International Report: Neuromyths and Evidence-Based Practices in Higher Education (original) (raw)
The Persistence of Neuromyths in the Educational Settings: A Systematic Review
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
Neuroscience influences education, and these two areas have converged in a new field denominated “Neuroeducation.” However, the growing interest in the education–brain relationship does not match the proper use of research findings. In 2007, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned of the misunderstandings about the brain among teachers, labeling them as neuromyths. The main objective here is to observe the prevalence of the neuromyths in educators over time. After two decades of publications of research on neuromyths among in-service or prospective teachers, this work presents a systematic scientific review. To select the articles, we used the words: “teachers,” “preservice teachers,” “neuromyths” combined with the Boolean data type “and.” The search was filtered according to the following criteria: (a) identifiable author, (b) written in English, Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese, (c) word neuromyth in title, abstract, or keywords, (d) research...
Neuroscience and education: myths and messages
For several decades, myths about the brain — neuromyths — have persisted in schools and colleges, often being used to justify ineffective approaches to teaching. Many of these myths are biased distortions of scientific fact. Cultural conditions, such as differences in terminology and language, have contributed to a ‘gap’ between neuroscience and education that has shielded these distortions from scrutiny. In recent years, scientific communications across this gap have increased, although the messages are often distorted by the same conditions and biases as those responsible for neuromyths. In the future, the establishment of a new field of inquiry that is dedicated to bridging neuroscience and education may help to inform and to improve these communications.
Brain Knowledge and the Prevalence of Neuromyths among Prospective Teachers in Greece
Frontiers in Psychology, section Educational Psychology, 2017
Although very often teachers show a great interest in introducing findings from the field of neuroscience in their classrooms, there is growing concern about the lack of academic instruction on neuroscience on teachers' curricula because this has led to a proliferation of neuromyths. We surveyed 479 undergraduate (mean age = 19.60 years, SD = 2.29) and 94 postgraduate students (mean age = 28.52 years, SD = 7.16) enrolled in Departments of Education at the University of Thessaly and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. We used a 70-item questionnaire aiming to explore general knowledge on the brain, neuromyths, the participants' attitude toward neuroeducation as well as their reading habits. Prospective teachers were found to believe that neuroscience knowledge is useful for teachers (90.3% agreement), to be somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to the brain (47.33% of the assertions were answered correctly), but to be less well informed when it comes to neuroscientific issues related to special education (36.86% correct responses). Findings further indicate that general knowledge about the brain was found to be the best safeguard against believing in neuromyths. Based on our results we suggest that prospective teachers can benefit from academic instruction on neuroscience. We propose that such instruction takes place in undergraduate courses of Departments of Education and that emphasis is given in debunking neuromyths, enhancing critical reading skills, and dealing with topics relevant to special education.
Educational Neuroscience and Educational Neuroscientism
The 'BrainCanDo' Handbook of Teaching and Learning (London: Routledge), 2020
The greatest problem facing educational neuroscience and psychology is crossing the bridge between theory and practice: how to move from scientific theories and evidence to their practical application in education. Crossing this bridge too hastily leaves educational neuroscience and psychology open to the accusation of ‘scientism’: excessive belief in the power or value of science. Scientism would be manifested in attitudes such as the dogmatic assumption that scientific methods or findings can be immediately or straightforwardly applied in education. How can neuroscience and psychology be applied to education without risking scientism? Scientism is an elusive concept, so this chapter offers an account of what scientism is (§§1-3). It is argued that education should be included among the areas that are the most difficult to reduce to explanations in scientific terms (§3). The account of scientism is used to outline three examples of ways in which neuroscience and psychology could be applied in education that would be open to accusations of scientism (§4). Three indicators of scientism when scientific theories or evidence are applied in education are described. Alongside each indicator, suggestions are offered on what we should watch out for to avoid being scientistic when applying theories or evidence from neuroscience and psychology in education (§5) – or, to avoid what we might call ‘educational neuroscientism’. Book webpage: https://www.routledge.com/The-BrainCanDo-Handbook-of-Teaching-and-Learning-Practical-Strategies/Harrington-Beale-Fancourt-Lutz/p/book/9780367187057
Imbuing Education with Brain Research Can Improve Teaching and Enhance Productive Learning
Psychology, 2019
The article presents an experimental three-year Neuropedagogy Adaptation Project (NAP) that exposed practicing teachers to neuroscientific concepts and research findings in order to merge them with their teaching and classroom management practice. The project addressed two basic issues. First, selecting pertinent neuroscientific content areas that are best applicable to teaching and learning. Second, establishing a methodology and practice to infuse education with neuroscientific knowhow. The article gives an account of the project's guidelines, and participants' applications of neuroscientific concepts to classroom practices, and teacher student relationships. Based on the conclusions derived from the project, we argue that the time is ripe for establishing a new educational discipline-Neuropedagogy that is a blend of neuroscience, neurocognitive psychology and education.
