ABSTRACT
This chapter defines brain from a neuroscientific perspective. We draw on the 2007 OECD report, Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science, a seven-year synthesis of brain-informed approaches to learning, grounding our discussion of neuroscientific research by first explaining a neuroscientific understanding of learning. Drawing on our interview data, we present a neuroscientific model of learning and discuss the implications of a neuroscientific understanding of learning. We explore the uptake of neuroscientific research in popular culture, revealing that in some instances neuroscientific research can be reported incorrectly, misunderstood or even completely wrong. We look at the language in these accounts, questioning what reading and following this advice might mean for our practice. Considering the ethical implications inherent in neuroscientific research, the chapter concludes with a warning against the take up, unquestioned, of neuroscientific discourses and practices. The words we use carry meanings for what we do and this understanding of the power of language is at the heart of this chapter.
