
and, as higlighted above, sleep is an important part
in the development of the brain. Too little sleep
and sleeping problems are associated with poorer
academic performance. Given the importance of
sleep in adolescence one school in the UK and
several schools in the US are piloting changes to
the timing of the school day to enable students to
start studying later (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Changes to the school day at
Monkseaton High School
Monkseaton High School in Whitley Bay,
North Tyneside, has pushed back the time
morning lessons begin by one hour as an
experiment to see if pupils benefit from
more rest.
Instead of suffering a bleary-eyed start
at 9am, since half term, the school’s 850
pupils have enjoyed an extra hour in bed
before beginning their studies at 10am.
The five-month experiment was launched
with the blessing of teachers, parents and
pupils after the school’s headmaster, Dr
Paul Kelley, took advice from sleep experts.
Russell Foster, a professor of circadian
neuroscience at Brasenose College, Oxford,
who advised the school, said research
shows that teenagers coping with the
onset of puberty require more sleep than
the rest of the population.
As a result, they are likely to be at their peak
performance in the afternoon rather than
the morning, and continuous interruption
to their sleep patterns is likely to have
an impact on their health and mental
capacity.
Source: The Daily Telegraph 10/11/09
Dispelling neuro myths 20
Partly because neuroscience is advancing all the
time and partly because research findings get
picked up, simplified and misinterpreted in the
media, a number of neuro myths have taken hold
among some educators. Particular myths that need
debunking include:
There are certain critical periods for learning; children
will miss out, for example, if they do not develop key
skills before the age of three. While, as explained
above, there are periods that are optimum for
learning certain skills, cognitive capacities are not
lost if a particular learning window is missed. Skills
can be learned throughout life and the process of
synaptogenesis helps to reprogramme the neural
pathways in the brain.
Girls are more left brain and boys are more right
brain. There are two myths here. First, although
the different hemispheres of the brain do have
specialised functions it is a mistake to conceive
them as operating independently. In fact:
“There are massive cross-hemisphere connections
in the normal brain and both hemispheres work
together in every cognitive task so far explored with
neuroimaging.” 21
The second myth is that male and female brains
are significantly different. While it is true that there
are some differences (the male brain is larger; the
areas of the brain that support language are more
strongly activated in females and males are better
than females at mentally rotating objects) they are
relatively small and the range of difference within
genders is broad. Some men will have better
language skills than some women, and some
women will have better spatial and mathematical
skills than some men. Researchers have not
identified any gender-specific processes involved
in building up neural networks during learning and
conclude that the differences between girls and
boys do not have any practical consequences for
learning and teaching.
Listening to Mozart enhances your IQ. In fact the
study, which the media used to construct this story,
showed that listening to a Mozart sonata only
improved spatial temporal reasoning* (one of the
many components of IQ) and that the effect wore
off quickly.
More sustainable improvements come from
creating music. Learning to play a musical
instrument sharpens aural skills and involves
* Spatial temporal reasoning involves the ability to form mental images from physical objects and to see and compare
patterns in time and space.
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learning new motor skills that have to be coordinated. This seems to result in permanent
changes in the brain structure and musicians have
a larger auditory cortex, motor cortex, cerebellum
and corpus callosum than non-musicians. Musical
training improves verbal memory and in addition
keyboard players develop improved spatial
reasoning skills on a more lasting basis. fMRI scans
have shown that musical training activates the
same areas of the brain as are activated during
mathematical processing. However, neuroscientists
do not have firm evidence to say that the former
helps with the latter – though it may be the case.
Where does neuroscience go next?
Teaching methods should be adjusted to suit
students’ learning styles. There is in some quarters
a vogue for categorising students according to
how best they take in and process information – a
common classification is to describe students as
being visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners. This
assumption is then used to tailor the teaching and
learning experience to fit the style of learning of
each individual.
If neuroscience is beginning to prise open the
Pandora’s Box of how the brain functions in relation
to learning it has yet to start the process in relation
to teaching. Neuroscience has the potential to
inform discussion and practice on what makes for
effective teaching by examining students’ brains to
establish how well lessons have been understood.
It could also, in line with the trends identified
earlier, help with early identification of special
educational needs and firm up the evidence on
how best to address them. And it can help us
understand the extent to which young people’s
neural pathways are being reshaped by the
immersion and interaction with new technology in
all its forms.
