How Neuromyths Create Opportunities in Teacher Education

How Neuromyths Create
Opportunities in Teacher
Education:
Change begins with attitude
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
www.thelearningsciences.com
tracey.tokuhama@gmail.com

Background
• Professor, Harvard University Extension School: Psych 1609 “The Neuroscience of
Learning: Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health and Education science”
• OECD: Member of the expert panel on Teachers New Pedagogical Knowledge based
on contributions from Technology and Neuroscience
• Latin American Social Science Research Faculty, Ecuador: Educational Researcher
and Professor
• Interdisciplinary researcher in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education
(cultural anthropology and linguistics).
• Associate Editor of the Nature Partner Journal Science of Learning
• Education: Boston University: BA, BS, magna cum laude; Harvard University:
Master’s in International Educational Development; Capella University: Ph.D. In
Professional Studies in Education (Mind, Brain and Education Science)
• Former Director of the Teaching and Learning Institute at the Universidad San
Francisco de Quito Ecuador; Former Dean of Education at the Universidad de las
Américas, Quito, Ecuador
• Teacher at all levels of education (K-University, continuing education) with more
than 29 years of experience in 34 countries.
2

•Designing educational experiences without an
understanding of the brain is like designing a glove
without an understanding of the human hand.
-attributed to Leslie Hart (1983)
3Tokuhama-Espinosa Feb 2017

Today’s Focus
1. “New” teachers’ professional
development format
2. Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes in 21st
Century Teaching and Learning
3. Neuromyths
4. Homework: 50 practical applications
of MBE science

Changes also stem from better
knowledge about the brain and learning
• Improvements in technology since The Decade of the Brain (1990s) have yielded greater insights
about healthy brain functioning. Early models promoted neuromyths.
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Refined technology (healthy
subjects)
Simple modelsReplicas of connections
Actual computer enhanced connections

Better knowledge about what really
influences human learning
• Longitudinal studies (age comparative
trajectories)
• International comparative studies
(independent of cultural context=what is
true for “all”)
• Methodologically comparative scale
(e.g., Hattie´s work 2012)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Why is MBE needed now
more than ever before?
• Begin with the premise that solutions to problems in education today require
the more sophisticated and complex approach offered by MBE science.
• Despite more than 125 years of good intentions to resolve the question “How
should we teach to best serve student learning?” we still don’t have the
answer.
• The brain is the most complex organ on earth; solutions to educational
difficulties are not easy.

• False
information
about the brain
and learning
Attitudes and
Predujices
(Neuromyths)
• Universal
aspects of
learning true for
all humans
Principies • Individual aspects
of learning; true for
all but lots of
human variation
Tenets
•Social influences
on pattern and
category
recognition
•Affective aspects of
learning
Culture
• What should
happen in the
classroom
Instructional
Guidelines
In Summary: The “new first steps” in teacher
professional development
10
Tokuhama-Espinosa 2017
1
2
3
4
5
For example: Some people are “right-brained”
and others are ”left-brained”
For example: “All new learning passes through the
filter of prior experience”
For example: “Sleeping and dreaming
are vital for learning”
For example: Numeric symbol
representation
Example: “50 Practical Applications of Mind,
Brain, and Education science”

The persistence of neuromyths exists
because….
• Humans want things to be easy and clear (we reject the idea that the brain is complex:
“teaching or parenting for dummies”)
• Popular press repeats myths because the are often based on partial truths:
• True for animals but little evidence in humans (e.g., memory)
• “True” using old technology, but no longer “true” with better imaging technique (e.g., 10%)
• The studies are based on good, but sparse evidence (few studies) (e.g., exercise and learning; spatial manipulation)
• Correlation vs. Causation (e.g., girls presence in science fields)
• Absence vs. Existence (e.g., stroke patients’ losses)
• Overgeneralization of findings: A small number of studies are used to make a blanket statement
about “all” people (e.g., gifted or autistic populations)
• Studies on adults but not on school-age children (e.g., mathematic reasoning)
• True in the lab contexts (but are the conditions the same as in a real school or home?) (e.g., Reading)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

EDUCATIONAL
NEUROSCIENCE
vs.
(NEURO EDUCATION)
THE LEARNING
SCIENCES
SUB- OR SECONDARY FIELD + PRIMARY FIELD
Educational Neuroscience
Neuro Education

