Nursery World - EYFS Best Practice: All about ... neuroscience and the infant brain

What can we learn from research on early brain development? David
Whitebread and Lysandra Sinclaire-Harding debunk some of the
'neuromyths' and misdiagnoses doing the rounds and look at how
neuroscience findings might inform practice in early childhood
education.

There is currently a great deal of interest in neuroscience and what it might tell us about education, particularly in relation to the early years. Governments around the world are investing huge sums of money in understanding differences, disorders and diseases of the brain, and it is clear that there is huge potential for this new science to inform us about early brain development.

At the same time, however, the appetite for 'brain-based' curricula has led to the promulgation of a number of 'neuromyths' (critical stages, left and right brain learning) and the publication of a number of pseudo-scientific programmes (for example, Brain Gym), which arise from overgeneralisations or misinterpretations of the actual scientific findings so far established.

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