Comments on: Banging your head repeatedly against the brick wall of teachers’ stupidity helps increase blood flow to your frontal lobes

By: markaguy

markaguy — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:24:10 +0000

1) Science Teacher (Physics)
2) Came across this rubbish during teacher training 2004/5
3) Laughed my head off that anyone could beleave this tosh (As did my Peers, scientists of all 3 Species.)
4) Thought the movements may be an excuse for a 2 minute break from sitting down too long.
5) Sometimes get kids moving around doing simular things to brain gym when they have been heads down for 20 Mins Plus. JUST to give their body / mind a break.
6) Constantly PERPLEXED at the RUBBISH some educationalists PREACH to Teachers who THEN REPEAT rubbish.
7) Education / Learning is simple, If you do something often enough you are able to recall it (Facts or actions), if you practice problem solving, you get good at using and finding new uses for existing skills.

A Footballer is good at football and plays well because they practice and have an interest in the game. The same can be said of Scientists, or even belly dancers.
As we get older the physical limitations of our bodies will eventially cause decline. That’s Life !

By: NZSceptic

NZSceptic — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:56:45 +0000

I learnt Brian Gym from a practitioner in Paramate, Porirua 1995 and found it invaluable while studying for my degree at Victoria University in Wellington. Later I found that someone was running classes at Victoria but didn’t feel inclined to join (on an aside, I am told Victoria offers a paper in witch craft. I have not verified this). If I recall correctly, it may have cost NZ$80 thought this is a bit of a guess. It wasn’t expensive. The lady who did the consulting said that the Education Department of central government and/or local teachers had referred pupils to her. I can believe it. It was demonstrated and I was suitably convinced of its benefits and was willing to learn.

I found Brian Gym invaluable and if someone asked me if I would recommend it, the answer would be yes though I am not a teacher so would not necessary recognise anyone who may benefit from the techniques.

While I have not read the entire piece on this website concerning Brain Gym, some people would benefit from it. For me it worked. The reason it worked I cannot recall to the extent where I could write authoritatively. I haven’t practised the techniques for some ten plus years and nolonger believe I need it.

Having said all that, while at High School I did learn Transcendental Mediation and there was a teacher at school pushing it. Having discovered what TM was, I would not go near it with the proverbial barge pole. The person who taught me TM said it was not a religion. Later I discovered it was. Part of the initiation session to receive the mantra was to kneel infront of a Hindu shrine. Had I known otherwise I would have walked out. Noone on the course was told that the initiation session involved kneeling before a Hindu deity.

By: theunderstudy

theunderstudy — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:02:43 +0000

I can’t stand brain gym, they used to make us do it at school, well, actually the school wouldn’t actually pay for it (yay) but one misguided teacher nicked some exercises of her daughter’s school who did. Result, lots of bored 16 year olds wasting time rubbing their ears two lessons before their GCSEs. Half the class ended up rubbing their ears and reading the text book under the table. Something is seriously wrong with your education when you have to revise in secret. If they wanted us to exercise they shouldn’t have cut PE from two lessons a week to one.

By: zeno

zeno — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:18:25 +0000

Good to see this nonsense is being aired in public tomorrow:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/otherfeatures/display.var.2473859.0.Is_Brain_Gym_scientific.php

“Professor Sergio Della Sala, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, will use part of a prize-winning public lecture to voice his concern that Scottish schools are paying thousands of pounds to train teachers in controversial techniques such as “brain gym” and “neuro-physiological psychology”.”

By: mathnawi

mathnawi — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:09:51 +0000

This is a pretty trivial topic Ben. Brain Gym and probably any brief exercise that gets the students focussing on physical activity/breathing is a neat way of re-energising and settling a class. Yes, a rendition of heads, shoulders, knees and toes, a bit of Tai Chi, even juggling may well be as effective. Teachers are generally not morons Ben, even most of those who accept and use Brain Gym. They are expedient. They don’t have a lot of time, they don’t get a lot of money and they have to do a lot of work. For the children of you (possibly) and many of the posters. If something works – and the only practical test is experiential – why not use it? Are you really suggesting teachers do academic research on such a trivial subject? The company behind it may be talking a lot of pseudo-scientific crap. If it settles a class, why should the teacher care. Yes, public money should not be spent on things which have no value – in that case they should be assessed at a government level. Brain Gym get the dosh because they came up with a sellable system – it is easier for teachers to do something ready-made than devise a unique programme – even it would have the same effect (of settling/focussing that is – I don’t care about the science, which probably isn’t communicated to the kids in 99.99% of instances anyway). However, teachers don’t have a lot of time and have other priorities. Write to the Department of Education, devise your own settling exercise without the pseudo-science – do something positive if you really give a toss about it. Calling teachers morons makes you sound a bit of a prat mate.

