Edu-Snippets
Examining three educational myths: Teaching facts isn't important; People are left or right-brained; Multitasking
Highlights:
In this issue, we examine three common educational myths: i) Teaching facts isn’t important; ii) People are either left-brained or right-brained; and iii) the multitasking myth.
The multitasking myth, and and the myth that “facts are not important”, both fail to recognize the limitations of working memory and the important relationship between cognitive load and learning.
The left-brain / right-brain dominance myth is scientifically unfounded and can lead students to incorrectly believe that some of their abilities are innate and unchangeable.
Myth: Teaching facts isn't important. Students can look up what they don't know
This is one of those myths that almost sounds reasonable the first time people hear it. However, after thinking about the statement for a few minutes, doubts tend to creep in.
To understand why this statement is a myth, we need to briefly explore the notion of prior knowledge and it’s importance in constructing meaning. The more prior knowledge you have in a given field, the lower the cognitive load when learning new related material. Suppose you read a paragraph and there are five terms you don't understand. This adds to your cognitive load and puts additional stress on working memory. In contrast, if you understand all the terms, your cognitive load is much reduced and it becomes easier to make sense of the paragraph's message. Therefore, the more prior knowledge you have in a given field, the easier it is to acquire new knowledge. When you have lots of prior knowledge, you have more opportunities to link new knowledge to your existing knowledge base. The more linkages you create, the more deeply you understand the material.
When people talk about "teaching facts" not being important, they sometimes forget that these facts have tremendous future utility for students as knowledge resources. When we teach students something, we're building a foundation of knowledge in their memories. The "facts" that students learn in today's lesson will serve as "prior knowledge" that students rely on to understand future lessons.
Having foundational knowledge accelerates the learning process. Teaching facts provides students with scaffolds upon which they can construct new knowledge, think critically, and more effectively engage with the world effectively. While the ability to find information on the Internet is essential, one cannot conduct effective searches without a foundation of factual knowledge. Dismissing the importance of teaching facts undermines the depth and quality of education, hindering students' ability to think critically, innovate, and build future knowledge.
Myth: People are left-brained or right-brained
You may have heard the myth that people are "left-brained" or "right-brained". This refers to the idea that everyone has a dominant hemisphere of the brain. Left-brained people are thought to be more logical, analytical, and detail-oriented. Right-brained people are thought to be more creative and intuitive.
This myth is based on an old theory called "brain lateralization" that proposes that the left and right hemispheres of the brain are responsible for different types of thinking. Only some aspects of this theory are correct. It is true that some functions are primarily located in one hemisphere, such as language processing (left hemisphere). However, recent research in neuroscience has determined that the brain is highly interconnected and that most cognitive tasks involve many areas of the brain working together.
The idea that a person is "left-brained" or "right-brained" is a myth. It is true that different people have different strengths and weaknesses in different subject areas. However, this is not due to the structure of their brain. Rather it is due to a variety of genetic, environmental and experiential factors.
Referring to people as "left-brained" or "right-brained" is neither physiologically accurate, nor is it a useful way to understand human learning. In education it can be dangerous to stereotype students as being "left-brained" or "right-brained" because it incorrectly predicts that particular individuals will be strong or weak at certain activities. Students who are told they are "left-brained" may assume they are not capable of engaging in creative activities, and students who are told they are "right-brained" may assume they can't do math and science. It short, it may promote fixed mindsets.
There is an excellent summary of this myth, and its associated research, in Chapter 8 of the book, "Great Myths of Education and Learning" by Jeffrey Holmes.
Myth (mostly): Humans can multitask
Multitasking is not entirely a myth1, because it's possible to do certain things simultaneously (e.g., walk and chew gum, or wash dishes while talking on the phone).
The key point to remember about multitasking is that humans can only engage in one cognitively demanding task at a time. Consider the following examples:
Jogging while listening to an audio book: This is an achievable form of multitasking, because running is a physical activity that is largely automated and doesn't consume cognitive resources. Listening to an audio book (and paying attention to what is being said) involves focused attention. Since there is only one cognitively demanding task in this scenario, multitasking is possible.
Talking while reading: This is not an achievable form of multitasking because both talking and reading require cognitive focus and effort.
When people attempt to do two cognitively demanding things at once, they're really engaging in task-switching. Task-switching occurs when a person works on Task A for a while, then switches to Task B, and then later switches back to Task A again. Task-switching adds to cognitive load, because the person's short-term memory has to keep track of their progress on both tasks as they are swapped in-and-out of working memory. A person who tries to multitask is likely to: a) take longer completing the tasks; and b) do a poorer job.
Some tasks can project the illusion of multitasking, when in fact, that’s not what’s really happening. Consider the example of a student doing their homework while listening to music. It's probably more accurate to view this as task-switching (i.e., the student periodically switches between paying attention to their homework and paying attention to their music). It may be supported by a mental process called "selective attention". Selective attention occurs when you mentally "tune out" external stimuli when you need to concentrate on a particular task.
Given the limited capacity of our working memory, it's important to teach students the fallacy of multitasking, and the value of being able to work for short, focused periods of time on a single task. It’s also helpful for students to recognize that their cell phones are a source of distraction that they can turn off notifications when they need to concentrate. Students who have ongoing problems in this area may be interested in exploring the Pomodoro Technique2 which we discussed in a previous issue.
Click for a microlesson on ‘Is multitasking real?’ - https://app.7taps.com/DeBOiadJCvp
Click for a microlesson on ‘The Pomodoro Technique’ - https://app.7taps.com/DbgjAUBpvRTG