Teach Effectively!

At a meeting in Santiago (Chile), a distinguished group of researchers issued a statement explaining that brain research doesn’t have much to say about education. That’s the good news, and it deserves to be echoed. More good news is that the group supported evidence-based education.

Under the headline “The Brain/Education Barrier” in Science, Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek and John T. Bruer start their report about the meeting this way:

In an era of translational science, researchers often find themselves in the mixed company of policy-makers, legislators, and educators looking for “evidence-based” practice. That’s how it was earlier this year in March, when a distinguished international group of neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists convened at the University of Chile in Santiago for the conference titled Early Education and Human Brain Development, which many Chilean ministers, educators, and scientists attended to learn how brain science might transform education. On day one, however, it became clear that myths about brain-based pedagogy dominated participants’ thinking. The Chilean educators were looking to brain science for insights about which type of preschool would be the most effective, whether children are safe in child care, and how best to teach reading. The brain research presented at the conference that day was mute on these issues. However, cognitive and behavioral science could help.

The bad news is that the statement that the group issued—the “Santiago Declaration”—provides only broad descriptions of evidence-based educational practices. Mostly the recommendations sound like warmed-over generalities. It’s chock-a-block with phrases like “active, not passive, learners,” “fundamentally social beings who learn most effectively in socially sensitive and responsive environments,” and “meaningful contexts.” In the place of reference to research about effective practices, the declaration offers platitudes about development.

So, thanks for getting the starting place right, folks. Sorry you didn’t keep going in the right direction.

Link to the declaration and to the editorial by Professor Hirsh and Mr. Breur.