This ground breaking book is unique in bringing together two perspectives on learning , sociocultural theory and neuroscience, to draw out and foreground important developments in our understanding of what learning is, where and how learning occurs and what we can do to understand learning as an everyday process.

Leading experts from both disciplines demonstrate how sociocultural ideas (such as the relevance of experience/opportunity to learn/environment, personal histories, meaning, participation, emotion and feelings of belonging, emotion and memory) align with and reflect upon new understandings emerging from neuroscience concerning plasticity and sensitive periods, mirror neurons and neural networks.

Kathy Hall is Professor and Head of the School of Education, University College Cork.

Alicia Curtin is Lecturer in the School of Education, University College Cork.

Vanessa Rutherford is Research Fellow in the School of Education, University College Cork.

Introduction 1: Making the case for examining sociocultural theory & neuroscience 2. Defining Brain 3. The Making of Minds 4. The Making of Culture 5. A Heuristic for Avoiding a Totalising Concept of Culture 6. Making Connections, Learning and Pedagogy 7. Constructing Success and Failure 8. Explaining Talent: Opportunity to Learn 9. # Language 209 10. Emotion: My Many Coloured Days 11. Coming to Mind 12. Sociocultural and Neuroscientific Metaphors 13. Tensions and Struggles over Explanations for Learning 14. Conclusion: Claiming Science