Thomas, Mareschal, Dumontheil and the team of expert international contributors explore four main themes throughout the book. Specific topics explored include neuropsychological perspectives on socioeconomic disparities in educational achievement, reading difficulties, phonological skills, executive function and emotional development.

Michael S. C. Thomas obtained his PhD from the University of Oxford and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the UCL Institute of Child Health. His research in developmental cognitive neuroscience focuses on the origins of cognitive variability, including developmental disorders. He is Director of the University of London Centre for Educational Neuroscience, UK.

Denis Mareschal is Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London, UK. He has published extensively on all aspects of learning and development across infancy and childhood and is a recipient of the Marr Prize (Cognitive Science Society, USA), the Young Researcher Award (International Society on Infant Studies, USA), and the Margaret Donaldson Prize (British Psychological Society, UK).

Iroise Dumontheil obtained a PhD from the University of Paris VI and then was a postdoctoral fellow in labs in London, Cambridge and Stockholm. She is a recipient of the Spearman Medal (British Psychological Society) and the Elizabeth Warrington Prize (British Neuropsychological Society). Her research focuses on the typical development of the brain, cognition and behaviour during adolescence, and on the implication of these findings for education.

Introduction

1. Why is neuroscience relevant to education?
2. An introduction to brain and cognitive development - the key concepts you need to know

Development and variation: Nature vs. Nature

3. What has behavioral genetic research told us about the origins of individual differences in educational abilities and achievements?
4. Socioeconomic disparities in achievement: Insights on neurocognitive development and educational interventions

Discipline-specific abilities: literacy, numeracy, and science

5. Neuroscience in reading and reading difficulties
6. Reading acquisition and developmental dyslexia: Educational neuroscience and phonological skills
7. Sources of variability in mathematical development
8. Lifespan conceptual development in science: brain and behaviour

Discipline-general abilities: executive functions, social and affective development

9. The development of executive functions in childhood and adolescence and their relation to school performance
10. Understanding emotional thought can transform educators' understanding of how students learn

Leading methods for cognitive enhancement

11. Action video games: from effects on cognition and the brain to potential educational applications
12. Mindfulness and executive function: Implications for learning and early childhood education
13. The neuroscience of sleep and its relation to educational outcomes
14. The effectiveness of aerobic exercise for improving educational outcomes
15. The cognitive benefits and disadvantages of bilingualism across the lifespan and implications for education
16. Music training, individual differences, and plasticity

Into the classroom

17. Towards a science of teaching and learning for teacher education
18. Educational neuroscience: ethical perspectives
19. Educational neuroscience: so what does it mean in the classroom?

Conclusion

20. Key challenges in advancing educational neuroscience