Thomas M S C, Arslan Y
Centre for Educational Neuroscience, University of London, London, UK.
School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2025 Jun;95(2):303-320. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12727. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
The present special issue on mind, brain and education (educational neuroscience) contains four papers that employ a neuroscience-informed approach to educational phenomena, including dyslexia, academic self-concepts, bullying and the effect of mindset on learning.
This commentary positions the papers with respect to the goals and methods of educational neuroscience, placing them on a continuum of approaches from basic research to applied intervention.
We argue that a focus on the brain matters for teachers because it increases understanding of how learning works and the factors that influence learning outcomes and student well-being without being reductionist. Constraints on learning that arise from biology sometimes seem arbitrary outside a neuroscience framework (several examples are provided). A neuroscience perspective encourages a more holistic and developmental view of learning than a narrow cognitive (memory) oriented approach. Because educational neuroscience is an inherently translational field that relies on dialogues between researchers and practitioners, we argue it is important to understand how teachers view the field and how insights from the science of learning might usefully feed into their practice. We then assess the insights, strengths and limitations of the four papers, as well as the potential that their respective lines of work offer.
本期关于心智、大脑与教育（教育神经科学）的特刊包含四篇论文，这些论文采用了基于神经科学的方法来研究教育现象，包括诵读困难、学业自我概念、欺凌行为以及思维模式对学习的影响。
本评论依据教育神经科学的目标和方法对这些论文进行定位，将它们置于从基础研究到应用干预的连续方法体系之中。
我们认为，关注大脑对教师而言至关重要，因为这能增强他们对学习机制以及影响学习成果和学生福祉的因素的理解，同时又不会陷入还原论。在神经科学框架之外，生物学对学习造成的限制有时显得很随意（文中给出了几个例子）。与狭隘的认知（记忆）导向方法相比，神经科学视角鼓励对学习形成更全面和发展性的看法。由于教育神经科学本质上是一个依赖研究者与从业者之间对话的转化性领域，所以我们认为理解教师如何看待该领域以及学习科学的见解如何能有效地应用于他们的实践很重要。然后，我们评估这四篇论文的见解、优势和局限性，以及它们各自的研究方向所具有的潜力。
