“Neuromyth- A commonly-held false belief about how the mind and brain function” (Thomas Moran, 2019). There are six neuromyths reported by OECD. One of them makes me shocked, which is Neuromyth 2 -“enriched environments enhance the brain’s capacity for learning” (OECD). Before, I have read some books about how to educate a child well and promoting their brain development during their first few years, even one of my teachers also have mentioned a similar idea and shared his own experiences about creating lots of “stimulation” when his children were 1 year old. So, I strongly believed that we must pay attention to the first few years in children’s lifespan until today. However, there is “research indicates that the brain can and does grow regardless of age, provided it is involved in a variety of rich new experiences [constantly]” (Area Education Agency, 2002). In other words, our brain will grow dendrites after “learning environment captures our interest, offers challenging experiences, infuses sights, sounds, movement, and connects to the real world” (Area Education Agency, 2002), our brain can have plasticity at any time. The truth about this myth let me understand enriched environments do enhance learning. But “the human brain shows plasticity throughout the whole life and is not limited to [the] first three years of life” (OECD)
References:
Daughter, D. (2017, September 30). Enriched environment mitigates the brain-disruptive effects of prenatal DES exposure. Diethylstilbestrol DES. https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/enriched-environment-mitigates-brain-disruptive-effects-prenatal-des-exposure/
Enriched environments enhance learning. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2002, from https://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/pdf_articles/learning.pdf.Â
How does an enriched environment affect the brain? by Wendy Suzuki. (2015, July 24). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwLRsdOQcpI
Neuromyth 2. OECD. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/neuromyth2.htm.
Interesting posts you have worked on. I like the personal insights. Try to incorporate some more multimedia using some of your new skills such as Canva, or your own made screencasts. Have a nice weekend!
Hi Andy, thank you for your post. I agree with you very much. The first few years of a child are indeed very worthy of attention, but the human brain is constantly growing, and you need to exercise your brain at any time.