![]() ![]() Now the DCSF has raised its own concerns about the programme to the Commons Science and Technology Committee.Īsked by the committee about the scientific evidence for its use, the DCSF said: 'We are unaware of any sufficiently robust or peer-reviewed evaluation of the approaches it promotes which would allow any clear link between the use of Brain Gym and pupils' learning to be established.We are also aware of a significant body of criticism of the theoretical underpinnings of the programme.' They say that while the exercises may be harmless, the programme gives pupils false information about how the human body works and wastes school time and resources. They include pupils touching so-called 'brain buttons' beneath their collarbones to stimulate blood flow to the brain and massaging their jaws to improve language skills.īut growing numbers of scientists are claiming that the programme is nothing more than 'hocus pocus'. The exercises are said to work on the principle that coordinating mental and physical activity boosts energy, stimulates the brain and enhances performance in the classroom. Some councils have spent thousands training teachers to lead the movements. Hundreds and possibly thousands of schools - mainly primaries - have used Brain Gym techniques since the system was introduced to the UK in 1984. The Young Gifted and Talented programme, supported by the DCSF to stretch the brightest children, claims on its website that Brain Gym 'can have a sustained impact on learning'. ![]() Officials said Brain Gym had been 'criticised as being unscientific in a wide-ranging and authoritative review of research into neuroscience and education'.ĭespite the department's concern, Brain Gym is still promoted in a range of Government-backed literature. Schools around the country have spent taxpayers' cash on Brain Gym, a system of 26 postures and movements invented in California.īut in a statement issued to MPs, the Department for Children, Schools and Families warned that studies put its success-down to nothing more than the 'placebo effect' and the general benefits of breaks and exercise. 'No merit': Education secretary Ed Balls's department says the Brain Gym has no scientific basisĪ programme used in thousands of classrooms in the hope of boosting children's brainpower has no scientific basis, Ed Balls's department has ruled. ![]()
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