Learning Skills Research

From Neuroscience to Schools

Since its inception in 2008, LSR has brought together leading academics and practitioners in the fields of education, neuroscience, psychology and the arts with the aim of providing an interface between theory and practice and a solid platform for the development of new ideas.

Our key role is to share our findings with all those with a professional interest in our respective fields of study, to see that new ideas are put to the test and to share the results as widely as possible with all levels of Government, local government and within the private and voluntary sectors. We will deliver any practical applications direct to schools, universities and colleges.

“It’s a strange and challenging time in education and we urgently need new ideas. It feels as if policy making has somewhat run out of steam on system change. Meanwhile of course, the evidence that it’s the quality of teaching that makes the most difference to young people’s attainment continues to build. We need to develop the science of teaching and learning. Understanding how we learn is at least as important as defining what we should learn. And to do that we need, of course, to understand the underlying mechanisms of learning. So, I’m really delighted to open this genuinely unique event. It reflects of course a visionary partnership between Learnus and ASCL. It also brings together experts from a range of disciplines to consider how findings from educational neuroscience impact and potentially reshape teaching and learning.”

Professor Becky Francis, Director UCL IOE opening the “FutureEd17" Conference February 2017

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“Educational failure imposes high costs on society. Poorly educated people limit economies’ capacity to produce, grow and innovate. School failure damages social cohesion and mobility, and imposes additional costs on public budgets to deal with the consequences – higher spending on public health and social support and greater criminality, among others. For all these reasons, improving equity in education and reducing school failure should be a high priority in all OECD education policy agendas.”

Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools. OECD 2014

Learnus - Think Tank

Learning Skills Research has established Learnus® (www.learnus.co.uk) its wholly owned Think Tank whose mission is to bring together educators and those who specilaise in the study of the brain, the mind and behaviour.

The aim is to share and act on the evidence and insights from high quality research in these multi-disciplinary fields in order to bring understanding of how we learn. Learnus facilitates vital dialogue between different professional communities through a wide range of high quality lectures and mediated workshops. These events are designed to encourage interest in the emerging field of Educational Neuroscience and to also encourage dialogue between teachers, academics and educational psychologists in order to discover potential practical applications for the classroom.

Learnus Research Projects

Learnus is now engaging in research projects in this field and is a partner in the “UnLocke: Learning counter-intuitive concepts” project which is led by Centre for Educational Neuroscience, Birkbeck College and UCL Institute of Education London and is being funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and Wellcome Trust.

In 2017 Learnus will be engaged in a second research project “iRead” with the London Knowledge Lab (University of London). This project will develop a scalable, cloud-based software infrastructure, consisting of open interoperable components, which features user modelling and incorporates reading-skills related domain knowledge and resources, to personalize technology for children’s learning to read.

Learnus CPD Presentations

Learnus offers free in-school CPD Presentations on “Neuroscience and Education: Potential for the classroom”. On average 50 teachers attend each presentation. Learnus is now branching out to give presentations to students - the first was to 150 sixth formers at a Secondary School in Ruislip. The Headteacher, Dr Martina Lecky wrote:

“Jeremy was inspirational. He managed to engage us all with the complexities of the brain and help us apply neurological research to our everyday lives. I hope this can be an annual event for students and staff”.

Junior Memory Championship

Learning Skills Research has secured funding for the Junior Memory Championship™ a major educational initiative for primary schools in the UK (now in its ninth year) bringing valuable memory techniques to the forefront of learning.

LSR Research Projects

LSR has funded a specific literacy project, the Aston Phonics Comparison Research Programme which sets out to test the extent to which children’s reading difficulties can be averted. Click here for headline. This is work in progress.

Learning Skills Research Foundation