Español Dispelling “Neuromyths”
Over the past few years, there has been a growing number of misconceptions circulating about the brain – “neuromyths”. They are relevant to education as many have been developed as ideas about, or approaches to, how we learn.
These misconceptions often have their origins in some element of sound science, which makes identifying and refuting them the more difficult. As they are incomplete, extrapolated beyond the evidence, or plain false, they need to be dispelled in order to prevent education running into a series of dead-ends.
Each “myth” or set of myths is discussed in terms of how they have emerged into popular discourse, and of why they are not sustained by neuroscientific evidence.
They are grouped as follows:
- “There is no time to lose as everything important about the brain is decided by the age of three.”
- “There are critical periods when certain matters must be taught and learnt.”
- “But I read somewhere that we only use 10% of our brain anyway.”
- “I’m a ‘left-brain’, she’s a ‘right-brain’ person.”
- “Let’s face it – men and boys just have different brains from women and girls.”
- “A young child’s brain can only manage to learn one language at a time.”
- "Improve your memory!"
- "Learn while you sleep!"
"Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science", 2007, page 16
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