Educational Neuroscience E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: Educational Philosophy and Theory Special Issues
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 264

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Educational Neuroscience provides an overview of the wide range of recent initiatives in educational neuroscience, examining a variety of methodological concerns, issues, and directions. * Encourages interdisciplinary perspectives in educational neuroscience * Contributions from leading researchers examine key issues relating to educational neuroscience and mind, brain, and education more generally * Promotes a theoretical and empirical base for the subject area * Explores a range of methods available to researchers * Identifies agencies, organizations, and associations facilitating development in the field * Reveals a variety of on-going efforts to establish theories, models, methods, ethics, and a common language

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Series page

Title page

Copyright page

Notes on Contributors

Foreword

Chaprer 1: Introduction: Educational Neuroscience

Chaprer 2: Educational Neuroscience: Motivations, methodology, and implications

Introduction

Defining Educational Neuroscience

Some Objections

Motivations, Aims, and Prospects

Theories, Methods, and Collaborations

Challenges, Results, and Implications

Chaprer 3: Can Cognitive Neuroscience Ground a Science of Learning?

Chaprer 4: A Multiperspective Approach to Neuroeducational Research

Neuroeducational Research and the Interrelation of Diverse Perspectives on Learning

Theories, Methods, Collaborations

Challenges, Results and Implications

Chaprer 5: What Can Neuroscience Bring to Education?

Chaprer 6: Connecting Education and Cognitive Neuroscience: Where will the journey take us?

Introduction

How Might Cognitive Neuroscience Inform Education?

What Needs to Happen for Education and Neuroscience to Interact?

What Does the Future Hold?

Chaprer 7: Position Statement on Motivations, Methodologies, and Practical Implications of Educational Neuroscience Research: fMRI studies of the neural correlates of creative intelligence

Chaprer 8: Brain-Science Based Cohort Studies

1. Introduction

2. Why are Cohort Studies Important?

3. Examples of Cohort Studies Based on Brain Science

4. Conclusion

Chaprer 9: Directions for Mind, Brain, and Education: Methods, Models, and Morality

Methods: Problem-Focused Methodological Pluralism

Models: Broad Frameworks for the Epigenetic System in Context

Morality: The Ends and Means of MBE

Conclusion

Chaprer 10: The Birth of a Field and the Rebirth of the Laboratory School

Introduction

The Birth of a Field

The Rebirth of the Laboratory School: Challenge and Opportunity

The Future: MBE and the Research Schools Network

Chaprer 11: Mathematics Education and Neurosciences: Towards interdisciplinary insights into the development of young children’s mathematical abilities

Introduction

Bidirectional Collaboration

Converging ‘ME’ and ‘NS’

Bridging ‘ME’ with ‘NS’

From ‘MENS’ towards ‘Educational Neuroscience’

Acknowledgements

Chaprer 12: Neuroscience and the Teaching of Mathematics

The Neuroscience of Pedagogy

Pedagogical Implications

Conclusions

Chaprer 13: The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect: Paradigm for Educational Neuroscience and Neuropedagogy

Introduction

Primacy of Emotion Function

Need for an Educational Paradigm of Emotion

The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect

Definitions of Affect

Components and Facets of SAMA

Arenas of Cognitive Appraisal

Conclusions and Educational Implications

Chaprer 14: Implications of Affective and Social Neuroscience for Educational Theory

Advances in Social and Affective Neuroscience: Bringing Neuroscientific Evidence to Inform Educational Theory

Our Bodies, Our Minds; Our Cultures, Our Selves

Human Nature, Human Nurture

Emotion (Body and Mind) in Educational Context

Affective and Social Neuroscience and Educational Theory: A Plan for the Future

Index

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Educational Philosophy and Theory Special Issue Book Series

Series Editor: Michael A. Peters

The Educational Philosophy and Theory journal publishes articles concerned with all aspects of educational philosophy. Their themed special issues are also available to buy in book format and cover subjects ranging from curriculum theory, educational administration, the politics of education, educational history, educational policy, and higher education.

