Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbam here with another classic episode for you.
Speaker 1: This one deals with some literal brain stuff. The human
Speaker 1: brain is still pretty mysterious and misunderstandings about it abound,
Speaker 1: even in people who work with brains all the time.
Speaker 1: Today's episode covers some of the most believed myths about
Speaker 1: our brains. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren fogelbam Here. Considering the
Speaker 1: popularity of brain teasers and brain training apps, you think
Speaker 1: that people would know quite a bit about the brain's
Speaker 1: role in education. But according to a recent study, the
Speaker 1: general public and even educators have a hard time squashing
Speaker 1: misconceptions about the brain and learning. For instance, many of
Speaker 1: the research participants believed that students brains shrink without sufficient
Speaker 1: water and the kids are less attentive after devouring sugary treats.
Speaker 1: Both of these statements are totally false, by the way.
Speaker 1: The brains behind the study, published in the Journal for
Speaker 1: Tears of Psychology, gave a survey featuring thirty two true
Speaker 1: or false brain related statements to three different groups of people, educators,
Speaker 1: the general public, and people with high neuroscience exposure. That is,
Speaker 1: those who had taken many college level neuroscience courses. Of
Speaker 1: those thirty two statements, the researchers focused on seven common
Speaker 1: myths that stem from what they call single explanatory factors,
Speaker 1: that's ones that reduce the complexity of human behavior to
Speaker 1: a single explanation. Those seven myths are the following, and
Speaker 1: note these are total myths. One that individuals learn better
Speaker 1: when they receive information in their preferred learning style. Two
Speaker 1: that children have learning styles that are dominated by particular senses.
Speaker 1: Three that a common sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backwards.
Speaker 1: Four that listening to classical music increases children's reasoning ability.
Speaker 1: Five that children are less attentive after consuming sugary drinks
Speaker 1: and or snacks. Six that some of us are left
Speaker 1: brained and some are right brained, and that this helps
Speaker 1: explain differences in learning, and seven that we only use
Speaker 1: ten percent of our brain. Of the three thousand and
Speaker 1: forty five general public respondents, an average of sixty eight
Speaker 1: percent believed these brain myths. Fifty percent of the five
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety educators surveyed believed in them, and forty
Speaker 1: percent of the two hundred and thirty four neuroscience exposed
Speaker 1: group believed that they were true. Some of the most
Speaker 1: commonly held misconceptions among these seven or those about learning styles, dyslexia,
Speaker 1: and classical music's affect on reasoning. Let's unpack a couple
Speaker 1: of those. There's a theory about learning styles called VAC, visual, auditory,
Speaker 1: and kinesthetic a k a. Tactile. The VAC theory suggests
Speaker 1: that students have a primary way of grasping information visually, auditorially,
Speaker 1: or kinesthetically. The myth is that some students may not
Speaker 1: learn as effectively if their style is not emphasized. Of
Speaker 1: public respondents believed this myth. Addition to seventy of teachers
Speaker 1: and seventy eight percent of people educated in neuroscience, and
Speaker 1: of the participating educators believed in the mozartifact the idea
Speaker 1: that kids spatial reasoning skills improve when they tune into
Speaker 1: classical music. However, these myths both hit sour notes. Research
Speaker 1: does not corroborate these beliefs. The researchers did find that
Speaker 1: having a graduate degree, taking neuroscience courses, having exposure to
Speaker 1: peer reviewed science, and being younger all helped when it
Speaker 1: came to telling neuroscience fact from fiction. But those factors
Speaker 1: didn't completely help. Lead study author Lauren McGrath said an
Speaker 1: a press release, the myths that respondence with neuroscience experience
Speaker 1: believed were related to learning and behavior and not the brain,
Speaker 1: so their training in neuroscience doesn't necessarily translate to topics
Speaker 1: in psychology or education. Since many school districts put time
Speaker 1: and resources towards peggogical techniques based on these myths, the
Speaker 1: researchers suggest that this study may help neuroscience and educators
Speaker 1: work together to come up with cross disciplinary training modules
Speaker 1: that provide more accurate information and thus better education for
Speaker 1: our students and better understanding of ourselves. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: based on the article Even Educators Believe Common Myths about
Speaker 1: learning study shows on how staff works dot com. Written
Speaker 1: by Shelley Danzy. The brain Stuff is production of by
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler clang A. Four more
Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
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