On April 17th, Prof. Michael Thomas gave a public lecture as part of Birkbeck’s Science week, on the topic of ‘The latest findings in autism research’.
Read a blog on the lecture here.
CEN Publication: The future of educational neuroscience
Appearing in the journal Trends in Neuroscience and Education:
Author: Michael S. C. Thomas. Title: Educational neuroscience in the near and far future: Predictions from the analogy with the history of medicine
Abstract: Educational neuroscience is an emerging field that, proponents argue, holds great promise for the future of education. Several commentators have drawn an analogy between what neuroscience might contribute to education in the future, and what science has historically contributed to medicine. In this article, I pursue the analogy in greater detail, in order to provide a glimpse of the possible implications of the discipline for education.
See http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221194931200021X
Reading Recovery Conference
CEN’s Chloe Marshall and Michael Thomas gave keynote presentations to the Reading Recovery – Teacher Leader Professional Development Meeting at Institute of Education, on 7 March 2013.
Their talks gave an overview of recent cognitive neuroscience research on reading acquisition and developmental dyslexia. How does our knowledge of the brain basis of reading inform intervention for reading difficulties?
MSc Educational Neuroscience
Full-time & Part-time, enrolling for 2013/2014 now
Information available here
Swiss Cottage Special School website now live
Swiss Cottage School is an outstanding school in the London Borough of Camden, accommodating 232 children aged 2-19 with complex learning difficulties, emotional, behavioral and communication difficulties and those with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC).
It is also a Teaching School, leading an alliance of schools and other partners to develop quality of teaching and learning and pupil progress across a number of schools in the borough and beyond.
The CEN is collaborating with the School to further the dialogue between educators and neuroscientists.
Workshop: “How do we get children reading?”
In November 2012, the CEN ran a public workshop on literacy: “How do we get children reading?”, organized by Marshall. It attracted a capacity audience of 90, including teachers, educational psychologists, SENCOs, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists, and researchers.
Speakers included Kate Prentice (Cambridge Centre for Neuroscience in Education), Jared Brady (Head Teacher, St. Mary’s School Battersea), Mairead MacSweeney (CEN), David Bedford (children’s author), and Charles Hulme (UCL).
“Are We Wired for Science?”
In collaboration with the Learning Skills Foundation charity, the CEN gave its 4th Public Policy Seminar in Whitehall in October 2012, entitled ‘Are We Wired For Science? Applying Neuroscience to the Mainstream Curriculum’.
The CEN’s Denis Mareschal and Andy Tolmie presented the latest research on how neuroscience can inform our understanding of science education. The seminar attracted a paying audience of 100.
See here for a report of the Seminar published in the Psychologist Magazine.
Event at British Library
“The Performing Brain: A moving story” organised by, amongst others, CEN’s Mairead MacSweeney. The CEN’s Chloe Marshall also participated. Details available here.
CEN Publication
British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph “Educational Neuroscience” based on CEN-BJEP conference in June 2010.
Details (including table of contents) available from this link
CEN hosts EARLI conference
In May 2012, the CEN hosted the Second Biennial Meeting of the Special Interest Group on ‘Neuroscience and Education’ of the European Association for Learning and Instruction (EARLI)