Titles in the series include:

Educational Neuroscience: Initiatives and Emerging Issues

Edited by Kathryn E. Patten and Stephen R. Campbell

Rancière, Public Education and the Taming of Democracy

Edited by Maarten Simons and Jan Masschelein

Thinking Education Through Alain Badiou

Edited by Kent den Heyer

Toleration, Respect and Recognition in Education

Edited by Mitja Sardo

Gramsci and Educational Thought

Edited by Peter Mayo

Patriotism and Citizenship Education

Edited by Bruce Haynes

Exploring Education Through Phenomenology: Diverse Approaches

Edited by Gloria Dall’Alba

Academic Writing, Philosophy and Genre

Edited by Michael A. Peters

Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Education

Edited by Mark Mason

Critical Thinking and Learning

Edited by Mark Mason

Philosophy of Early Childhood Education: Transforming Narratives

Edited by Sandy Farquhar and Peter Fitzsimons

The Learning Society from the Perspective of Governmentality

Edited by Jan Masschelein, Maarten Simons, Ulrich Bröckling and Ludwig Pongratz

Citizenship, Inclusion and Democracy: A Symposium on Iris Marion Young

Edited by Mitja Sardoc

Postfoundationalist Themes In The Philosophy of Education: Festschrift for James D. Marshall

Edited by Paul Smeyers (Editor), Michael A. Peters

Music Education for the New Millennium: Theory and Practice Futures for Music Teaching and Learning

Edited by David Lines

Critical Pedagogy and Race

Edited by Zeus Leonardo

Derrida, Deconstruction and Education: Ethics of Pedagogy and Research

Edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas and Michael A. Peters

This edition first published 2011

Originally published as Volume 43, Issue 1 of Educational Philosophy and Theory

Chapters © 2011 The Authors

Book compilation © 2011 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Educational neuroscience / edited by Kathryn E. Patten, Stephen R. Campbell.

p. cm. – (Educational philosophy and theory special issues)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

 ISBN 978-1-4443-3985-7 (pbk.)

 1. Educational psychology. I. Patten, Kathryn E. II. Campbell, Stephen R.

 LB1501.E38 2011

 370.15–dc22

2011013766

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs 9781444345797; Wiley Online Library 9781444345827; ePub 9781444345803; Kindle 9781444345810

Notes on Contributors

Daniel Ansari is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology and the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Western Ontario. His primary interest is in the neurocognitive trajectories underlying the development of typical and atypical numerical and mathematical skills. He uses both behavioural and brain imaging methods to better understand how children develop numerical skills and what neuronal mechanisms underlie the development of mathematical competencies. Email: [email protected]

Stephen R. Campbell is Associate Professor and Director of the Educational Neuroscience Laboratory <www.engrammetron.net> in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. His scholarly focus is on the historical and psychological development of mathematical thinking from an embodied perspective informed by Kant, Husserl, and Merleau-Ponty. His research incorporates methods of psychophysics and cognitive neuroscience as a means for operationalizing affective and cognitive models of math anxiety and concept formation. Email: [email protected]

Donna Coch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Dartmouth College. Using a combination of behavioural measures and a noninvasive brain wave recording technique, her research focuses on the reading brain. A goal of both her research and her teaching is to make meaningful connections across mind, brain, and education. Email: [email protected]

Michel Ferrari teaches developmental and educational psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His most recent co-edited book is Developmental Relations Among Mind, Brain,and Education: Essays in Honor of Robbie Case (Springer, 2010, with Ljiljana Vuletic). In 2010, he also edited a special issue of the History of the Human Sciences on the history of the science of consciousness and is preparing a Handbook on Resilience in Children of War (Springer, in press, with Chandi Fernando). He is currently leading an international study on the personal experience of wisdom as part of a general program of research into the importance of personal development for quality of life. Email: [email protected]

