It\u2019s the schools that have the strictest discipline that have the highest mental health problems.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Helpfully, they include a video recording of her saying it<\/a>.<\/p>\n In context, Silverton is saying — in effect — that schools’ strict disciplinary policies damage students’ mental health<\/em>.<\/p>\n If she’s right, school leaders should know that<\/em>!<\/p>\n If we run schools with strict disciplinary policies, we should at least consider changing them. Obviously, we don’t want to cause mental health problems.<\/p>\n But … is she right?<\/p>\n This specific question leads to a broader question:<\/p>\n When someone says “research says you should change the way you run your school!,” what should we do next?<\/p>\n Accept the advice? Reject it? Flip a coin?<\/p>\n Let me suggest three simple steps.<\/p>\n This advice seems too obvious to say out loud.<\/p>\n OF COURSE someone reading this blog would ask for sources.<\/p>\n However, in my experience, we’re very hesitant to do so. It seems — I don’t know — rude, or pushy, or presumptuous.<\/p>\n Especially when the research comes from psychology or neuroscience, we just don’t want to seem stubborn.<\/p>\n But, trust me, it’s always appropriate to ask for the research.<\/p>\n In this case, happily, lots (and lots) of people did ask Silverton for research.<\/p>\n This small niche of edutwitter lit up with people asking — quite simply — “what research suggests that strict school discipline damages mental health?” (To be clear, it also lit up with people praising Silverton for speaking out.)<\/p>\n Even more happily, she responded by citing 11 research studies.<\/p>\n Her transparency allows us to ask a second question:<\/p>\n Here again, the question seems to obvious to raise. Who would cite research that\u00a0doesn’t support the claim they make<\/em>?<\/p>\n I’m here to tell you: it happens all the time. (I wrote about a recent example here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n In this case, teacher\/researcher\/blogger Greg Ashman looked at those sources. (You can read the article he wrote here<\/a>, although you might have to subscribe to his substack to do so.)<\/p>\n So, does the research support the claim?<\/p>\n Amazingly, most of the cited studies don’t focus on students’ mental health<\/em>.<\/p>\n That’s right. To support the claim that “strict discipline harms mental health,” Silverton cites very little research about mental health. (Ashman has the details.)<\/p>\n Yes, we might make some guesses based on these studies. But, guesses aren’t research.<\/p>\n As Ashman writes:<\/p>\n it\u2019s easy to accept that suspension and [expulsion] are associated with higher rates of depression without assuming suspension and [expulsion] are the\u00a0cause<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, DOES strict school discipline cause<\/em> mental health problems? I don’t (yet) know of direct research on the subject.<\/p>\n This specific example about school discipline, I hope, emphasizes the broader point:<\/p>\n Simply by a) asking for research and b) giving it a quick skim, we can better decisions about accepting or rejecting “research-based” teaching advice.<\/p>\n Because humans are so complicated, psychology and neuroscience research ALWAYS produces a range of findings.<\/p>\n Even with something as well-supported as retrieval practice, we can find a few studies suggesting limitations — even (very rare) negative effects<\/a>.<\/p>\n I thought of this truth when I saw a New York Times headline:\u00a0Cash Aid to Poor Mothers Increases Brain Activity in Babies, Study Finds<\/a>.<\/p>\n This blog is about brain research, not politics. At the same time, this brain research might be cited to support a policy proposal.<\/p>\n So: what should we do when we see brain research used this way?<\/p>\n Step 1<\/strong>: “Ask for sources.” Good news! The sources are quoted in the article.<\/p>\n Step 2<\/strong>: “Does the research, in fact, support the claim?”<\/p>\n Sure enough, the researchers conclude<\/p>\n “we provide evidence that giving monthly unconditional cash transfers to mothers\u00a0experiencing poverty in the first year of their children\u2019s lives may\u00a0change infant brain activity.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Step 3<\/strong>: “Actively seek out contradictory information.”<\/p>\n Because this claim made the front page of the Times, I kept an eye out for responses, both pro and con<\/em>.<\/p>\n Just a few days later, I found this tweet thread<\/a>. In it, Dr. Stuart Richie<\/a> points out some real concerns with the study.<\/p>\n For instance: the authors “pre-registered” their study. That is, they said “we’re going to measure variables X, Y, and Z to see if we find significant results.”<\/p>\n As it turns out, they found (small-ish) significant results in P, Q, and R, but not X, Y, and Z<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As Richie notes, P, Q, and R are certainly interesting. But:<\/p>\n This is a clear example of hype; taking results that were mainly null and making them into a huge, policy-relevant story. [The research] is a lot more uncertain than this [Times article implies].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To be very clear: I’m not arguing for or against a policy proposal.<\/p>\n I am arguing that when someone says “brain science shows!,” we should ask questions before make big changes.<\/p>\n When people cite brain research to encourage you to teach differently…<\/p>\n … ask for sources,<\/p>\n … confirm they support the recommendation,<\/p>\n … seek out contradictory points of view.<\/p>\n Our students benefit when we follow those three simple steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Early in January, The Times (of London) quoted author Kate Silverton (on Twitter: @KateSilverton) saying: It\u2019s the schools that have the strictest discipline that have the highest mental health problems. Helpfully, they include a video recording of her saying it. In context, Silverton is saying — in effect — that schools’ strict disciplinary policies damage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-6446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-school-discipline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6446"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6452,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions\/6452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Skeptical-Magnifying-Glass-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStep 1: Ask for Sources<\/h2>\n
Step 2: Does the Research, in fact, Support the Claim?<\/h2>\n
Step 3: Actively Seek Out Contradictory Information<\/h2>\n
\n
TL;DR<\/h2>\n