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Using sophisticated imaging techniques to scan the brains of children and adults, researchers have identified key regions that the brain uses to perceive and process information. Although localisation within the brain plays a dominant and powerful role in learning, the local regions actually work simultaneously, combining like the sections of an orchestra.

Scientists continue to identify how discrete systems contribute towards particular types of learning. They have described a tentative model for how learning occurs and discovered where and how memories form, how memories construct themselves in light of new experiences and how we re-create memories through thinking. Whilst scientists continue their examinations of the brain, the education profession looks hopefully to gain some new insights into the nature of learning. With our centuries of experience and collective wisdom, educators now stand on the crest of a new wave of information about learning – an exciting potential unfolds. New questions arise. Hopeful remedies emerge that may stem the seemingly increasing number of young people who act out their life’s frustrations at school.

While brain research does not provide a detailed pedagogic-type experience from which to implement a recipe-based structure it does shed new light on the big questions we face as educators. Are learning principles or organisational principles driving classrooms? To what degree does today’s classroom environment match the biology of learning? Does brain research ‘prove’ anything or does it merely provide pathways and strategies that have a higher probability of success?

Brain research presents an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the vast array of practices that make up learning and teaching, and to determine what actually benefits students in classrooms. It also offers an opportunity for educators to inform neuroscience. Our work is more of a craft than a science but educators know about the efficiency and effectiveness of learning strategies and we have centuries of collective wisdom gained from first hand experiences rather than laboratory studies. How can the knowledge gained from brain research and classroom observation improve learning and make the schooling experience more enjoyable, rewarding and satisfying for educators and students?