Educational Neuroscience: Development Across the Life Span

The field of educational neuroscience uses new insights about the neural mechanisms of learning to improve educational practices and outcomes. The first volume to bring together the latest knowledge on the development of educational neuroscience from a life-span perspective, this important text offers state of the art, authoritative research findings in educational neuroscience before providing evidence-based recommendations for classroom practice.

Thomas, Mareschal, Dumontheil, and the team of expert international contributors assembled in this volume thoroughly explore four main themes throughout the book. The first theme is individual differences, or what makes children perform better or worse in the classroom. The second theme is the nature of individual differences at different stages in development, from early years into adulthood. The third theme addresses cognitive enhancement, summarizing research that has investigated activities that might give general benefits to cognition. And the fourth theme considers the translation of research findings into classroom practices, discussing broader ethical issues raised by educational neuroscience, and what teachers need to know about neuroscience to enhance their day-to-day practice. Specific topics explored include neuropsychological perspectives on socioeconomic disparities in educational achievement, reading difficulties, phonological skills, executive function, and emotional development.

Educational Neuroscience is essential reading for researchers and graduate students of educational psychology, developmental science, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology, especially those specializing in emotion regulation.