Kurt Fischer leads an international movement to connect biology and cognitive science to education, and is founding editor of the journal Mind, Brain, and Education (Blackwell), which received the award for Best New Journal by the Association of American Publishers. As Director of the Mind, Brain, and Education Program and Charles Bigelow Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he does research on cognition, emotion, and learning and their relation to biological development and educational assessment. In his research he has discovered a general scale that provides tools for assessing learning and development in any domain. His most recent books include The Educated Brain and Mind, Brain, and Education in Reading Disorders (Cambridge University Press, 2008 and 2007, respectively). Email: [email protected]

John Geake is Professor of Learning and Teaching and Deputy Head of School, School of Education, University of New England, Australia, where his research has concentrated on applications of neuroscience to children’s learning. Prior to taking up this position in 2009, Professor Geake was Professor of Educational Neuroscience, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford UK, where his work focussed on applications of neuroscience to educational outcomes. Email: [email protected]

Jeanne Marcum Gerlach is Associate Vice President for K-16 Initiatives and Dean of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Texas Arlington. Her research focuses on Urban Education, Business/Higher Education Partnerships, Issues in English Education, Writing As Learning, Women in Leadership Roles, Collaborative Learning, and Governance in Higher Education. She is the coeditor of Missing Chapters: Ten Pioneering Women In NCTE and English Education and co-author of the book, Questions of English: Ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, and the formation of the subject in England, Australia and the United States. Dr Gerlach has taught in England, New Zealand, France, Germany, Thailand, and Australia. Her awards include the National Council Teachers of English Outstanding Woman In English Education and the University of North Texas’ and West Virginia University’s Outstanding Alumni Award. She received the Fort Worth Business Press Great Women of Texas Most Influential Woman Award, 2002. Email: [email protected]

Paul Howard-Jones is Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol. His research focuses exclusively on issues interfacing neuroscience and education. He publishes in neuroscience, psychology and education and coordinates the Neuroeducational Network (NEnet: www.neuroeducational.net). His latest book is Introducing Neuroeducational Research (Routledge, 2010). Email: [email protected]

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD is a social/affective neuroscientist and educational psychologist who studies the brain bases of emotion, social interaction and culture and their implications for development and schools. She is an Assistant Professor of Education at the Rossier School of Education and an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, and Associate Editor for North America of the journal Mind, Brain and Education. A former junior high school teacher, she earned her doctorate in human development at Harvard University, and completed her postdoctoral training in affective neuroscience with Antonio Damasio. She was the inaugural recipient (2008) of the Award for Transforming Education through Neuroscience, cosponsored by IMBES and the Learning and the Brain Conference, and lead author of a 2009 Cozzarelli Award-winning paper, sponsored by the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Email: [email protected]

Anthony E. Kelly is Professor of Educational Psychology at George Mason University. He has published a number of articles related to educational research methods, and is editing a volume on the neural basis for mathematics learning. Dr Kelly has a number of grants from the US National Science Foundation, and is a New Century Scholar in the Fulbright Program. Email: [email protected]

Hideaki Koizumi is a Fellow at the Advanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. Hatoyama, Japan, and Director of the Research and Development Division of Brain-Science & Society at the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society, Japan Science and Technology Agency. He is a Visiting Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo. He has been advocating the concept of trans-disciplinarity since 1995, and been leading a new field of applied brain science including brain-science and education. He has also developed various noninvasive brain imaging technologies, such as MRI, fMRI and fNIRS (Optical Topography). Email: [email protected]

Kerry Lee is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. He has interests in the application of laboratory-based findings to various forensic and educational issues. In recent years, he has focused on individual differences in mathematical proficiency. Using both experimental and correlational methods, he and his colleagues have examined the contributions of working memory and executive functioning to children’s performances on algebraic word problems. He is also interested in the use of neuroimaging techniques to examine pedagogically relevant questions. Email: [email protected]

Fenna van Nes recently completed her PhD at the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She has published several articles about young children’s spatial structuring ability and the development of early spatial sense and number sense. In her thesis she describes the design of a series of lesson activities that she developed, which can be performed in kindergarten classrooms to foster children’s mathematical development. Email: [email protected]