EDUCATIONAL
NEUROSCIENCE
vs.
(NEURO EDUCATION)
THE LEARNING
SCIENCES
MIND, BRAIN, AND
EDUCATION SCIENCE
The focus is not on Learning or Teaching, but rather
“THE TEACHING-LEARNING DYNAMIC”

Mind, Brain, and Education science combined with Visible
Learning in a professional development format

5 December 2018 Tokuhama-Espinosa 15

Why is it so hard to get rid of neuromyths?
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Origins:
ReasonsForNeuromyth
Humans Want Simplicity
Scientific Illiteracy
Incorrect assertions based on good evidence
Distortion of scientific facts
Misinterpretations of experimental results
Confirmation bias
Commercial Benefits Unsubstantiated beliefs or misconceptions
Popular Press
True for animals but not humans
True using old technology but not new
Studies based on good but sparse evidence
Correlation vs. Causation
Absence vs. Existence
Overgeneralization of findings
Studies on adults, not children
True in the lab but not classrooms
"Banwagonism"
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2017

Worth knowing
(knowledge)
Import to know and be
able to do or use (skills)
Enduring
understanding
(attitudes, values)
Easiest to teach
Easiest to measure (evaluate)
Relatively easy to teach if
student understands the
knowledge
Relatively easy to measure
Longest to form (a lifetime)
Most complex to measure
Based on Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (1998), Understanding by Design
Objectives: Competencies: Knowledge+Skills+Attitudes

The enemy of correct teacher attitudes:
Unidentified prejudices
• Teaching knowledge and skills is relatively easy.
• “If you can Google it, don’t take too much time teaching it.”
• Teaching attitudes is more time-consuming.
• Teacher attitudes change learning outcomes (Hattie, 2009; 2012).

The enemy of correct teacher attitudes:
Unidentified prejudices
• Teacher prejudices about intelligence influence student learning
(Hattie, 2009; 2012).

Unconscious prejudices
• “If only the parents were more responsible (passed on better
genes)…”
• “If only the children were better behaved…”
• “If only I had better resources….”
• “If only the kids would eat better…”
• “If only my classes were smaller…”
• “If only the kids played less video games…”
“…Then I would be a great teacher.”

Unconscious beliefs about how people learn
• Where does intelligence
come from?
• How does the brain
learn?

Neuromyths in the poplar press over
the past month:
• Multi-tasking
• Learning Styles
• Only use 10% of brain’s potential
• Right brain/Left brain
• Environment rich stimulation
• Male and female brains
• The internet makes you
smarter/dumber
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Criteria for identifying myths
Having said that, in general you can have
confidence in studies….
1. that are current
2. that have been replicated
3. that are conducted on humans
• School-aged children
4. that appreciate the complexities of
learning
• measure “real” skills used in academic and
life settings, not just lab design)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Categorization criteria
In Understanding the brain:
The birth of a learning
science, (OECD, 2002; 2007)* the
authors propose a
continuum of four categories
of information quality.
25
Tokuhama-Espinosa Aug 2016
*OECD= 34 current and in 2002, 30 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxemburg, Mexico, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United
Kingdom, United States.

Criteria used to categorize concepts
A. What is well-established (i.e. plasticity, which now has hundreds of credible human studies
behind it).
B. What is probably so (i.e., sensitive periods, which has hundreds of studies behind it, though
not all conducted on humans).
C. What is intelligent speculation (i.e., gender differences, which has thousands of studies
behind it, albeit of mixed quality and sometimes with contradictory findings).
D. What is popular misconception or a neuromyth (i.e., "right brain" and "left brain"
discussion, which has been the target of thousands of books and articles, some of which
promote the term, but most of which criticize the lack of factual accuracy of the claim).
In Understanding the brain: The birth of a learning science,
(OECD, 2002) the authors propose a continuum of four
categories of information quality:

“One-minute paper”
• Left side: Something you KNOW
about the the brain and
learning.
• Right side: Something you
WANT to know (or think might
be a neuromyth).

