Everything You’ve Ever Been Told About How You Learn Is A Lie

The first of these “lies” is the one that that the students in my TA Prep (Teaching Assistant Preparation course, for PhD students learning to be teaching assistants) courses most often say back to me.  The third lie (where “___” is “computer programming”) is a pernicious one among CS teachers.

When I was in middle school and high school, teachers loved to impart various tidbits of wisdom about the way students learn during lectures, always couched in such a way as to indicate these were scientifically accepted facts. 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. Brain-based education studies are usually poorly designed and badly controlled. Nevertheless, myths about how we learn persist in the popular imagination, and, most importantly, in educational materials and references for teachers.

1. We Learn Best When Teaching Is Tailored To Our Learning Style

2. Some People Are Left-Brained, Some People Are Right-Brained

3. __ Will Make You Smarter

via Everything You’ve Ever Been Told About How You Learn Is A Lie | Popular Science.