The Brain, Learning and Education Network

In Finland, a new national network on neuroscience and education will begin its activities in 2009. The Brain, Learning and Education Network (in Finnish Aivot, oppiminen ja koulutus) strives for the promotion of scientific research knowledge within the multidisciplinary field of learning, education and the brain.

The network is co-ordinated by CICERO Learning at the University. The activities of the network were financed by the Finnish Ministry of Education in 2009. The Research Director of the BLE Network is Professor Mikko Sams (mikko.sams()tkk.fi) and the Coordinator is Juha Salmi (juha.salmi()helsinki.fi).

Background - calls for a new discipline

Calls for a new discipline, entitled as ‘educational neuroscience’, have been widely expressed in the international scientific community. This emerging research field focuses on the neurocognitive premises of learning, requiring the integration of scientific knowledge from the disciplines of educational sciences, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology.

The importance of this new discipline has also been recognized in the Finnish FinnSight 2015 report that emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary neurocognitive research in the development of powerful learning environments for lifelong learning (Academy of Finland & Tekes, 2006). The report argues that this new discipline has vast potential to extend our understanding about the dynamic and interrelated processes of the human brain and learning. The report recommends the establishment of a new national research network of educational neuroscience in Finland in order to fully promote this new scientific discipline, its research and practice.

Also OECD has recognized the importance of researching learning from the perspective of the brain. The OECD report Understanding the brain: The birth of a learning science, published by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation in 2007, brings attention to the importance of supporting leading research centres on educational neuroscience. In Europe, an example of successful research collaboration effort linking cognitive neuroscience and education can already be found in the UK, namely the Neuroscience and Education Research Network (NEnet) which is supported by the national Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP).

Building the network

From its inception, CICERO Learning has joined its efforts for the establishment of a national research network on the brain, learning and education. CICERO Learning has hosted meetings, workshops and bigger international events in order to promote a dialogue between neuroscience and education. In these meetings, neuroscientists and educators as well as policy-makers and representatives of the business and working life have come together to discuss a variety of themes relating to lifelong learning and the brain.

The topics of discussion have touched upon the possibilities and challenges of brain-based education, stress and well-being at work, working memory across the lifespan, sleep, memory and learning, brain fitness and neuromyths. (Further information about the events, their topics and materials including webcasts of all keynote presentations can be found on the CICERO Learning website).

The lessons learned from these events and related informal discussions are that the field of educational neuroscience urgently requires further research and development. Evidence-based knowledge generated by neuroscientific research needs to inform practices in schools, higher education and vocational institutions as well as at workplaces. Further, problems encountered in every-day school and work situations need to be acknowledged in the research focuses. This is why CICERO Learning has actively strived to establish a network on “the Brain, Learning and Education” in Finland. As the result of a successful funding application to the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Brain, Learning and Education network will start its activities officially in January 2009.

Next steps

The Brain, Learning and Education network aims to create a dialogic community for educators, researchers, employers, policy-makers and other stakeholders. It will offer platforms for dialogue, networking and collaboration so that this new and emerging interdisciplinary area can be further developed to address topics of interest for lifelong learning and education. Further, it will facilitate the dissemination of research findings to the field: education, business and industry, and policy-making; and communicate authentic and acute challenges stemming from the field to the research community. The core activities for the network are:

• Advancing the emergence of a multidisciplinary research paradigm on neuroscience, learning and education

• Co-constructing a common language for this emerging interdisciplinary field

• Through researcher training, creating a new community of researchers attuned to this interdisciplinary paradigm

• Creating opportunities for building interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research collaboration

• Providing discussion platforms for educators, parents, employers and employees and other stakeholders.

The legitimization and establishment of this national network makes it possible for CICERO Learning to continue to pursue its goal towards the development of educational neuroscience.

The Brain, Learning and Education network welcomes both national and international partners to come forward with their ideas and needs concerning this field. Our work has just begun.

References:
Academy of Finland & Tekes. (2006) FinnSight 2015: Tieteen, teknologian ja yhteiskunnan näkymät. [The Outlook of Science, Technology and Society]. Helsinki: The Academy of Finland & Tekes.
OECD. (2007). Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Contact information
CICERO Brain, Learning and Education -research network Tekniikantie 14
Espoo (Innopoli II)
P.O.Box 9203
02015 HUT
Finland

Research Director, Professor Mikko Sams
mikko.sams()tkk.fi

Coordinator Juha Salmi
juha.salmi()helsinki.fi
Tel. +358 40 511 8678

*Please note that the above text by Prof Kumpulainen originally appeared in the LLinE Journal Vol. XIII Issue 2/2008 and is published here with the kind permission of the Managing Editor of the LLinE Journal.