Reconsidering the concept of difference: A proposal to connect education and neuroscience in new ways

Abstract

Connecting neuroscience and education is a desire in contemporary society, related to the recurring calls for education to become more evidence-based. Research in educational neuroscience strives towards such interdisciplinary knowledge production and to an enhanced interaction between neuroscience research and educational practice. However, various problems and difficulties in achieving these collaborations are often reported. Discrepancies, hierarchies, misconceptions and communication problems can be described as creating a ‘discourse of difficulty’. The aim of this paper is to trace the specific difficulties that have created this discourse, and to problematize these difficulties in ways that enable new conceptions of what might be entailed by interaction and mutual knowledge development between the fields of neuroscience and education, and between academic theory and educational practice. The most significant difficulty is caused by a binary understanding of the concept of difference in relation to understanding the fields. Instead of understanding the fields in opposition to each other, I will suggest an understanding that implies difference emerging in each of the collaborating fields as the self-differing effects of the encounter. In the concluding discussion, I will argue that an understanding of the concept of difference as a process of mutual transformation can be essential for reciprocity and bi-directionality in collaborations. Instead of producing contradictions and hierarchies between scientific fields and between theory and practice, such an understanding of difference might facilitate an investigation of the polarizations that always position something as of lesser value, and ultimately, creates the gaps that collaborations want to bridge.

Measuring Educational Neuromyths: Lessons for Future Research

“…The wider considerations that must be faced when integrating neuroscience into education, and considering improvements to the measurement of neuromyths, include navigating the ethical and translational issues that abound in neuroscience generally (Aronsson, 2019; Kim & Sankey, 2018). This includes addressing the particular challenge of neuro‐seduction (Weisberg et al, 2008), which—as discussed—poses a threat to valid neuromyth measurement.…”

“…In educational contexts, this is the idea that biological factors are potentially overemphasized when explaining the complex process of learning. There is a risk that the focus on neuromyths, just as a focus on neuroscience itself, can skew educational discussions and resourcing to only a few limited inputs and endpoints (Aronsson, 2019; Pitts‐Taylor, 2016). Acknowledging these challenges will help inform efforts to shape future neuromyth measures.…”

“…Compared to the earlier idea about the brain being “hardwired” or predetermined (e.g., Pitts‐Taylor, 2016), a neuroplastic view of the brain allows teachers to recognize that they can play a role in the sensitive neurodevelopmental period of their students' lives. More broadly, this new field is thought to have contributed to the growing social demand for evidence‐based teaching (Aronsson, 2019).…”

Educational Neuroscience Training for Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Construction

“…The professional knowledge of EN is taught to teachers instead of directly promoting the effect of education practice, which may promote teachers' teaching beliefs and lead to better instruction (Gutshall, 2020). Researchers also indicated that it is necessary to build a bridge between research and educational practice by forming a partnership (MacMahon et al, 2021), and it is also important to reciprocate interactions for neuroscience and education (Aronsson, 2020).…”

Physiology faculty and student contributions to schoolteacher training in neuroscience: innovations during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Including neuroscience in teachers’ formation fundamentally means teaching a multidisciplinary approach to science ( 7 ), which represents a challenge. Furthermore, educational advances from the careful application of neuroscience face significant obstacles in translating research into the classroom; this includes the spread of neuromyths and the products, practices, and programs based on them ( 8 ).…”