Neuromyths in Education: Prevalence Among South Indian School Teachers
Frontiers in Education, 2022
This study aimed to find out the existence of neuromyths among school teachers in the South Indian states. An online survey was carried out to assess the school teachers’ general understanding of the brain and their belief on selected seven neuromyths statements. A total of 503 high school and higher secondary school teachers from South India participated in this study. On average, 65.5% of teachers have shown their belief toward more than two of the neuromyths; 84% of the participants have believed the learning style myths. This points out the difficulty of teachers in distinguishing factual information from non-scientific facts or myths. Therefore, there is an important need for involving interdisciplinary conversation that can reduce misunderstandings among teachers in the future.
PloS one, 2018
Educators are increasingly interested in applying neuroscience findings to improve educational practice. However, their understanding of the brain often lags behind their enthusiasm for the brain. We propose that educational psychology can serve as a bridge between basic research in neuroscience and psychology on one hand and educational practice on the other. We evaluated whether taking an educational psychology course is associated with increased neuroscience literacy and reduced belief in neuromyths in a sample of South Korean pre-service teachers. The results showed that taking an educational psychology course was associated with the increased neuroscience literacy, but there was no impact on belief in neuromyths. We consider the implications of these and other findings of the study for redesigning educational psychology courses and textbooks for improving neuroscience literacy.
WHY NEUROBIOLOGICAL FINDINGS SHOULD FIND APPLIANCE IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION
Today's neuroscience produces more and more evidence and information about how and why the brain learns. Forth comes knowledge regarding the brain and how it learns, intelligence and how it may or may not be influenced, emotions and their importance for the learning process. Could the discoveries from this field be used to open up new possibilities in the educational fields of learning, teaching or teacher education? If it is known how the brain prefers to learn, why should we not try to learn in accordance with this knowledge? The information regarding the connection between emotions and learning taken from neurobiological findings has to impact learning proceedings. Since schools are places where learning is institutionalized, and the persons involved are mainly teachers and students, the neurobiological findings should be taken under account in this sector. Schools and teachers can have a great influence on students and their development in a positive or negative way. By exam...
Brain-(not) Based Education: Dangers of Misunderstanding and Misapplication of Neuroscience Research
Exceptionality, 2010
Oversimplification or inappropriate interpretation of complex neuroscience research is widespread among curricula claiming that brain-based approaches are effective for improved learning and retention. We examine recent curricula claiming to be based on neuroscience research, discuss the implications of such misinterpretation for special education, how neuroscience actually supports many traditional teaching methods, and suggest ways to foster more accurate understanding of neuroscience research and its potential for application in the special education classroom. Progress in neuroscience over the past several decades has led to a greater understanding of how the brain functions as a child learns. Thus, it is not surprising that educators have sought to incorporate neuroscience research findings into the special education classroom. Indeed, several authors have indicated these neuroscience developments represent a "new paradigm" in not only special education but regular education as well (Jensen, 2008). Unfortunately, some of these efforts may be premature, based on conclusions that go beyond existing data, or are simply not supported by current evidence. Use of emerging data on brain lateralization, emphasis on particular critical periods for brain development, and misinterpretation of synaptic changes that occur during learning have resulted in teaching strategies that are ineffective. Neuroscience research can certainly help special educators understand brain mechanisms that may underlie similarities and differences in their students, and may provide methods for the early diagnosis of learning difficulties (Gabrieli, 2009). However, while such research is certainly important, there remains a question about how it has directly led to new advances in classroom practices. Thus, it is critical to understand how neuroscience may support good educational practices while at the same time temper the excitement with an understanding of
2016
Information from neuroscience is readily available to educators, yet instructors of educational psychology and related fields have not investigated teachers ’ beliefs regarding this information. The purpose of this survey study was to uncover the beliefs 62 teachers held about neuroscience and education. Results indicate there were three types of views: believers, believers with reservations, and nonbelievers. Believers believed neuroscience was applicable and that they were using information from neuroscience in their classrooms. Believers with reservations believed in the benefits of neuroscience but were hesitant to commit wholeheartedly. Nonbelievers saw no use for neuroscience and perceived it to be a passing fad. From these findings, ideas that focus on sound information and critical thinking are offered for those who teach educational psychology and related subjects. As instructors in a college of education, we began investigating teachers’ beliefs about neuroscience in 2007 ...