There is an undercurrent of learning (that should perhaps be an over-current) regarding “brain-based” researched. Of course, any sort of research at all is indeed brain-based, as whether you’re studying engagement, curriculum, or the cultural impact of mobile learning, it all starts in the brain.

But in pursuit of more direct study, neuroscience is stepping in, itself is becoming of a pedagogical mainstream artifact as educators stop guessing what might work, and head straight to the brain to figure out how it functions, and how best to leverage its natural inclinations.

Montessori schools and even trivium approaches in classic education all appeal to specific learning tendencies–here the role of curiosity and play, and the need to establish one type of knowledge before acquiring another in a kind of hierarchy.

In the this lecture Iain McGilchrist argues that the role of the brain is to make connections, essentially in support of cleverly manipulating the world around us. Sounds like a vote in favor of constructivism, no?

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