Swee Fong Ng is Associate Professor with the Mathematics and Mathematics Education academic group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Prior to joining the National Institute of Education, she spent about twenty years in Malaysia teaching mathematics at the upper secondary level. She now works extensively with both pre-service primary mathematics teachers as well as in-service mathematics teachers. Her other responsibilities include teaching and supervising at the master and doctoral level. Her general interest is looking at ways to help improve the teaching and learning of mathematics across the curriculum. The teaching and learning of algebra is her special interest. Email: [email protected]

Kate Patten is the Outreach Coordinator for ENGRAMMETRON, the Educational Neuroscience Laboratory at Simon Fraser University. Kate’s current research interests lie in the neuroscience and neuropsychology of emotion and its implications for neuropedagogy, specifically within the research field of educational neuroscience. She is also interested in the role of emotion regulation in the classroom, as well as the debunking of myths encountered in ‘brain-based education’. Email: [email protected]

Marc Schwartz is Professor of Mind, Brain and Education at the University of Texas, Arlington (UTA), and president-elect of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES). He is also director of the recently established Southwest Center for Mind, Brain and Education at UTA, The center seeks to identify and support promising research agendas at the intersection of neuroscience and cognitive science to inform educational practice and leadership. His research focuses on how the dynamic enterprise of learning unfolds, through perspectives ranging from the student’s to the institutions that oversee the student’s learning. Email: [email protected]

Bert De Smedt is an Assistant Professor of Educational Neuroscience at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He has published a number of articles related to the neurocognitive correlates of individual differences in mathematical achievement. He has done work on mathematical performance in developmental disorders, including dyscalculia, dyslexia, and genetic disorders. He is particularly interested in making connections between education and neuroscience. Email: [email protected]

Zachary Stein EdM is currently a doctoral candidate at Harvard in the Mind, Brain, and Education department. He has published on topics in the philosophy of education, neuroscience, interdisciplinarity, developmental psychology, and psychometrics, in journals such as American Psychologist, New Ideas in Psychology, and Journal of Philosophy of Education. Zak is also the Deputy Director of Development Testing Service, Inc. (DTS), a non-profit research and development organization that focuses on building usable knowledge and technology at the interface of psychometrics, test design, developmental psychology, and education. E-mail: [email protected]

Foreword

The Educational Philosophy and Theory Book Series is dedicated to enhancing the ongoing conversations surrounding all aspects of educational philosophy, including areas of pure and applied educational research. The book series aims to extend the dialogues of educational philosophy by incorporating work from the related fields of arts and sciences, as well as work from professional educators. This monograph based on the special issue entitled Educational Neuroscience and edited by Kathryn Patten and Stephen Campbell brings together fourteen chapters, including an Introduction, to review and discuss an emerging field sometimes also referred to as Mind Brain Education (MBE), after the journal established by Kurt Fischer in 2007. Both Kate Patten and Sen Campbell are from the Educational Neuroscience Laboratory (respectively, Outreach Coordinator and Director) established at Simon Fraser University in 2006 through the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s New Opportunities Program. The Laboratory called Engrammetron, after the ‘engram’ or ‘memory traces’ hypothesized by Karl Lashley (1890–1958) the father of modern neuroscience, was set up with a primary specialization in mathematics education as a facility to measure, analyze and observe through various instruments and methods (including, electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (EKG), electromyography (EMG), and eye-tracking (ET) capability), patterns of ‘mind brain’ behaviour. The field is very recent and emerging quickly with major centres or research networks established in London, Cambridge, Harvard and Bristol:

London (Centre for Educational Neuroscience, http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/)Cambridge (Centre for Neuroscience in Education, http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/neuroscience/)Harvard (Brain Mind, and Education, http://www.gse.harvard.edu/academics/masters/mbe/)Bristol (The NeuroEducational Research Network, http://www.neuroeducational.net/)

