Response to Dougherty & Robey on neuroscience and education: enough bridge metaphors – interdisciplinary research offers the best hope for progress

Dougherty and Robey (D&R) argue that the idea that neuroscience can have a direct impact in the classroom is ‘a bit far-fetched’ (p.401), following other commentators such as Bishop, 2014, and Bowers, 2016; and that investment of limited research funds in the cognitive and social psychological sciences is more worthwhile. In this commentary, I argue that for education, interdisciplinary research offers the best hope of progress at the interface of the learning sciences; and that we should reject arguments that isolate scientific disciplines and pit them against each other