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Édouard Gentaz

The True Contribution of Neuroscience to School A Neuromyth? Publication date : November 2, 2022

Edouard Gentaz is a professor in Developmental Psychology at the University of Geneva. He was a research director at the CNRS Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology until 2012. His work focuses on child development and school learning.

- How do we learn and, more importantly, how do we teach small children? Based on research, Edouard Gentaz reveals different ways of learning and the multiple resources available: sensory, memory, metacognitive, emotional, etc. The author shows how make-believe games help children develop and exercise their cognitive and emotional skills. This book puts forward practical suggestions to encourage learning from the youngest age.
- Neuroscience is sometimes used to scientifically back up certain teaching methods. The author debunks these “neuromyths”: e.g., brain imaging does not provide proof that one reading method is better than another. This book invites readers to move away from the “collective neuro-illusion” and to apply a multidisciplinary approach to teaching methods, taking into account mental and behavioural data.
- This book presents, from a critical standpoint, the real results of neuroscience and cognitive science research, and provides guidelines for designing reliable educational assessment methods. More often than not, assessment studies are carried out on a large scale and not subjected to replication testing. The author underlines how difficult it is to translate research into teaching recommendations. He therefore calls for researchers and practitioners to work together, especially when training future teachers, based on the model of medical studies which combine theory and practical training in equal measure.