Pre-service teachers' misconceptions about brain and mind-prevalence and predictors

The issue of educational misconceptions among teachers is examined through distinct lines of research including educational neuroscience and psychology, each offering different perspectives and drawing clear distinctions between neuromyths and psychological myths. In the present study, we investigate educational misconceptions through an interdisciplinary lens to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between brain and mind myths and their prevalence among teachers. This framework also enables a more nuanced analysis of potential factors that may predict these misconceptions, aiding in understanding of how to address them effectively.

An online survey was designed and administered to pre-service teachers (N = 258). Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and Stepwise regression were used to analyze the collected data.

First, there is a high prevalence of educational myths among Romanian pre-service teachers. Second, neuromyths and psychological/mind myths are strongly correlated. Third, there are significant associations between the endorsement of neuromyths and psychological myths with various factors, experiential engagement being the most important.

An interdisciplinary approach reveals that valuable insights from integrating different research fields can be harnessed to enhance our understanding of the interplay between educational myths endorsement and different influencing factors. A comprehensive understanding of these relations enables the development of innovative and suitable interventions to debunk myths.