A wooden brain

(Image: A human brain, of sorts. Beautiful shot by @amyburvall.)

What does the image represent to me in an educational context? A #blimage challenge per Amy Burvall & Steve Wheeler.

My first impression was that of the human brain with all of the swaying, splitting and reforming neurons, impossibly close in their fickle connections, sparking us to life and learning. How could it have been anything else?

On closer inspection the image could appear to be some type of ornamental decoration, but I had just been reading John Medina’s Brain Rules (wonderful, by the way if you haven’t come across it yet), so my brain was already wired to make that connection. It couldn’t have been anything else for me at that moment in time. So I guess that for me, this image is a brain, but also a reminder that we are at the mercy of our existing neural networks, formed by what was, not necessarily what is or what should be – the reason we learn for life.