Editor's Note: John Larmer is the Director of Product Development at the Buck Institute for Education. Many teachers and administrators -- not to mention the general public -- might have the wrong impression of PBL. Maybe they have stereotypical views of what a "project" is, or they've seen poor examples of it in the past.
"You know everyone learns differently. Do you think you learn better through words or pictures? Did you know you learn different subjects with different sides of the brain? Welp, they were wrong. Many of the theories of "brain-based" education, a method of instruction supposedly based on neuroscience, have been largely debunked by rigorous science."
Thanks for sharing .This is well done! I teach a Psychology course designed to develop students' critical thinking about such "myths." Here is a list of others:
Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., and Beyerstein, B. L (2010).
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Michael B. Horn debunks a critique of personalized learning. The critique basically equates "multiple intelligences" or "learning styles" with personalized learning, which is a straw-man argument.
"Here at BA Central I see a lot of truly ridiculous conspiracy theories. Over the years there's been the Moon Hoax, various asteroids NASA was covering up that would hit the Earth (or wipe us out somehow via electricity), and of course the end of the Earth over and over and over again. Yet happily, we're still here. Yet sadly, so are these silly theories."