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Group Wiki Table of contents

1. Group Wiki [edit] 1.1. Origin and Prevalence 1.2. Issues and Analysis 1.3. Presentation 1.4. Further Reading 1.5. Footnotes Group Wiki [edit] This is the template that your group should complete for the Digipo Project. This is just a place to put your work. For instructions, see our assignment and other resources (the "Group Project Toolbox" has everything compiled into one place for you).

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Claim

Standardized testing damages Kids’ brains.

Status

False

(Digipo explains fact as something that is generally agreed on. Nor does the two sources that I have found match the hallmarks of facts explained on its website.)

Summary: The claim made by neurologist Dean Burnett that standardized testing causes brain damage is false. Burnett proposes that standardized testing causes brain damage based on two sources: Bergland’s research, “Chronic Stress Can Damage Brain Structure and Connectivity,” published in Psychology Today, (Bergland, 2014), and an article by Bryner published in Live Science, “Stress Alters kids’ Brains, Study Suggest,” (Bryner 2012).

In regards to Bergland’s article, notwithstanding the questionable credibility of Bergland in his authority to write an article on neurology, and his problematic use of UC Berkeley news article “New evidence that chronic stress predisposes brain to mental illness,” (Sanders, 2014); this article implies that chronic stress increases the risk of developing mental illness in adults, and bases its claim on study from lab rats, Burnett uses Bergland’s article in a tone implying that chronic stress’s damage to a child’s brain is a fact.

The second source Burnett uses is from Bryner’s article, a study which claims that 61 MRI scans of children, ages 9 to 14, who experienced intense and lasting stress such as “family members falling victim to violent crimes or the chronic illness of a child or other family member,” (Bryner, 2012), showed subtle difference in the amount of brain matter in the child’s prefrontal cortex. Granting that the amount of brain matter affects the level of intelligence, which could also lead readers to conclude that men have higher intelligence compared to women, the sample size is statistically insignificant, and it is questionable as to whether stress caused by standardized testing can be defined as an intense and lasting stress that is comparable to stressful experiences such as death of a family member. Furthermore, Bryner’s article clearly states that the stunted brain development could be temporary, and that researchers did not know if and how stress affected the brain.

Origin and Prevalence In 2015, Lauren Suval wrote an article published in Psych Central, “The Psychological Effects of Too Much Testing,” (Duval, 2015). However, her article focuses solely on psychological damage in children, i.e., the negative affect of testing culture on a student’s emotional well-being.

Burnett controversializes standardized testing’s effect on students by using the expression “frying our children’s brain,” in his article’s title (Burnett, 2016). Burnett, uses articles by Bryner published in Live Science, “Stress Alters kids’ Brains, Study Suggest,” (Bryner 2012), and Bergland’s research, “Chronic Stress Can Damage Brain Structure and Connectivity,” published in Psychology Today, (Bergland, 2014), in arguing that standardized testing causes chronic stress in children, thereby leading to brain damage. While there have been studies linking chronic stress in children to temporary brain alterations, no new studies or articles linking standardized testing to chronic stress, or for that matter brain damage in children have been published.

Issues and Analysis Burnett’s claim is false for the following reasons. First, the sources used in his article do not support his claim substantially. Bergland’s article provides no references that could be used to link standardized testing to brain damage. In addition, Sander’s article is based on a small sample size study, limited in its age group of children aged 9 to 14, the researchers clearly state that they cannot interpret their findings to “if and how stress affected brain,” (Sanders, 2014). Second, there are no studies that support his claim that standardized testing is “frying,” children’s brains. Simply, his arguments are based on studies that have found changes in brains of children who have experienced intense traumatic and stressful events in their lives, and studies based on surveys that have found that standardize testing increases the stress level of children. Third, his claim is a classic example of the fallacy “correlation is not causation". Many variables including standardized testing, could have contributed to a child’s stress level. Since, there are no studies claiming that any amount of stress could lead to brain damage or for that matter brain changes, his proposed claim is flawed. Finally, the research papers and articles researched by this paper in regard to stress’s effect on children’s brain are based on statistically insignificant sample size MRIs of children brains, lab animal testing, observations, and surveys. It could be argued that a study based on statistically significant sample size of autopsy reports of children brain in a longitudinal study would currently be the only way to prove or disprove Burnett’s claim, making his claim a moot point. From an opinionated point of view of this paper, it could be argued that since Burnett is an expert in regard to the field of neurology, the author would not have written his article based on misinterpretations of other researches in neurology. Basically, he could have written his article as a satire, to point out the hypocrisy in banning or limiting activities of children, based on inconclusive studies.

Presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/131g0sftTCHvq9-sQgEia4MQgDajrFTBScgp6Xoo9gsA/edit#slide=id.p

Further Reading

Information that can easily be accessed on the internet offer various articles claiming that stress causes brain damage. However, scholarly articles found use words such as ‘changes,’ ‘alters,’ and ‘different neural pathways,’ in describing stress’s impact on children’s brain. Nevertheless, it seems that there is a general consensus that stress has a negative effect on a child. However, articles that state the exact extent of any physical damage, including brain damage, and psychological effect caused by stress, or for that matter, other variables that could have had an impact in the stress level of the child in question. Nor, could I rule out the possibility that there could be positive effects on a child that could cancel out the negative effects occurred on a child.

(Just a food for thought, there’s a TED video that discusses mirror neurons. It seems we emphasize with other people’s emotion or actions by activating the same neurons used by other people that we witness. When we’re watching football on TV, the same parts of the brain that is activated in player’s brain is also activated in our brains. So, if someone is stressed out, the same parts of the brain that’s activated in the stressed person, will also be activated in our brains. So, in theory, if just one kid is stressed out about something, it could affect everyone in the class.)

Footnotes

Almendrala, Anna. “How Poverty Stunts Kid’s Brain Development.” Huffingtonpost, July 2015. Web. 08 May 2017.

Bergland, Christopher. “Chronic Stress Can Damage Brain Structure and Connectivity.”  PsychologyToday, Feb 2014. Web. 08 May 2017.

Burnett, Dean. “SATs: the dangerous exam that's frying our children's brains.” TheGuardian,       May 2016. Web. 08 May 2017.

Ioannidis JPA “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” PLoS Med 2(8): e124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124

Sanders, Robert. “New evidence that chronic stress predisposes brain to mental illness.” UC        Berkeley Media relations, Feb 2014. Web. 12 May 2017.

Suval, Lauren. “The Psychological Effects of Too Much Testing.” PsychCentral, 2015. Web. 08  May 2017.

Welsh, Jennifer. “Child Abuse Leaves Mark on Brain.” LiveScience. 13 Feb 2012. Web. 12 May  2017.

--- “Stress Alters Kids’ Brains, Study Suggests.” LiveScience. 7 June 2012. Web. 12 May 2017