Beliefs of college students inside andoutside of education

The purpose of this study was to investigate what college students inside and outside of education thought about neuroscience, its credibility, and its applicability to educational practice. Data were collected using an online questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions linked to one of three versions (an image generated by an fMRI scan, a graph, no image) of a phonyarticle containing unreasonable applications of neuroscience to learning. Students (n=297) who were undergraduates in general studies, undergraduates in education, and graduates in education participated. Even though the article was fallacious, participants deemed it credible and felt neuroscience should be part of teacher training. Those who read the article with the image generated by an fMRI scan agreed more strongly that the article was credible than those who saw the graph. Qualitative data revealed that products and strategies being used in the name of neuroscience are a being used by teachers and non-teachers. Implications for educators are provided.