Emerging Insights from a Research-Practice Partnership Approach to Educational Neuroscience

Advances in the field of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) have been limited by a fundamental separation between university-based neuroscience laboratories and school communities, constraining the field’s ability to collaboratively devise research studies germane to child development. This commentary explores the assertion that the persistent obstacles in MBE work may stem from how we structure these partnerships. We examine this premise through a detailed case study of a research-practice partnership that has successfully implemented a range of innovative programmatic elements, including the establishment of specially-trained liaisons, situating a neuroscience lab within a school, and actively involving practitioners and students in research. An analysis of the values that iteratively emerged from this approach may encourage other MBE stakeholders to consider affordances of this model when embarking upon future partnership endeavors.