Date of Award

Summer 2020

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Christine Lotter

Abstract

Neuromyths are misconceptions or overgeneralizations about brain research and its relevance to education. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that teachers endorse neuromyths at high rates, but none have examined neuromyths related to sex-specific learning differences. This study is the first to create and utilize a neuromyth inventory designed to measure misconceptions about sex learning differences. The overarching goal of the study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of both sex-specific neuromyths and gender-specific instructional strategies. The study was conducted in three large South Carolina school districts that offered single-gender classes at some point between 2007–2016. An electronic survey was administered to collect demographic and experience data and to measure neuromyth and gender-specific instructional strategy endorsement. The study was conducted in two phases that included a pilot study to provide validity evidence for the inventory and a final study to address the research goals. Result from 190 teacher survey respondents suggest that the teachers endorse both sex-specific learning neuromyths and gender-specific instructional strategies. The most commonly endorsed neuromyths were related to learning and learning styles, a finding which is consistent with previous studies examining general neuromyths.

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