Neuroeducation (referred to in the United States as; Mind Brain and Education) is a recently emerged field that looks at how the biology of the nervous system affects education. A considerable amount of research in the field is devoted to educating around learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD and others.(Goswami, 2006)
There is significant debate on whether the kind of neuroscientific research currently at hand can be used to inform teaching methods. Some claim that neuroscience can help support children’s learning (Goswami, 2006) while others believe the application of neuroscience in education “challenges the central philosophy of teaching and learning ”. (Bruer,1997; Bakhurst, 2008) In recent years, multiple studies have found internal brain mechanisms that account for students’ literacy and math development. Moreover, neuroimaging research was able to find developmental difficulties for children with dyslexia. Their brain showed reduced activation in regions that support phonological processing and therefore indicates this particular dyslexia is caused by neurological processing where the individual sounds of language become “sticky” and are unable to be broken apart. (Willingham, DT 2009). Studies such as these have convinced significant numbers of interested parties to feel there are sufficient grounds for introducing neuroscientific models into education design (Zadina, 2015, Martin-Loeches, 2015) Educators are keen to make use of neuroscience in education (Goswami, 2006). Some writers believe that persons and organizations that stand to gain by perpetuating the neuromyths work against adoption of the science (Goswami, 2006). Neuroeducation is still in its infancy, but has already made strides in clarifying how a number of discoveries could lead to better learning by better understanding how the brain responds to distractions, stress, lack of sleep and exercise, to name a few concerns.(Zadina, 2015) |