Neuroscience News: The Era of Neuroeducation

As 2015 quietly creeps into our lives, it is probably time to recognise and acknowledge that over the last decade the presence of a new era can really be felt. This is the era of Neuroeducation.

Twenty five years ago the field of neuroeducation started to make whispers in the academic world. In fact it was concretely discussed in 1988 by the Psychophysiology and Education Special Interest Group. It is now the cornerstone of many research organizations around the world. Educational neuroscience, or neuroeducation, not only emerged from the whispers, but is now fully underway in practice, as evidenced by various people who are marrying neuroscience with education of some type or other.

According to the Aalok Mehta, “Neuroeducation is an interdisciplinary field that combines neuroscience, psychology and education to create improved teaching methods and curricula and is moving increasingly close to prime time as researchers gain a more sophisticated understanding of how young minds develop and learn, leading education and brain experts say.”

In reality, nowadays neuroscience seems to be penetrating all walks of life, such as education, leadership and executive development, health and even spirituality.

Focusing in on Neuroeducation, it is interesting to see that the more we are discovering about how the brain works, the more we are able to bring this comprehension into educational methods, approaches and other areas. For example, Neuroleadership refers to the application of findings from neuroscience to the field of leadership. Dr David Rock first coined the term. Or Neuroeconomics, which is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to explain human decision making and our ability to process multiple alternatives and follow a course of action. It studies how economic behavior can shape our understanding of the brain, and how neuroscientific discoveries can constrain and guide models of economics.

More recently, “Neurolanguage Coaching is a new method and approach to facilitate faster and more efficient foreign language learning.

I truly believe that the most interesting question for any “Neuroeducator” of any discipline is “how can I get my learner to learn faster, more efficiently and in a sustainable, effective manner?”

Based on the knowledge we now have regarding the brain and how the brain likes to learn, we are blasting away those “neuromyths” that have hindered and disempowered for far too long. Now, we are tapping into and encouraging more and more learning potential. This is due to the fact that, as Neuroeducators, we now know HOW to. Pettito and Dunbar stated that educational neuroscience “provides the most relevant level of analysis for resolving today’s core problems in education.”

I wholeheartedly agree with them and strongly believe that neuroscience can bring in a meaningful contribution to education, as well as instigating necessary educational changes that could benefit all learners. According to Frith, “Learning in cognitive psychology and neuroscience has focused on how individual humans and other species have evolved to extract useful information from the natural and social worlds around them.”

“Conversely modern formal education has more of a focus on descriptions and explanations of the world that learners cannot be expected to acquire by themselves” (Wikipedia – Neuroeducation). So in my humble interpretation of this, modern formal education adopts more of a “telling from one person to the other” approach, whereas neuroscience introduces the “self- experiencing” approach, getting the learner to come to his/her own learning through self-application of the learning. This brings us full circle back to the echoing tones of Socrates and one of his famous quotations “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think”.

At this point, the key is actually in the “neuroeducators” themselves. Once we as teachers, trainers, or coaches are able to fully understand and embrace the findings that modern neuroscience is enlightening us with – and not only understand and embrace, but actually be able to put them into practice daily with all of our learners – we then begin to really see with our own eyes the impact that we as teachers, trainers, instructors or coaches actually have on the learner. Neuroeducators, and in particular with regard to languages, neurolanguage coaches, are bridging the education/neuroscience gap by bringing neuroscience alive in practice within a certain branch of education. In addition, ultimately, the greatest transformation is in the neurolangue educators as they are able to empower the learner throughout the learning process, based on what they know about how the brain functions.

Over the last year, I have seen teachers absolutely metamorphosized with their newly acquired knowledge of the brain, neural connections and neuroplasticity. The new “neuroeducators” have understood how their own brain functions. This has really enabled them to really assist the learner to learn faster, more efficiently, and to empower the learner to really come into his/her full potential, thereby blasting away those neuromyths along the way. This knowledge, together with the incorporation of a coaching style, coaching principles and competencies, absolutely enhance the language learning process.

The era of Neuroeducation is already upon us. Thanks to advances in modern technology (neuroimaging) we can expect more and more amazing facts and results relating to our brains. We still understand so little about the human brain, as it is made up of maybe over 100 billion neurons, each of which connects to thousands of other neurons and is potentially the most complex biological structure on Earth.

To this end, and to really bring you neuroscientific information and news regarding neuroeducation, EFL magazine and I will explore articles and findings related to neuroscience in our monthly column called “Neuroscience News.”

In this way we hope to enrich your teaching, training, coaching, leading, mentoring processes with in-depth knowledge about how the brain likes to learn.

In our next issue we start with the limbic system!

Neuroscience Dictionary

Neuroeducation is interdisciplinary field that combines neuroscience, psychology and education to create improved teaching methods and curricula.

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system.

Neuroimaging is the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure and function/pharmacology of the nervous system. It is a relatively new discipline within medicine and neuroscience/psychology.

Neuroculture is the relation between the sciences that study the functioning of the brain and culture.

Neuromyth is a commonly held false belief about neuroscience.

Neuroeducators are specially trained professionals who guide the introduction of cognitive neuroscience into educational practice in a sensible and ethical manner.

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Neuroscience News: The Era of Neuroeducation

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