Be Skeptical of Brain-Based Learning

I've been skeptical of claims of so-called brain-based learning for years. Someday perhaps we'll be able to link analysis of brain function to behavior and learning, but we're not there yet.

Here is a brilliant YouTube video by Daniel Willingham, professor at the University of Virginia, that does a great job explaining the problems with brain-based learning. His audience seems to be schools and universities, but his arguments hold for work-learning as well.

Comments

[Ben]

Thanks, Will. This was a very timely video.

[Eric Jensen]

It's easy to get wowed by a single You-tube rant. But a cutesy pop culture video is not genuine science. The problem is that all of Williamham's claims about brain-based learning (and Bruer's too) have been shown to be false and unsubstantiated. If you want to get the real facts about brain-based learning, go to the website www.brain-based skeptic and get the truth. That is unless you're too closed minded to actually learn anything new.

[Eric Jensen]

Greetings...Regarding the site mentioned above about brain-based learning.... I am guessing that you figured out the specific URL is www.brain-basedskeptic.com

In either case, before you start making conclusions about brain-based education (which is now a masters and doctoral program at Harvard), read all of the home page on the site listed above. Cheers.

[Will Thalheimer]

Thanks Eric. Since you make your living selling "brain-based learning" I must admit I am skeptical of your claims. Your suggestion that I go to www.brainbasedskeptic.com is quite fascinating, since although it seems like an unbiased third-party examination of your claims, it is not. Unfortunately, not only are you a fraud, but you are a stupid fraud since the whois database of websites show that you are the owner of this supposed unbiased website.

Here is the information from the whois database for the website www.brainbasedskeptic.com:

Registrant:
JLC

4202 Sorrento Valley Road #B
San Diego, California 92121
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: BRAINBASEDSKEPTIC.COM
Created on: 01-May-08
Expires on: 02-May-11
Last Updated on: 01-May-08

Administrative Contact:
Jensen, Eric eric@jlcbrain.com
JLC
4202 Sorrento Valley Road #B
San Diego, California 92121
United States
(858) 642-0400

Technical Contact:
Jensen, Eric eric@jlcbrain.com
JLC
4202 Sorrento Valley Road #B
San Diego, California 92121
United States
(858) 642-0400

Domain servers in listed order:
NS13.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS14.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

[Will Thalheimer]

By the way Eric "fraud man" Jensen, Kurt Fischer's program at Harvard is doing legitimate work on the linkages between the biological/neurological substrates and learning, but they are very careful not to apply the findings willy-nilly (or Milli Vanilli as in your case).

In fact, fraudulent efforts of the kind that you promote do nothing but hurt the honest work of folks like Kurt Fischer.

[Mark]

Let the truth be told. Thanks Will.