By: Sunshine

Sunshine — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:06:29 +0000

My singing tutor uses Brain Gym. Or, to be more accurate, she would like to use Brain Gym. However, as I pay her £30 an hour I don’t allow her to waste the first 15 minutes (£7.50!) of my lesson on quackery. It is a source of friction between us…

By: footle

footle — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:08:26 +0000

Is Paxman simply reading this article out to Mr Brain Gym on Newsnight?

By: platdujour

platdujour — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:48:03 +0000

the link for the “Weisberg-neuro explanations” research has changed. you can now find it at –
http://pantheon.yale.edu/~dls73/Assets/Weisberg-JOCN.pdf

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:34:59 +0000

“Empathise”? “Populate the site”? Oh well, if I worked with kids all the time my verbal skill would atrophy too

By: Moganero

Moganero — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:41:40 +0000

An update re http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/thinkingskills/resources/565248

Ireceived the following from Victoria White, Research Manager for the Chief Adviser on School Standards Schools Directorate Department for Children, Schools and Families:

“I empathise with your concerns and will be speaking with the researchers who populate the site to review the content regarding Brain Gym.”

By: Bill Mac

Bill Mac — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:27:36 +0000

Ha ha – I love this sort of stuff. Totally loony, but convinced of it’s own rectitude. Since I started reading Bad Science I note degrees of this all over the place, I’m always spotting this sort of thing in the papers now.

By: Ben Goldacre

Ben Goldacre — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:45:14 +0000

the person who sent me this email

http://www.badscience.net/?p=613#comment-19621

has accused me of censoring and misrepresenting him. i hope i have not, and merely took out the duller bits. for absolute clarity here is his whole email:

Hello Mr Goldacre. I read the article “nonsense dressed up as neuroscience” in the Guardian UK. There were some strong statements about how the Brain Gym system was nonsense. I wanted to offer something to you that might make you reconsider your opinions, but it was not possible. There was no comment section for reader input.

Was that an oversight? If you do not understand something, or you believe it is nonsense, I would think you would be interested in an explanation for how the claims that the Brain Gym makes might work.

Acupuncture is based on the principle of stimulating one area of the body to produce a result in another area of the body. Is the Brain Gym produced by Asian people? That would explain their “button” recommendations. They just used the word “buttons” so they don’t have to explain “acupuncture points” to kids playing a game.

They are trying to teach you scientists things you don’t know. It is natural for you to be afraid and resist, because the world you think you know is being removed from underneath you. Your feet feel like they are in quicksand when you realize that there are some things you believed that are completely wrong. And that someone else has the right answer.

Don’t be afraid. The fear goes away, you learn the new stuff, and then you have a more accurate view of reality. You don’t like the way the process feels, but I think when you finally gain your new knowledge or abilities, you might feel that they were worth the disquiet you endured.

Honestly, you are probably a lost cause since you are older and set in your ways. It is too much trouble to break you down and teach you right. That is why they are teaching the kids. Then the new generation will know all about acupuncture “buttons” as kids, so when they mature enough to understand acupuncture points, they will immediately make the connection to the buttons in the game Brain Gym they played as a kid.

It’s too bad you are not as smart as you think you are. ;(

By: mscir

mscir — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:15:30 +0000

Sounds like your country is plagued with corruption as bad as my own (US). I’d love to see exactly who is benefiting from this. And I’d really love to see the “scientists” who promoted this product interviewed. It seems obvious that this is just another example of greed run rampant, similar to the ‘No Child Left Behind’ crock we were handed.

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:15:09 +0000

“Shibboleth” is a good word.

By: Bill Mac

Bill Mac — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:17:19 +0000

Well, agreed. Actually I’m in sixth form education so we don’t have brain gym, but we do have visual, kinaesthetic etc and regrettably loads of people do believe in it, it’s really so deep in many, many teachers and administrators psyches that it isn’t worth arguing about it. It’s not so much that I have to tell Inspectors that I agree with it (I don’t have to do that) but I wouldn’t want to put my head up and say I DON’T believe in it… And regrettably, “holistic” and “whole-brain” and that there are differences between women and men’s psychological make-up “women are better at multi-tasking” (I ask you) are so deep in people’s minds that they can’t be challenged – they’re just folk-myths like “WW1 British generals were stupid” (bet loads of the people reading this believe that little canard) or “The Great Wall of China can be seen from space”… The thing is, whatever Ben says, plenty of people believe in God without any evidence (and I’m not saying they’re wrong to, before anyone complains), so how much easier and certainly un-moronic it is to believe in left-brain right brain, brain-gym…

