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"Gradually, an important and growing evidence of the impact of understanding neuroscience in terms of learning and education has started to inform pedagogy, along with a better appreciation of how we learn. Yet, there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding to what neuroscience science is, and many within the education sector would struggle to explain the principles, science and research to recognise how the brain processes information. Fundamentally, neuroscience literally means the 'science of the nervous system', making use of the principles and many techniques from the main science disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology."

"Participation in team sports is associated with fewer depressive symptoms in children, whereas non-sport activities have no association with symptoms, according to a study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, published by Elsevier. The association was found only for boys. The findings suggest that exercise could have anti-depressant effects in adolescents. "These interesting results provide important clues as to how exercise benefits mood in children and reveals the important role that gender plays in these effects," said Cameron Carter, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging."

The notion that people have different "learning styles" -- e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic -- is a myth with no evidence to support it. It is a widely-held belief that is harmful to students as it sends the message that are only capable of certain types of learning.

video of seminar with computer science/education scholar Beverly Park Woolf

Science is supporting the idea of descriptive, narrative passages as providing different brain stimulation from simply nonfiction or informative reading. 

The award winning series, Time Travelers, is an animated adventure series about the future. The series showcases future careers in science such as geoengineering for alternative energy, nanobiolology and neuroscience for learning and health care.

Collection of articles that take a negative perspective of digital tools, the author critiques some of these claims from the perspective of a neuroscience student.

"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.

"In his new book, Adrian Bethune explores different angles of the life of children who are of primary-school age. For example, in a fascinating first chapter, Bethune examines our tribal roots, tapping into our pupils' primitive social instincts and their powerful effects on wellbeing and ability to learn. Citing the work of Louis Cozolino (Click here to view The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom by Louis Cozolino on Amazon UK - worthy of a read itself) a tribal classroom embodies tribal qualities including a tribal leader, cooperation, teamwork, equality, fairness, trust and strong personal relationships. Such qualities enable everyone to feel valued and a feeling of a big family, helping secure positive relationships - the role of the teacher in this relationship is to help pupils feel like they belong, which is fundamental to learning. Developing this tribal theme, Bethune the proceeds to share ideas to be implemented in the primary classroom to help cultivate such positive relationships, including the design of a team flag, greetings and endings, teaching social skills, and building humour and games into the setting."

"Incorporating the arts-rapping, dancing, drawing-into science lessons can help low-achieving students retain more knowledge and possibly help students of all ability levels be more creative in their learning, finds a new study by Johns Hopkins University. The findings were published on Feb. 7 in Trends in Neuroscience and Education and support broader arts integration in the classroom."

Young students use Facebook in the classroom What do you think?

Poor idea. First of all, it models disrespect for terms of service: One item on Facebook's terms of service page says "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13." Second, we know from a growing body of psychological and neuroscience research that once people (esp young people) have developed friends networks, that they spend hours and hours of their time at home doing facebook, at the expense of real-time face-to-face socializing, exercise, and homework. The quality of work they do goes down dramatically when they switch back and forth from Facebook to their homework (the Facebooking activity impairs their ability to remember what they were doing before they switched). This can also contribute to sleep deprivation, which itself results in a whole host of poor health/cognitive problems. A better alternative: teaching kids alternative exciting ways of social networking and working collaboratively online that don't have the massive distraction factor of Facebook: teach them how to make flip videos and post them on drop box; teach them how to make wikis; use a Ning social network; teach them how to use Google Docs, forms, etc. Teach them how to use Diigo! Even teaching them how to twitter is a wiser idea. . . just.

Learning Styles, Left Brain/Right Brain, and 10% are myths that we need to stop using to guide our teaching. They don't help, and they probably waste money and effort that could be used on things that actually help. You know, like good teaching (pre-assessment, goal-setting, differentiation, and keeping learners in their ZPD).