All established in the past five years, these facilities advertise themselves as transdisciplinary projects designed to synthesize biological, cognitive and social dimensions of learning within a developmental psychology framework that pays homage to Piaget. The Cambridge Centre states ‘we aim to understand how the brain functions and changes during the development of reading and maths, exploring the development of related skills such as language, memory, numerosity and attention’. The Harvard initiative advertises an interdisciplinary programme ‘including not only psychology, pedagogy, and neuroscience, but also philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, computer science, and other relevant disciplines.’ The Centre for Educational Neuroscience at London, an inter-institutional project of University College London, the Institute of Education and Birkbeck College, on its website records conference presentations for ‘Educational Neuroscience: An Emerging Discipline’ held at Birkbeck in June 2010 with papers on Individual differences in numerical and mathematical abilities, the social brain in adolescence, aspects of numeracy and math learning disability, school science, language and literacy, as well as autism and dyslexia.

In addition, there also exist various SIGS and forums. Most organizations and educational neuroscientists tend to picture themselves as providing a link between biology and cognition; many also acknowledge links to other disciplines, including philosophy and technology. In his scoping chapter Sen Campbell pictures educational neuroscience as a new area of educational research that goes beyond a conception of applied cognitive neuroscience. Drawing on a theory of the embodied mind put forward in the early 1990s by Francisco Varela and his colleagues who sought to overcome the Cartesian Anxiety by complementing cognitivism as an outgrowth of cybernetics with emergence or connectionism, Campbell focuses on subjective experience to argue ‘any changes in subjective experience must in principle manifest objectively in some manner as changes in brain, body, and behaviour, and vice versa’ (pp. 9–10).

What I like about Campbell’s conception is that it is based on philosophical commitments and a good working knowledge of philosophy of mind which makes it both suitable and highly relevant for our readers and for its inclusion in the Educational Philosophy and Theory book series.

I am grateful to Kate Patten and Stephen Campbell for their editorial work in bringing such an excellent international collection together from leading scholars in this rapidly emerging field, themselves included. Educational neuroscience promises new characterizations of the learner in terms of brain, genetic and hormonal states; its applications in mathematics, literacy and social or emotional cognition are interesting even although it still faces formidable methodological and philosophical challenges; and yet already it has already accomplished important work such as deconstruction of prevalent neuromyths such as left/right or male/female brain.

Michael A. Peters

University of Illinois

1

Introduction: Educational Neuroscience

Kathryn E. Patten & Stephen R. Campbell

This book provides an overview of a number of recent initiatives in a new area of research that is coming to be known as educational neuroscience. Educational neuroscience, as a first approximation, variously involves syntheses of theories, methods, and techniques of the neurosciences, as applied to and informed by educational research and practice. Contributions to this book were sought from principals involved in initiatives pertaining to educational neuroscience with common foci on 1) motivations, aims and prospects; 2) theories, methods, collaborations; and 3) challenges, results, and implications, both potential and actual, resulting from these initiatives. Contributors were asked to write position statements with special emphasis on the motivations, methodologies, and practical implications of their particular initiatives for educational philosophy and theory, as well as for educational research and pedagogy.

What emerges in this book is an indication of the wide range of initiatives related to educational neuroscience. This book presents a wide variety of initiatives and methodologies, as well as common goals, concerns and issues. Many topics raised herein are endemic to the emergence of a new discipline: for instance, a need for more coherent terminology, a struggle to identify and establish theoretical and philosophical foundations, a quest for practical empirically-based models, and a requirement for standards of ethical practice. Amplifying problems in establishing the new discipline of educational neuroscience is its cross-disciplinary nature and its consequential need to combine a variety of resources, methodologies, and results. In order to include as wide a variety of responses as possible, authors truncated their submissions to present brief overviews of their perspectives, purposes, portents, and projects. The authors examine a variety of concerns, issues, and directions relating to educational neuroscience; as well as revealing a need to establish theories, models, ethics, methodologies and a common language.