There are two problems with this hypothesis. Often
individuals’ own assessment of their learning style
is at variance with the results of more objective
measures. Second:
“As yet, no evidence from neuroscience, or any other
science, supports the categorization of learners in
terms of their sensory modality or any other type of
learning style.” 22
A better strategy is to develop teaching and
learning approaches that incorporate and integrate
different learning styles so that all parts of the brain
are stimulated and engaged.
Using the emerging knowledge
Continuous professional development (CPD) has
an important part to play in ensuring that school
staff – including teaching assistants who often
have contact with students in stressful situations
– understand the science of how the brain works
and its emerging significance.
A workshop on this issue could, for example, form
part of the induction of newly qualified teachers.
And it should certainly be a feature of the Masters
in Teaching and Learning that is being developed
by the government.
A continual theme of this briefing has been that
neuroscience is very much in the early stages
of exploring how the brain works. However, it is
likely that there will be further major advances
over the next decade, particularly if the findings
from neuroscientists can be integrated with
those from other disciplines. The challenge is to
conduct research in a way that spans the classroom
laboratory divide: to develop ways for teachers,
educational researchers, educational psychologists
and neuroscientists to share knowledge and work
together to test hypotheses.
References
1 This section draws on three essays in The
Jossey-Bass Reader on The Brain and Learning,
ed Fischer and Immordino-Yang, 2008: What
Happens in the Brain when Children Read by
Patrica Wolfe and Pamela Nevills, Neuroscience
and education by Usha Goswami, and Mind
and Brain by John D Bransford, Ann L Brown
and Rodney R Cocking; and chapter 2 of
Understanding the Brain: the birth of a learning
science, Centre for Educational Research and
Innovation, OECD, 2007; and http://www.
scholarpedia.org/
2
Grist, Changing the subject: How new ways of
thinking about human behaviour might change,
politcs, policy and practice, RSA, 2009.
3
Grist, 2009.
4
Howard-Jones, Neuroscience, Learning and
Technology (14-19), Becta, September 2009.
www.ascl.org.uk 11
The impact of brain science on education
5
This section draws on essays by Goswami
and Bransford et al in Jossey-Bass, Op cit and
chapter 2, OECD, Op cit.
6
A Review of the Contribution of Brain Science
to Teaching and Learning, by John Hall, The
Scottish Council for Research in Education,
February 2005.
7
This section draws on an essay by Robert
Sylvester, Alphabetized Entries from how to
Explain a Brain, in Jossey-Bass, Op cit.
8
This section draws on Goswami and Wolfe
and Nevills in Jossey-Bass, Op cit; and chapter
4 of OECD, Op cit.
9
OECD, Op cit.
14 OECD, Op cit.
15 This section draws on Hall, Op cit; and OECD,
Op cit.
16 This section draws on three essays in JosseyBass, Op cit: We Feel, Therefore we Learn, by
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio
Damasio; Selections from Why Zebras don’t get
Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky; and The Effect of
Violence and Stress in Kids’ Brains by Ronald
Kotulak; and chapter 3 of OECD, Op cit.
17 Immordino-Yang and Damasio, Op cit.
18 This section draws on essay by David A Sousa,
The Brain and the Arts, Jossey-Bass, Op cit; and
chapter 3 of OECD, Op cit.
10 OECD, Op cit.
19 Sousa Op cit.
11 Wolfe and Nevills, Op cit.
20 This section draws on Goswami, Op cit, Sousa,
OP cit, an essay by John T Bruer, In Search of
Brain-based Education, Jossey Bass, Op cit; and
chapter 6, OECD Op cit.
12 Goswami, Op cit.
13 This section draws on essays by Goswami, and
James Byrnes, Jossey-Bass, Op cit; and chapter
5 of OECD Op cit.
21 Goswami, Jossey-Bass, Op cit.
22 Howard-Jones, Op cit.
This briefing is one of eight developed as part of the ASCL 2020 Future project, which aims to stimulate a
debate for school and college leaders about developments in wider society that are likely to affect what it
means to be an education leader in 2020. The research is being carried out by consultant Robert Hill with
generous support from Becta and EdisonLearning. For more information go to
www.ascl.org.uk/home/publications/2020_future
Previously published
Briefing paper 1: The impact of a changing population
Briefing paper 2: The impact of climate change
Briefing paper 3: The impact of health
Briefing paper 4: The impact of ICT
Association of School and College Leaders, 130 Regent Road, Leicester LE1 7PG
Tel: 0116 299 1122 Fax: 0116 299 1123 Email: [email protected]
October 2009, revised December 2009
www.ascl.org.uk