Great Myths of Education and Learning

Great Myths of Education and Learning reviews the scientific research on a number of widely-held misconceptions pertaining to learning and education, including misconceptions regarding student characteristics, how students learn, and the validity of various methods of assessment. A collection of the most important and influential education myths in one book, with in-depth examinations of each topic Focusing on research evidence regarding how people learn and how we can know if learning has taken place, the book provides a highly comprehensive review of the evidence contradicting each belief Topics covered include student characteristics related to learning, views of how the learning process works, and issues related to teaching techniques and testing

Introduction ix Acknowledgments xi 1 Students are accurate judges of how much they know 1 2 Students learn better when teaching methods are matched with their learning styles 11 3 Lecturing is broadly inferior to other teaching methods 25 4 Using PowerPoint in the classroom improves student learning 40 5 Minimally guided instruction is superior to traditional direct instruction 54 6 Rewards always undermine students’ intrinsic motivation 67 7 Multitasking does not inhibit academic performance 81 8 People are either left-brained or right-brained 97 9 There are many independent varieties of intelligence 113 10 Self-esteem improves academic performance 128 11 Repetition is a highly effective study strategy 142 12 Multiple-choice exams are inferior to other exam formats 153 13 Students should not change answers on multiple-choice exams 163 14 Coaching produces large gains in college admission test scores 174 15 Standardized tests do not predict academic performance 184 16 Standardized ability tests are biased against some minority groups 194 Index 207