User:Oakbell/Educational neuroscience

Educational neuroscience is cognitive neuroscience which investigates educationally inspired research questions. "Neuroscience" is the study of how the brain works. "Cognitive neuroscience" studies how the brain thinks. Educational neuroscience, therefore, is concerned with explaining to the teaching profession relevant findings from neuroscience so that the learning in their classrooms can improve. In this respect it is a "science of learning".

Levels of description
Some neuroscientists challenge the possibility that the current state of knowledge allows any advice to be given to teachers at this stage. Many teachers are put off by the level of detail which seems to be required to understand even basic neuroscience, and so support the skeptical view.

However, all complex systems can be viewed at different levels of detail. For example, an aeroplane can be viewed:
 * as a single object (which will take you on holiday)
 * as a set of component parts: wings, engines etc (the "repair-man's" view)
 * at the level of the design engineer of detailed parts,
 * at the level of the materials scientist, looking at the structure of alloys

Knowledge gained at lower levels informs higher levels. however, it is not necessary for the repair-man to understand the materials science for them to be effective.

Educational neuroscience is concerned with levels of description at the top end of the neuroscience knowledge tree :
 * education, classroom technique, (the teacher's view)
 * intelligence, learning, (general descriptive level)
 * executive control, working memory, speech formation (a functional area view)
 * neurons, synapses, glial cells
 * biochemistry of neurotransmitters

The levels of understanding needed by the educationalist do not extend to the lowest levels. While it is necessary for them to be aware that the brain is made from neurons (nerve cells) and that the links are made at synapses and that "cells that fire together, wire together", it is not necessary to understand the biochemistry nor the pharmacology.

Sources of evidence
Educational neuroscience is a product of the new, and rapidly expanding, knowledge gained from the use of non-invasive brain-scanning techniques such as fMRI and PET. These reveal not only the anatomy of the brain, but also the areas active when a particular type of thinking is taking place.