Stephen Campbell, an educational philosopher and researcher in mathematics education at Simon Fraser University, opens this book by considering the nature of educational neuroscience. In so doing, he identifies its proper object of study as the ‘mindbrain’. Campbell advocates a radical theory of embodied cognition that takes as a foundational assumption that any and all changes in subjective experience necessarily entail associated changes in brain and body behavior. Accordingly, he has been expanding his empirical research in mathematics education to include methods and techniques of psychophysiology and cognitive neuroscience in his studies of mathematical cognition and learning.

In Chapter 3, Anthony (Eamonn) Kelly, Professor and Coordinator of Instructional Technology at George Mason University, identifies many relevant factors contributing to educators’ growing interest in the findings of cognitive neuroscience. He asserts that neuroscience may well provide the empirical ‘primitives’ for theorizing anew about learning; in fact, spawning a revolution in our understanding of learning grounded in science. He emphasizes the need to debunk brain-based neuromythologies and replace vague theories of learning with mixed method research-based theories involving a range of disciplines, including the neurosciences. These new theories that incorporate empirical research will ground changes in pedagogy, as in such collaborations as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning. STEM seeks to define fundamental aspects of learning based on neural processes and other biological foundations, and in so doing, to aid in clarifying, defining, and creating theories and models of learning. As well, he argues, STEM has a role to play in helping to establish research agendas and in disseminating resultant findings to various disciplines contributing to educational neuroscience.

In Chapter 4, Paul Howard-Jones, Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol, argues that it is imperative to include brain function in current educational theorizing. He cautions that collaborations between neuroscience and education are fraught with philosophical, conceptual, methodological, and practical issues. He also cautions against ‘medicalising’ educational issues in our quest for understanding educational issues, and presents a ‘levels-of-action-model’ that incorporates the brain-mind-behaviour paradigm as a workable interface of the natural and social sciences by neuroeducational researchers. Specifically, Howard-Jones presents and discusses the Neuroeducational research network (NEnet) at the University of Bristol in its role to develop collaboration between the fields of neuroscience and education.

What follows in Chapter 4 is Michel Ferrari’s view of educational neuroscience as ‘an exciting renovation’ of cognitive neuroscience and other neurosciences that will advance our understanding of how knowledge and cognition is embodied. Michel, Head of the Centre for Applied Cognitive Science at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, advocates that while neuroscientific investigation typically addresses pathologies of learning disabilities, our focus as educational researchers should be to understand the larger underlying context of personal learning and development and to avoid neuroscientific labeling of atypical students in manners that are limiting and potentially stigmatizing. He cautions against an all-too-common practice of over-generalizing laboratory results to learning situations in situ, and against acceptance of frameworks that negate the presence and importance of agency. Ferrari argues, in some contrast to Howard-Jones, that educational strategy must follow the medical model in that pure research informs practice. Concomitantly, he argues that this strategy must also be socially imbedded and culturally mindful in that it reflects the values we espouse and the society to which we aspire.

Daniel Ansari, and associates Donna Coch (Dartmouth College) and Bert de Smedt (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) of his Numerical Cognition Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario, examine the role of cognitive neuroscience in informing education. They acknowledge that changing educational theories and models to be neuroscientific and grounded in biology will be complex and necessarily involves changes in teacher education and teacher training. Advocating that cognitive neuroscientists take an essential role in helping teachers to become literate in neuroscience, they concomitantly propose that teachers reciprocate by enabling cognitive neuroscientists to become literate in the issues and problems related to classroom practice. This process would replace the application of the myths of brain-based learning with interdisciplinary applied research and would generate new collaborations, new paradigms, and eventually, changes in pedagogy.

In Chapter 7, John Geake of the School of Education, University of New England, regards educational neuroscience as an interdisciplinary field both inspiring and inspired by educators’ questions pertaining to pedagogy and curriculum arising from educational problems and issues. To this end, he espouses the use of neuroscientific action research to both validate some current pedagogical practices and to provoke some new ones. Geake laments the lack of recognition of the function of the human brain in most education policy, curriculum and outcome documents. For Geake, it is the job of educational neuroscience to include brain function in education. Educational neuroscience, he asserts, needs its own discipline-specific methodology that addresses the issues, concerns, problems, and needs of educators and learners, but at the same time embraces the findings and expertise of cognitive neuroscientists. Geake briefly presents his research on fluid analogy-making as a basic cognitive process underlying creative thinking. These brain functions, such as analogy making, can be empirically validated using such instruments as fMRI. Geake and his colleagues have proposed a neuropsychological model of creative intelligence that features fluid analogizing.