28
Myths about the brain and learning

Quiz!
1. Review the statement and the
evidence: Is the statement “well-
established”; “probably so”;
“intelligent speculation”; or a
“neuromyth”?
2. Consider how the answers to the
questions point to useable knowledge
in parenting.
Tokuhama-Espinosa

“Making decisions with
‘a cool head’ and
without emotions helps
you think better.”
True or False? (well-established, probably so,
intelligent speculation, neuromyth)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

FALSE!
It is impossible to separate emotions and
reasoning in the brain
• Emotions are critical in decision-
making.
• Even though emotions and reasoning
seem like opposites, they are actually
complimentary processes.
• There are no decisions without
emotions.
Tenet: True for all but with significant individual
variances
Tokuhama-Espinosa

“Stress impacts learning.”
True or false? (well-established, probably so, intelligent
speculation, neuromyth)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

TRUE:
Stress impacts learning both positively and
negatively
• Stress impacts learning: ‘good’ stress (eustress) heightens
attention and helps learning, while ‘bad’ stress detracts
from learning potential.
• When students feel negative stress, parts of their brain
actually block the uptake of new information and new
learning. However, a certain level of stress is needed to
help focus and pay attention.
• This is equivalent to the sprinter at the starting line who
needs a certain level of stress (adrenaline) to start on time;
too much stress, however, and he will either jump the gun
or waste his energy.
• Eustress involves keeping students “on their toes” without
creating panic.
Tokuhama-Espinosa

“Humans only use about 10% of their brain potential.”
True or false? (well-established, probably so,
Tokuhama-Espinosa

UNKNOWN, however…
• No exact percentage can be assigned to brain
usage; the more we learn about the brain, the less
it appears we are using!
• However, it is now known that not all areas of the
brain are meant to be linked to one another in the
first place; so suggesting that lack of use is a
reflection of potential is unreasonable.
• This percentage is based on the estimated number
of synapses in the brain and instances of brain
imaging during a specific activity.
Tokuhama-Espinosa

• “Some people are more right-
brained and others more left-
brained.”
• “Brain parts work in
compartmentalized ways.”
Tokuhama-Espinosa

FALSE!
Brain areas do NOT act in
isolation
• Most brain functions involve
complicated systems that involve
both right and left hemispheres.
• (against localizationism)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

NEUROMYTH
“Language is located in the ‘left brain’ and spatial
abilities are in the ‘right brain’”
• Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas tend to be located in the left
hemisphere of the brain.
• However, five percent of right-handed people and thirty
percent of left-handed people either have these two
language systems in the right hemisphere, or language is
divided amongst the hemispheres.
• To complicate matters, some aspects of language, such as
comprehension of metaphors, analogies, some aspects of
humor and some aspects of intonation are typically found in
the right hemisphere.
• The “language system” in the brain is in both hemispheres.
Tokuhama-Espinosa

• “People taught in their
correct learning style learn
faster.”
http://265725080178138949.weebly.com/learning-styles.html
Tokuhama-Espinosa

False!
• Looß, M. (2001). Types of
learning?. Die Deutsche
Schule, 93(2), 186-198.
Downloaded 5 Jan 2017 from
http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/34926352.pdf
Tokuhama-Espinosa
“Learning styles”: Myth or reality?

• Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2012).
Learning styles: where’s the
evidence?. Medical Education, 46(7),
634-635. Available on:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535732.pdf
• Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D.,
& Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles
concepts and evidence. Psychological
Science in the Public Interest, 9(3),
105-119. Available from
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ajv2/courses/13c_psyc6300
02/Pasher,%20McDaniel,%20Rohrer,%20&%20Bjork%20(2
008)%20PSPI.pdf
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Challenges to Teachers and
Parents:
• Much of what teachers accept as “truths” are without
evidence.
• Examples…(neuromyths)
Tokuhama-Espinosa

Myths:
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, pp.12-14

Myths:
• Multi-tasking
• Male and Female Brains
• Novices and experts cannot think in all the same ways.
• Cognitive development progresses via a fixed
progression of age-related stages.
46Tokuhama-Espinosa Feb
2017

Myths about Intelligence
• Mental capacity is hereditary and
cannot be changed by the
environment or experience.
• Intelligence is fixed at birth (and
not fluid).

Myths about brain architecture
• Most people use about 10% of their brains.
• The left and right hemispheres of the brain are
separate systems for learning.
• Brain parts work in isolation from one another
• Some people are more “right” brained and
others are more “left” brained.

Myths about brain architecture
• Your brain will shrink if you don’t
drink six to eight glasses of water a
day.
• Our brain acts like a video camera;
we store and make a memory of
everything we see.
• Drug use makes holes in your brain.

Myths about teaching and learning
• Individuals learn better when they receive
information in their preferred learning styles.
• The Theory of Multiple Intelligence is validated
by neuroscience research.
• “Drill and kill” promotes learning.
• High-stakes testing are an accurate measure of
what a student knows.

