Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far.
John T. Bruer
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We should be wary of claims that neuroscience can inform education
o Neuroscience  education is a bridge too far
o Neuroscience  cognitive psychology and cognitive psychology 
education is much more reasonable (and already in place!)
Three important neuroscience findings
o Synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning of infancy – late childhood
o Experience-dependent critical periods in development of sensory and
motor systems
o Enriched environments causes new synapses to form (in rats)
Bad “neuroscience  education” argument
o Children are able to learn more at a younger age since they have a high
density of synapses (birth – 3, birth – 6, birth – 10 or maybe 3 – 10)
o We must shape pruning with enriched environments at this young age –
give the three-year-olds mathematics and Mozart!
o Any program that doesn’t work didn’t work because it “missed” this
critical window
Why neuroscience does NOT tell us how to teach
o Synaptogenesis
 Early in postnatal development, the infant brain forms more
synapses than adult brain, which are then pruned to form the
mature, adult brain (at sexual maturity)
 It is the pattern, not the number, of synapses that matter
 This research is based on animals – cats and monkeys
 The measures are approximations – synaptic density of a brain
that’s volume is increasing and losing and gaining synapses at
different rates in different areas (or within same neuron!)
 Assumes period of synaptic pruning is “critical” despite fact that
skills continue to develop after synaptic pruning begins to regress
in adulthood
 What we CAN say: Synaptogenesis may be necessary for
initial emergence of new skills but it cannot account for
continued refinement
 Also assumes these examples (of changes in sensory, motor and
working memory functions) are relevant for school’s culturally
transmitted knowledge
o Critical periods
 What we know:
 “Experience-expectant plasticity:” neural systems have
evolved to depend on the presence of ubiquitous
environmental stimuli to fine-tune their circuitry
 Coincide with period of excess synapse formation
 Different for specific functions
 Three different phases within each critical period
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 Know vision but not other sensory and motor systems
 Does not depend on specific experiences in specific contexts
 What we can say: must identify and treat sensory problems early
o Enriched environments
 Cites rat research
 Researchers says this is not a critical-period phenomenon,
but, rather new synapses being made from new experiences
 Seen in newborn AND adult rats
 Suggests two types of plasticity
 Experience-expectant: Synaptogenesis and critical periods
 Experience-dependent: synaptic growth
o THIS type may link learning with synaptic change
o But remember:
 It’s throughout the lifespan
 It doesn’t tell what or how to teach
 “Enriched” is in the eye of the beholder
At least at first, we need to use two shorter bridges: Cognitive neuroscience 
cognitive psychology and cognitive psychology  education
o Example of math program “Right Start”
 Cognitive psychology figured out cognitive functions and
sequence of informal numeracy essential to math success in school
 Cognitive neuroscience further analyze numerical comparison into
its subcomponents to develop the cognitive model of this process
o Most likely helpful for special populations’ needs