As well as ascertaining the need for educational neuroscience, undertaking the task of defining it, and establishing its place in the realm of educational research, other contributors to this book address the problem of how research is to be conducted.

Hideako Koizumi, Director of the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society in Japan, welcomes the biologically-grounded perspective of educational neuroscience. He regards learning as making neuronal connections in response to external stimuli from the environment, and education as the process of creating and/or controlling stimuli, as well as ‘inspiring the will to learn’. He discusses the use of longitudinal cohort studies using twins that chart the development of brain function with regard to environmental and genetic factors. He argues that such studies will enable researchers to contribute to educational policy making, reveal potential effects of technology, and help determine whether findings from animal studies can be applied to humans. Neatly summarizing several cohort studies, their objectives, and their methodologies, Koizumi presents the advantages of cohort studies, as well as possible issues and implications.

While there is agreement that multidisciplinary collaboration is needed, Zachary Stein and Kurt Fischer at Harvard University Graduate School in Education, next propose a model for the training of a new generation of educational researchers and practitioners in neuroscience. They present the idea of research school collaborations as the model of choice for Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE). They argue that research school collaborations embody the methodological innovations necessary to build a functional interdisciplinary research group. As well, Stein and Fischer identify important issues for MBE: the control of quality and interdisciplinary synthesis of methods; the development of pragmatic, comprehensive models of human development; the need to develop ethics that govern the use of neuroscientific research findings; and the need to create a common lexicon. They advocate problem-based research in the complex context of practice, involving methodological pluralism, both quantitative and qualitative analyses, with the goal of improving pedagogy.

Marc Schwartz and Jeanne Gerlach, at the Southwest Center for Mind, Brain and Education at the University of Texas at Arlington, further along the lines of Stein and Fischer, describe the reincarnation of Dewey’s laboratory school, a network of researchers, educators, administrators, and policy makers working collaboratively in what they term a Research Schools Network. This network is established to provide the forum for establishing conceptual frameworks, identifying educational challenges, developing experimental methodologies and ethics, clarifying research findings, interpreting conclusions, and monitoring suitable applications of results. Rather than call the new field educational neuroscience, they prefer the term Mind, Brain and Education, which they see as being more pedagogically focused. MBE shares the vision of educational neuroscientists: to improve our understanding of learning and to actualize this knowledge in pedagogy that reflects the multidisciplinary perspective of the mind, including planning, teaching, and assessment.

While many have been theorizing about the new field of educational neuroscience, asserting its place both in neuroscience and education, and examining the creation of research communities and their practice, others have forged ahead and used established methodology to apply to the examination of specific learning tasks. Some of these initiatives are particularly evident in the area of mathematics education research.

Fenna van Nes, in Chapter 11, discusses the Mathematics Education and Neurosciences (MENS) Project at the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education. Van Nes advocates bidirectional collaboration between mathematics education researchers and neuroscientific researchers, with a view to improve children’s mathematical learning. She sees neuroscientific research and educational research not as a fusion of fields, but as an interdisciplinary sharing of insights. She and her colleagues combine qualitative ‘design research’ with quantitative ‘experimental research’ to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the prerequisites involved in the development of early spatial structuring and patterning ability in order to relate this early learning to later mathematical performance. While the mathematics education researchers examine the role of kindergarteners’ spatial structuring ability, the neuroscience researchers study the kindergarteners’ automatic quantity processing and its consequence on mathematical development. This combined knowledge of the sharing of these findings, she projects, will lead to better educational practice in the arenas of diagnosis, prevention, and intervention in the learning and teaching of mathematics.