Myths about development and the
environment
• Humans are born with a “blank slate” and they
will learn is knowledge is simply provided.
• Everything important about the brain is
determined by the age of three.
• Violent video games have no effect on behavior.
• Using the Internet makes you smarter/dumber.

environment
• Extra stimulation is needed to improve the
brains of preschool children.
• Learning is independent of the learner’s
history.
• Learning problems associated with
developmental differences in brain function
cannot be remediated with education.

environment
• Individuals are not responsible for
behavior associated with developmental
differences in brain functions.
• Teens are irresponsible and “act out”
because the prefrontal cortex doesn’t
develop until the mid-20s.

Myths about brain activity
• People can multi-task (and women
are better than men at multi-tasking).
• When you sleep, your brain shuts
down.
• People who are “brain dead” are still
conscious.

Myths about brain plasticity
• The brain is plastic for certain kinds of
information only during specific
“critical periods”.
• Neurons are never replaced (you can’t
grown new brain cells).
• Brain damage is always permanent.

Myths about brain plasticity
• Neurogenesis optimizes learning.
• Neural plasticity is due to good
pedagogy.
• Learning created new brain cells.

Myths about memory
• Memory is like an objective recording of a
situation and reality exists in an abstract form
for all to perceive.
• The brain has unlimited capacity for memory.
• Memorization is unnecessary for learning (and
unwanted in modern education).
• The brain remembers everything is has ever
experiences; forgetting is due to bad encoding.

Myths about emotions and learning
• Learning can be isolated from the
social/emotional context.
• Reasoning and decision-making can
be divorced from emotion and feeling
(and in doing so, improves the quality
of thought one engages in).

Myths about language, bilingualism
and multilingualism
• Languages are located in the left
hemisphere of the brain.
• Children must acquire their native
language first before learning a second
language.
• Children are sponges and learn foreign
languages effortlessly.

Why do myths persist?
Neuromyths are “hypothesis which have been invalidated
[but which] nevertheless leave traces and of these have
captured the wider imagination, ‘myths’ take root (OECD,
2007, pp.108).
1. Over-generalization of scientific findings (stretching
the data beyond its original purpose)
2. Based on a partial truth
3. Unsubstantiated beliefs or Misconceptions
4. Misinterpretation of data

True or false?
(Well-established, Probably So; Intelligent Speculation, Neuromyth)
“Human brains are as
unique as human faces.”
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.25

Six principles about human learning …
1. UNIQUENESS: Human brains are
unique as human faces. While the
basic structure of most humans’
brains is the same
(similar parts in similar regions), no
two brains are identical. The genetic
make-up unique to each person
combines with life experiences and
free will to shape neural pathways.

How does this information impact
teaching?
• Lesson plans?
• Testing requirements?
• Standards vs. Mastery or Standards and Mastery?
• In a related principle, the flipped classroom addresses the fact that
not all brains are equally good at all things, and therefore some will
need more rehearsal on certain concepts, while others will need more
attention to different points.
Policy change: Differentiated evaluation processes; flipped classroom flexibility?

True or false?
• “All brains are equally prepared for all tasks.”

2. DIFFERENT POTENTIALS: Each
individual’s brain is differently
prepared to learn different tasks.
Learning capacities are shaped by the
context of the learning, prior learning
experiences, personal choice, an
individual’s biology and genetic make-
up, pre-and peri-natal events, and
environmental exposures.

teaching?
• Differentiation? Inclusion?
67
Tokuhama-Espinosa Feb 2017

True or false?
“Past information
influences how we learn
something new.”

3. PRIOR EXPERIENCE: New learning is
influenced by prior experience. The
efficiency of the brain economizes
effort and energy by ensuring that
external stimuli are first decoded,
compared, both passively and
actively, with existing memories.

• Do you know your students
well enough to capitalize on
their past experiences and
make the teaching moment
authentic in their lives?
teaching?

True or false?
“The brain changes
constantly with
experience.”
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, pp.28-29
Gogtay, Giedd, Lusk, Hayashi, Greenstein, Vaituzis,... & Rapoport, 2004 from http://www.pnas.org/content/101/21/8174.full

4. CONSTANT CHANGES IN THE
BRAIN: The brain changes
constantly with experience. The
brain is a complex, dynamic,
integrated system that is
constantly changed by individual
experiences. These changes occur
at a molecular level either
simultaneously, in parallel, or even
before they are visible in behavior.

teaching?
• Are we permitting learning cycles to run
their course, or do we expect too much
too fast?
• Are we providing enough
opportunity/time for rehearsal for all
students in the class, even those with
little prior knowledge?
http://courseimage.com/90224-learning-cycle

True or false?
“The brain is highly
plastic (flexible).”
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_band

5. PLASTICITY: The brain is plastic.
Neuroplasticity exists
throughout the lifespan
though there are notable
developmental differences by
age.

