Overcoming the Myths: Interactive Learning Environments as Myth Busters in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Recent research has shown a growing interest in myths about teaching and learning and their prevalence among different populations. However, little is known about the extent to which these myths are prevalent among high school students. Future research must focus on methods that best support dispelling these myths to promote high school students in terms of knowledge security, recognition of fake news, and critical thinking, to foster their acquisition of competencies and to implement conceptual change. In the field of natural sciences, studies have shown that the use of learning videos can be an effective method to provoke conceptual change. For this purpose, two versions of a digital learning video (interactive [ N = 36] vs. not interactive [ N = 35]) have been developed to help high school students overcome five common and widely distributed myths (e.g., the learning style myth). The aim of our study was to analyze whether educational videos in an educational psychology context, in this case, neuromyths, can also lead to conceptual change. Furthermore, we wanted to know what role the degree of interactivity of the learning video plays in this. Results reveal that the interventions lead to a reduction of beliefs in myths, but only for those myths that were presented within the interventions. Results also reveal that the interactivity of the video did not make a difference in whether students believed in myths or not.