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Neuroplasticity: How the brain changes with learning

Neuroplasticity: How the brain changes with learning

Ross Cunnington

You cannot learn something without storing it in some form of memory for future use. From neuroscience, we know that memories are encoded by physical changes in the brain. In other words, your brain changes physically whenever you learn anything, and your brain continues to be moulded by experience and learning throughout your life.

A deeper understanding of how humans learn is urgently needed to better facilitate learning.

Can neuroscience help predict learning difficulties in children?

Early childhood development / Learning difficulties

Can neuroscience help predict learning difficulties in children?

Modern neuroimaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have significantly advanced our understanding of the neural bases of learning disabilities in children and raised the possibility of using these neural measures to improve the early diagnosis of learning disabilities.

How does the child’s brain process numerical magnitude? Implications for learning mathematics

Early childhood development / Learning mathematics / Learning how to learn

How does the child’s brain process numerical magnitude? Implications for learning mathematics

Vivian Reigosa Crespo

Magnitude is a core dimension of the semantics of number. How does a child's sense of magnitude develop and what does this mean for teaching mathematics to young children?

Building knowledge and understanding

Effective lifelong learning / Early childhood development / Learning how to learn / Sleep and learning

Building knowledge and understanding

Paul Howard-Jones

What happens in the brain when a student grasps a new idea for the very first time—and what does this mean for teaching?

The effect of math anxiety on the numerical brain

Learning mathematics / Early childhood development / Learning difficulties

The effect of math anxiety on the numerical brain

Mathematical skills are increasingly valuable in our technology-focused society. However, interventions and policies aiming to enhance those skills often overlook the negative emotional context that can surround math, with its potentially dramatic consequences for acquiring numerical skills.

Education and the neurocognitive and neurobiological basis of mental flexibility

Effective lifelong learning / Emerging technologies and learning / Learning difficulties

Education and the neurocognitive and neurobiological basis of mental flexibility

Amedeo D’Angiulli

The development of mental flexibility can be influenced by a great many factors, including physical activity, environmental health and nutrition, and even sleep.

Effective teaching and its relation to our scientific understanding of learning

Effective teaching

Effective teaching and its relation to our scientific understanding of learning

Paul Howard-Jones

Has the time come to introduce a scientific understanding of learning into teacher education? What might this look like?

The importance of parents’ “number talk” for the development of children’s mathematical brain

Early childhood development / Learning mathematics / Learning difficulties / Learning how to learn

The importance of parents’ “number talk” for the development of children’s mathematical brain

Parents are the first and most essential teachers of a child—and we are now learning much more about the role parents can play in supporting early math learning.

Social synchrony in the classroom

Learning how to learn / Emotions and learning

Social synchrony in the classroom

Ross Cunnington

We all have an underlying biological drive to associate positively with people who form part of our in-group and to unconsciously develop negative feelings and behaviours towards those in an out-group. Through education and learning, however, we can change this response.

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