What do teachers need to know about neuroscience?

This article describes the key premise behind the field of educational neuroscience. It explores how the interface of neuroscience and education may be navigated. Considering the brain as the basis of learning introduces a wider, more holistic conception than that conveyed by a focus on memory and cognition, one that draws attention to the physical, emotional, and social context of learning. I outline some key principles of how the brain works and how these link to principles of teaching. However, educational neuroscience should not be viewed as an attempt to reduce education to the individual or to biology; the individual child is nested within the context of the school, family, society, and culture.