A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners
In Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far, John Bruer argues that, although current neuroscientific findings must filter through cognitive psychology in order to be applicable to the classroom, with increased knowledge the neuroscience/education bridge may someday be built. Here, we suggest that...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00377/full |
| _version_ | 1818929566210588672 |
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| author | Jared Cooney Horvath Gregory Michael Donoghue |
| author_facet | Jared Cooney Horvath Gregory Michael Donoghue |
| author_sort | Jared Cooney Horvath |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far, John Bruer argues that, although current neuroscientific findings must filter through cognitive psychology in order to be applicable to the classroom, with increased knowledge the neuroscience/education bridge may someday be built. Here, we suggest that translation cannot be understood as a single process: rather, we demonstrate that at least 4 different ‘bridges’ can conceivably be built between these two fields. Following this, we demonstrate that, far from being a matter of information lack, a prescriptive neuroscience/education bridge (the one most relevant to Bruer’s argument) is a practical and philosophical impossibility due to incommensurability between non-adjacent compositional levels-of-organization: a limitation inherent in all sciences. After defining this concept in the context of biology, we apply this concept to the learning sciences and demonstrate why all brain research must be behaviorally translated before prescriptive educational applicability can be elucidated. We conclude by exploring examples of how explicating different forms of translation and adopting a levels-of-organization framework can be used to contextualize and beneficially guide research and practice across all learning sciences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T03:46:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba45e1ba9be14fc7ae724879b6aa4e30 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T03:46:50Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba45e1ba9be14fc7ae724879b6aa4e302022-12-21T19:54:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-03-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.00377175193A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning PractitionersJared Cooney Horvath0Gregory Michael Donoghue1University of MelbourneUniversity of MelbourneIn Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far, John Bruer argues that, although current neuroscientific findings must filter through cognitive psychology in order to be applicable to the classroom, with increased knowledge the neuroscience/education bridge may someday be built. Here, we suggest that translation cannot be understood as a single process: rather, we demonstrate that at least 4 different ‘bridges’ can conceivably be built between these two fields. Following this, we demonstrate that, far from being a matter of information lack, a prescriptive neuroscience/education bridge (the one most relevant to Bruer’s argument) is a practical and philosophical impossibility due to incommensurability between non-adjacent compositional levels-of-organization: a limitation inherent in all sciences. After defining this concept in the context of biology, we apply this concept to the learning sciences and demonstrate why all brain research must be behaviorally translated before prescriptive educational applicability can be elucidated. We conclude by exploring examples of how explicating different forms of translation and adopting a levels-of-organization framework can be used to contextualize and beneficially guide research and practice across all learning sciences.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00377/fullEducationPsychologyNeurosciencetranslationTranslational researchlevels of organization |
| spellingShingle | Jared Cooney Horvath Gregory Michael Donoghue A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners Frontiers in Psychology Education Psychology Neuroscience translation Translational research levels of organization |
| title | A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners |
| title_full | A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners |
| title_fullStr | A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners |
| title_short | A Bridge Too Far – Revisited: Reframing Bruer’s Neuroeducation Argument for Modern Science of Learning Practitioners |
| title_sort | bridge too far revisited reframing bruer s neuroeducation argument for modern science of learning practitioners |
| topic | Education Psychology Neuroscience translation Translational research levels of organization |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00377/full |
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