The Science of Learning (SOL) is an interdisciplinary field that advances our un
The Science of Learning (SOL) is an interdisciplinary field that advances our understanding of learning – how it happens, how it can be facilitated, how it is hindered. It consists of research from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, education, computer science and education technology and strives to better understand and optimize learning (Sawyer, 2006; Meltzoff et al., 2009). SOL influences the academic disciplines: humanities, social sciences, science, the arts – and encourages the use of active learning approaches. At its core, SOL is grounded in neuroscientific theories of learning. However, there is still much that needs to be understood about the brain and how learning happens. Further, understanding the complexities of learning from a biological perspective is challenging even for scientists. Therefore, the content used in the Illuminated project is a simplification and a generalization of selected concepts, studies and theories from neuroscience. The Illuminated project is a European project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme that brings together experts in education technology, teacher development and cognitive neuroscience to support teachers in designing better lessons by making use of knowledge from neuroscience. Two workshops for educators have been created centered around the theme of ‘neuroscience applied to learning design’ and are available as open educational resources at http://illuminatedproject.eu.
Advances in Neuroscience
Even with much left to learn about the functioning of the brain, significant advances have been made in our understanding of the brain and the biological basis of learning. An example of how far we’ve come in our understanding of learning and memory is recent work out of MIT. This is a headline from research done at Susumu Tonegawa’s MIT lab, Susumu Tonegawa can make mice remember things that never happened (Humphries, 2016). At the lab, they’ve been able to manipulate the memories of mice. What have they been able to do? They can watch a memory form. Track and label it. They can reactivate the memory at their will and cause the mouse to perform a behaviour. They can even manipulate the memory – creating a false memory – and then activate it to create a new behaviour (Tonegawa et al., 2015). Although there is still a long way to go from lab to practise and from mice to humans, the mechanisms underlying learning and the demonstration of learning via behaviour are becoming much clearer. Enough has been discovered about how we learn that a number of publications have been written to highlight the most relevant findings for educators and how such findings can be applied to improve teaching practices [see references: Science of Learning – Introduction to Evidence-based Practices].
Learning Design
In addition to SOL, Illuminated materials align with Learning Design which is an approach that supports teachers in becoming designers of learning experiences. Learning Design often relies on technology that facilit