Great Myths of Education and Learning

Jeffrey D. Holmes is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. He teaches courses on general psychology, testing and assessment, research methods, and controversial psychological issues. Dr Holmes has published original research on racial attitudes as well as the teaching of psychology, and has published several book chapters on topics related to the importance of scientific thinking in understanding human behavior. He is the author of Social Psychology: Student Handbook to Psychology (2012).

"Great Myths of Education and Learning is a little gem that should be read by anyone interested in taking an evidence-based approach to education. If you are interested in what the research has to say about how (or how not) to improve education, then this book is for you."—Richard E. Mayer, 2016. 'Taking an Evidence-Based Approach to Education,' PsycCRITIQUES, November 21, 2016, Vol. 61, No. 47, Article 2"The author uses excellent judgment in his choice of myths, provides a scholarly review of representative studies, and highlights the pitfalls of relying on common knowledge to make instructional decisions. I applaud the author's commitment to showing the important role of scientific evidence in education."—Richard E. Mayer, 2016. 'Taking an Evidence-Based Approach to Education,' PsycCRITIQUES, November 21, 2016, Vol. 61, No. 47, Article 2"The book highlights the crucial relation between psychology and education—with psychology helping to provide scientific evidence relevant to educational practice and education providing realistic problems that spur psychologists to develop better theories of learning."—Richard E. Mayer, 2016. 'Taking an Evidence-Based Approach to Education,' PsycCRITIQUES, November 21, 2016, Vol. 61, No. 47, Article 2

• Introduction ixAcknowledgments xi1 Students are accurate judges of how much they know 12 Students learn better when teaching methods are matched with their learning styles 113 Lecturing is broadly inferior to other teaching methods 254 Using PowerPoint in the classroom improves student learning 405 Minimally guided instruction is superior to traditional direct instruction 546 Rewards always undermine students’ intrinsic motivation 677 Multitasking does not inhibit academic performance 818 People are either left-brained or right-brained 979 There are many independent varieties of intelligence 11310 Self-esteem improves academic performance 12811 Repetition is a highly effective study strategy 14212 Multiple-choice exams are inferior to other exam formats 15313 Students should not change answers on multiple-choice exams 16314 Coaching produces large gains in college admission test scores 17415 Standardized tests do not predict academic performance 18416 Standardized ability tests are biased against some minority groups 194Index 207