By: Barbara H

Barbara H — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:51:56 +0000

Bill Mac:
I sympathise hugely. I’m a parent governor at my kid’s primary school (the kid in post 105) and I’m not afraid to say that brain gym is tosh because that’s what I’m there for. Must say though, I’m looking forward to going to our next meeting and using the word ‘granfalloon.’ See if I can get it in the minutes..
As has been said before, using this stuff as a break from the grind in the classroom is fine, as long as you realise its no different to singing a song or going to the toilet or whatever else you choose as a wake-up technique. It’s the justifying it with cod science and the paying for it with state money that we dissenters object to. Why would I go to our finance committee and agree to blow the budget on ‘listening with your right brain to bollocks about your left brain?’ That’s the bit I would be ashamed to face the inspectors with.
In fact, no-one is going to suggest paying for brain gym at our extremely skint school, because teachers and SENCOs can download free ‘exercise sheets’ and create a do-it-yourself brain gym course. And they will do it unquestioningly; firstly because to do so is free, secondly because as I said, this stuff is getting a veneer of respectability, creeping stealthily into school at the bottom of the Occupational Therapists’ bag of balls and skittles.
So even if you get rid of the scandal of schools wasting their money on all this, you still have to deal with the fact that teachers who use brain gym along with all the spurious scientific justifications are basically teaching kids the Wrong Stuff. That is what’s so offensive about it. Photocopy the exercise sheets if you must, but please, tippex out all the crap about carotid arteries and processed food first. Make clear to your children and your staff that it’s an exercise break, nothing more or less.
And if the inspectors like it so much, get them to join in the next session. I’m thinking of blowing the budget on a set of Ben’s ‘Quack’ T-shirts for our next trial by ofsted

By: Bill Mac

Bill Mac — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:14:52 +0000

Love the article, but it’s a bit unfair for a scientist to say “science shows that people are taken in by complex statements about the brain” and then say that people who are taken in by complex statements about the brain are “morons”… No, mostly they’re just people, doing a hard job and clutching at any straws. We teachers get subjected to a lot of this stuff and some of it is bound to go well with hard-pressed people who’ll try ANYTHING to get the little bastards to behave… It would be easy enough for me to make nasty comments about doctors today, their greed, gullibility or plain deceit in having dished out the Prozac for the last few years…maybe that shows even doctors can get taken in by complex arguments about the brain or maybe they too will mostly do what they think the government or the patient wants (or in teachers case their lords and masters in Inspection etc). As an Assistant Principal even I have to admit that I haven’t got the courage to say to an Inspector, “no, we happen to think that visual/ kinaeshetic etc is a load of old tosh”…why would I want to shoot myself in the foot with the guy who makes public judgements about me when the methods do “work” (if only for their Hawthorne effect, or because using different teaching styles or getting kids to waggle their thumbs in mid-lesson is likely to make things more interesting and purposeful-seeming.) So it’s a great article in terms of the content, but very unfair in giving teachers as a group such a hard time. I’ve sat in many a training day listening with my right brain to bollocks about my left brain – because when it’s me in the classroom I can just do what I beleive – it’s a very autonomous profession in the end… So let us have our placebos, Ben – they probably don’t cost the country half as much as the placebos being dished out daily by doctors..

By: LeonStander

LeonStander — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:51:06 +0000

Robert, I think they can be regarded as a granfalloon (after Kurt Vonnegut), rather than a religion. I quote from a blog posting I did on whole-brain half-wittery, but which I think is also applicable to Brain Gym: “A granfalloon is a group of people, often hierarchically organised, that associate around a meaningless, fabricated premise. The granfalloon would be established by the leader (or guru) and members would be limited to approved training and literature. The guru may be well aware that his or her product is nonsense, but the faithful followers or practitioners are kept in the dark. The quaint American expression “mushroomed – kept in the dark and fed manure”, seems appropriate.”

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:50:11 +0000

Any sign of Brain Gym becoming a religion, like Falun Gong or Scientology? i.e. something that you insist on doing whilst entirely aware that it’s blitheringly stupid. Perhaps you view of religion differs from mine, we could discuss it…

By: LeonStander

LeonStander — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:27:43 +0000

Many OT’s and psychologists seem to be part of the Brain Gym movement (at least in South Africa). How they reconsile their neuroscience training with Brain Gym pseudoscience is anyone’s guess.

As to the effectiveness of the exercises, there is no scientific evidence. If it’s just about providing a break with physical exercise, why not have a real kinesiology teacher (we used to call them PT teachers) devise a sensible set of exercises?

I’ve posted on this issue in my blog http://www.occamsdonkey.com
Specifically I question whether a teacher can do the Brain Gym exercises without providing the pseudoscience explanations. In South Africa Brain Gym has excluded the explanations (chakra’s etc.) from their published literature and now call themselves a science!