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Abstract
There is increasing interest in the application of cognitive neuroscience in educational thinking and practice, and here we review findings from neuroscience that demonstrate its potential relevance to technology-enhanced learning (TEL). First, we identify some of the issues in integrating neuroscientific concepts into TEL research. We caution against seeking prescriptive neuroscience solutions for TEL and emphasize the need, instead, to conceptualize TEL at several different levels of analysis (brain, mind and behaviour, including social behaviour). Our review emphasizes the possibility of combining TEL and neuroscience concepts in adaptive educational systems, and we consider instances of interdisciplinary technology-based interventions drawing on neuroscience and aimed at remediating developmental disorders. We also consider the potential relevance of findings from neuroscience for the development of artificial agency, creativity, collaborative learning and neural insights into how different types of multimodality may influence learning, which may have implications for the future developments of tangibles. Finally, we identify a range of reasons why dialogue between neuroscience and the communities involved with technology and learning is likely to increase in the future.
Acknowledgement
This work draws partly on research and discussions within the Neuroscience and Technology Enhanced Learning (NTEL) working group.
Funding
This work is funded by STELLAR – an EU project bringing together the leading institutions and projects in European Technology-Enhanced Learning.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Paul Howard-Jones
Dr Paul Howard-Jones is a Reader of Neuroscience and Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol. His research interests lie at the interface of cognitive neuroscience with educational theory, practice and policy, and he publishes within and across these fields. He is author of Introducing Neuroeducational Research (2010, Routledge). He was a member of the UK's Royal Society working group on Neuroscience and Education that published its report in 2011.
Michela Ott
Dr Michela Ott is a senior researcher at Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Italy. She researches cognitive processes underpinning learning, educational use of software tools, special education, e-inclusion, learning design, and distance education. She is author of more than 150 scientific publications published in national and international journals, books and conference proceedings and has also co-authored several educational software packages and hypermedia systems. She has participated in, led and coordinated a number of national and international research projects and networks in Educational Technology, and is presently coordinating the MAGICAL (MAking Games in CollaborAtion for Learning- KA3 LLP) project.
Theo van Leeuwen
Dr Theo van Leeuwen is currently at the Department of Instructional Technology at Twente University, the Netherlands, exploring the field of neuroscience and education. Particular interests include the neurophysiological underpinnings of the processing of multiple representations, insightful problem solving, serious gaming and the mirror-neuron system. He has researched in neurobiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the University of Zürich, Switzerland (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), neurobiological markers for developmental dyslexia at the University of Amsterdam and the effects of benzodiazepines on vigilance perfomance and brain potentials at Utrecht University (Department of Psychopharmacology).
Bert De Smedt
Dr Bert De Smedt is a Professor in Educational Neuroscience at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Leuven. His research spans education, psychology and neuroscience, with his work published in various high-impact journals in each of these fields. His research interests specifically include the neural processes underlying individual differences (in strategy use) in mathematics in children and how these processes are affected by instruction. He is also interested in the cognitive and neural effects of remedial interventions on children with mathematical difficulties. He co-founded the special interest group (SIG) on neuroscience and education within the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI).