Translating neuroscience, psychology and education: An abstracted conceptual framework for the learning sciences

Educators strive to understand and apply knowledge gained through scientific endeavours. Yet, within the various sciences of learning, particularly within educational neuroscience, there have been instances of seemingly contradictory or incompatible research findings and theories. We argue that this situation arises through confusion between levels of analysis applicable to various disciplines. In this article, we propose a conceptual framework for the science of learning which integrates sociological, psychological, biological and neurological perspectives of learning. This framework seeks to recognise the distinction between learning-essentially a complex neurological phenomenon-and education, an even more complex sociocultural phenomenon. As such, the framework allows a coherent perspective to emerge that can help resolve a number of key issues. Specifically, we argue that its adoption will (a) provide the science of learning with a foundation to assist in the development of a translational paradigm for neuroscience, psychology and education professionals, (b) enable neuromyths to be more easily identified and (c) help prevent unhelpful debates in the future.