The COVID-19 pandemic was a forceful reminder that schools are not just places of academic learning. They are part of the social fabric of our lives, and a large body of evidence sets out the important role they play in ensuring well-being and community. School closures also reminded us of the power of the physical world. The rush to remote learning highlighted not only the immense opportunities of the digital world, but also how essential our physicality is. Humans are social, and thrive on face-to-face connection. A hug emoji is not the same as a hug.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that schools are not just places of academic learning. Schools are part of the social fabric of our communities, and they are increasingly expected to help all children – especially the most vulnerable – thrive academically, socially, physically and psychologically. Balancing these different elements has long been a challenge; doing so well in the digital world even more so.

Daphne Bavelier is an internationally recognised expert on how humans learn. In particular, she studies how the brain adapts to changes in experience, either by nature - for example, deafness - or by training - for example, playing video games. Her lab established that playing fast-paced, action-packed entertainment video games typically thought to be mind-numbing actually benefits several aspects of behaviour. Exploiting this counterintuitive finding, the Cognitive Neuroscience research team she now heads at the University of Geneva, Switzerland investigates how new media, such as video games, can be leveraged to foster learning and brain plasticity.