Neuroscience and Education

Consequently, a school curriculum which offers multiple opportunities is commendable, but this does not necessarily depend on there being multiple intelligences within each child which fortuitously map on to the various areas of curriculum

Feynman's warning could well be applied to the myriad ‘brain-based’ strategies that pervade current educational thinking

Even with the best of intentions, extrapolations from the lab to the classroom need to be made with considerable caution (Howard-Jones 200723. Howard-Jones , P. 2007. “Neuroscience and education: Issues and opportunities”. In Commentary by the Teacher and Learning Research Programme, London: TLRP. http://www.tlrp.org/pub/commentaries.htmlView all references).

Neuromyths typically ignore such interconnectivity in their pursuit of simplicity.

Rather, this just demonstrates Sherrington's point that the way the brain goes about dividing its labours is quite separate from how we see such divisions on the outside, so to speak. In other words, there are no multiple intelligences, but rather, it is argued, multiple applications of the same multifaceted intelligence.

It could be predicted, then, that deliberate attempts to restrict intelligence within classrooms according to MI theory would not promote children's learning, and it could be noted in passing that one of the ‘independent consultants’ who advocates brain-based learning strategies acknowledges teachers' frustration with the lack of long-term impact of applying MI theory (Beere 20061. Beere , J. 2006. “Capturing hearts and minds”. In Oxfordshire Governor 8–9. AutumnView all references).

It is unfortunate that teachers are constantly subjected to such pervasive nonsense about the brain, so it is worth pausing to investigate the various sources of the 10% myth (Nyhus and Sobel 200330. Nyhus , E. M. and Sobel , N. . ‘The 10% Myth’. Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience Conference. New Orleans. View all references).

the brain does not consist of two hemispheres operating in isolation. In fact, the different cognitive specialties of the LH and RH are so well integrated that they seldom cause significant processing conflicts … hemispheric specialisation … consists of a dynamic interactive partnership between the two.

Consequently, with a nice circularity, the data which show that language production is on the left comes almost exclusively from subjects who've been chosen to have their language production areas on the left.

Consequently, for the many reasons noted above, leading neuroscientists have been calling on the neuroscience community to shift their interpretative focus of brain function from modularisation to interaction

The disappointing outcome of all of this endeavour is that, overall, the evidence consistently shows that modifying a teaching approach to cater for differences in learning styles does not result in any improvement in learning outcomes (Coffield et al. 20046. Coffield , F. , Moseley , D. , Hall , E. and Ecclestone , K. 2004. Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. Report No. 041543, London: Learning and Skills Research Centre. View all references)

What is possibly more insidious is that focusing on one sensory modality flies in the face of the brain's natural interconnectivity. VAK might, if it has any effect at all, be actually harming the academic prospects of the children so inflicted.

To emphasise the cross-modal nature of sensory experience, Kayser (200725. Kayser , C. 2007. Listening with your eyes. Scientific American Mind, 18(2): 24–29. View all references) writes that: ‘the brain sees with its ears and touch, and hears with its eyes.

As with other learning-style inventories, research has shown that there is no improvement of learning outcomes with VAK above teacher enthusiasm, where ‘attempts to focus on learning styles were wasted effort’ (Kratzig and Arbuthnott 200626. Kratzig , G. P. and Arbuthnott , K. D. 2006. Perceptual learning style and learning proficiency: A test of the hypothesis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1): 238–246. View all references).