How does this information impact teaching?
• More important than chronological
age is the order of experiences.
• Do you believe that all of your
students can learn (and that few, if
any, are incapable of
improvement)?
• Learning is fluid, not fixed.

My potential is
not limited to my
biology
“… students who
believed their
intelligence could
be developed (a
growth mindset)
outperformed
those who
believed their
intelligence was
fixed (a fixed
mindset),”
(Dweck, 2015).

Plasticity
We now know that….
• “we see with our brains, not with our eyes.”* Example:
Seeing with tongue (Bach-y-Rita).
• “Children are not always stuck with the mental abilities they
are born with; that the damaged brain can often reorganize
itself so that when one part fails, another can often
substitute; that is brain cells die, they can at times be
replaced; that many ‘circuits’ and even basic reflexes that
we think are hardwired are not.”**
• Michael Merzenich; Norman Doidge; Paul Bach-y-Rita
*Doidge (2007, p.14).;** Doidge (2007, p.xv).
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/device-
lets-blind-see-with-tongues/

6. MEMORY+ATTENTION=LEARNING: There is no
new learning without some form of memory
and some form of attention. Most school
learning requires well-functioning short,
working and long-term memory systems and
conscious attention. However, procedural
learning, habituation, sensitization and even
episodic memory can occur without
conscious attention.

teaching?
• Are you choosing activities that facilitate memory
(e.g., authentic?)
• Are you creating the appropriate learning
environment in class to ensure that positive
emotions rein and that negative ones are reduced
to a minimum? (That interest is kept high and
boredom low?)

Evidence for how learning occurs: 21 Tenets
(true for all but with wide range of human variation)
1. Motivation
2. Emotions and cognition are mutually influential.
3. Stress
4. Anxiety
5. Depression
6. Learning is influenced by both challenge and threat as
perceived by the learner
7. Reactions to facial expressions are highly individualized
8. The brain interprets tones of voices unconsciously and
almost immediately
9. Humans are social beings who learn from and with
each other.
10. Attention
11. Most learning does not necessarily occur linearly
12. Learning involves conscious and unconscious
processes
13. Learning is developmental
14. Learning engages the entire physiology
15. Sleep and dreaming
16. Nutrition
17. Physical activity
18. Use it or lose it
19. Feedback
20. Individually relevant and meaningful contexts
21. Novelty and patterns
81

True or false?
• “Brain parts work in
isolation.”
82
http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-right-brain-vs-left-brain-test

“False” Brain areas do NOT act in isolation
• Most brain functions involve
complicated systems that use both
right and left hemispheres.
• Contrary to “localizationalism”
83
http://neurosciencenews.com/neural-network-connector-hubs-3159/

• Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2012).
Learning styles: where’s the
evidence?.Medical education, 46(7),
634-635. Available on:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535732.pdf
• Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., &
Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles
concepts and evidence. Psychological
science in the public interest, 9(3), 105-
119. Available from
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ajv2/courses/13c_psyc630002/Pasher,%20McDaniel,%20Rohrer,%20&%20Bjork%20(2008)%20PSPI.p
df
84

• Learning styles is a myth
because the brain seeks out
as much information from all
of its senses to know the
surrounding environment.
Looß, M. (2001). Types of learning?. Die Deutsche Schule, 93(2), 186-198.
Available on: http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/34926352.pdf 85

Challenge: 3-2-1
• 3 things that impacted you today
• 2 two things so interesting you will share them with
someone else
• 1 thing you will change about your practice based on
the information shared today

Contact information:
www.thelearningsciences.com
www.traceytokuhama.com

3-2-1
• 3: Three things you didn’t know before
• 2: Two things you will continue to research or talk about
• 1: One thing you will change in your personal or professional life based
on the information that was shared

Contact:
Quito, Ecuador
www.traceytokuhama.com
www.thelearningsciencesplatform.com
www.lascienciasdelaprendizaje.com
252

How Neuromyths Create Opportunities in Teacher Education

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