Plenary 3 – Minds, brains and learning games

Paul Howard-Jones, University of Bristol

National and supra-national initiatives, as well as the launching of associated journals and postgraduate courses, suggest that neuroscience is becoming a new source of insight for education. In the last decade, neuroscientific evidence has informed many educational debates, including approaches to early numeracy and literacy, the financial returns for educational investment and our understanding of a range of learning disorders. In the future, the educational impact of neuroscience may prove greatest where another force for change, technology, is already transforming how we learn. Insights from neuroscience are helping to explain why video games are so engaging and research suggests that, unlike most other types of technology, they may be a ‘special’ environmental influence. The same neural and cognitive processes appear to underlie both the hazard and the educational potential of video games, highlighting the need for a scientific understanding of these processes to ensure they benefit, rather than disrupt, our children’s education and development. Recent interdisciplinary research at the University of Bristol has investigated the neural mechanisms of gaming, their relationship to learning and how gaming influences learning processes in the classroom. This work has now resulted in a free app for teaching through gaming that is being used in 20 countries across the world. The dialogue between neuroscience and education is still in its infancy and many challenges remain for those seeking to integrate insights from brain science into educational thinking. The history of so-called ‘brain-based’ learning, with its unscientific and unevaluated concepts, suggests there are many pitfalls. It also emphasises the need for a research-based transdisciplinary approach that assures optimal outcomes in terms of scientific validity and educational relevance.