The pillars of learning

Abstract

Learning affects us all, every day. Whether we're trying to learn a new language, master a musical instrument, or help our children learn to read, we regularly face the need to learn faster, more efficiently, to recall more, and for the skills we learn to become fluid and graceful. But does neuroscience have anything to teach us about how we learn and how we can optimise the process? Stanislas Dehaene, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Collège de France (Paris, France), explains how recent research can provide insight and practical advice into these questions in his book How we learn: the new science of education and the brain.