Kappan's editor talks with Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, a leader in the international movement to translate findings from neuroscience into usable knowledge for educators. Topics include neuromyths (common, but erroneous, beliefs about how the brain works), the current scientific consensus about how people learn, and the contributions that the…

There are several myths about neuroscientific findings that are widespread in education. Some of these myths are left brain/right brain, critical periods for learning, and gender differences in the brain. Belief in these "neuromyths" can negatively affect how we teach children. But ignoring important findings from neuroscience can be just as…

Discussions about educational productivity need to recognize that students are producers of their own learning. Equating students with workers, intensifying curriculum requirements, and professionalizing teaching are insufficient. The best strategies involve treating students as capable persons, capitalizing on their knowledge and interests, and…

Education is on the wrong track largely because of "solutions" that have isolated teachers and students from one another and from sensible ways of spending time. Assessment is a full-fledged disaster that discriminates, stigmatizes, and disempowers individuals for life. Education is not an orderly, rational system. Educators should…

Teachers using a constructivist approach to learning are not invisible, as Lawrence Baines and Gregory Stanley suggest in a December 2000 "Kappan" article. Rather, they are an integral part of an active, student-centered learning process. Assisted by teachers, learners select and transform information, construct hypotheses, and make decisions.…