The promise of educational neuroscience lies in its potential to uncover mechanistic insights into the science of learning. However, to realize that promise, the field must overcome a fundamental difference between the constituent disciplines: neuroscience is primarily concerned with understanding how the brain works; whereas education attempts to change the brain regardless of its workings. Learning is one domain where these orientations align: it is a deep feature of nervous systems and a target outcome of education. This article proposes coupling training studies with neuroimaging to assess the impact of real-world learning on brain activity patterns, and simultaneously ask fundamental questions about the causal role of specific patterns of brain activity in academic skill acquisition. Finally, planning and implementing these studies requires multiple forms of expertise and collaborating across disciplines, which will contribute to a more cohesive educational neuroscience research community.