In one study Dr. Howard-Jones cites, 48 percent of British teachers agreed with the statement “We mostly only use 10 percent of our brain.” Ninety-three percent believed that “individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (for example, visual, auditory or kinaesthetic)” (research actually doesn’t support this), and 29 percent believed “drinking less than 6 to 8 glasses of water a day can cause the brain to shrink” (it can’t). Sixteen percent thought that “learning problems associated with developmental differences in brain function cannot be remediated by education.”I was able to pull the paper, and the data on teacher belief in learning styles is hilarious.
How Brain Myths Could Hurt Kids
Percentage of teachers who believe individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style:
93% of teachers in the UK
96% of teachers in the Netherlands
97% of teachers in Turkey
96% of teachers in Greece
97% of teachers in China
Pretty much the entire planetary teaching force.
The 10% trope -- which I immediately noticed in the "Lucy" trailer -- is one of my pet peeves in film. ...and the implications of accepting these bad ideas can devastating to students as pointed out in the article. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete~Luke