PATH variable not updating in Spyder - linux

Question

first, I'll describe the problem. then I'll describe what I've tried. note that I am a novice in working with environment variables.
the problem:
In Spyder, I get a "module not found error" from certain libraries I've installed via pip, including tables and tensorflow. However, in Visual Studios these modules are successfully imported.
what I've tried
inspecting the directories the VS environment looks in, then adding these to $PATH in Spyder via the PYTHONPATH manager. To determine the directories VS looks in, I typed "echo $PATH" in the VS terminal emulator. I got a list of paths (see below). I then went to Spyder and added each of these paths via the PYTHONPATH manager.
found the locations of "tensorflow" by searching for "tensorflow" in Finder. I then went to Spyder and added each of these paths in PYTHONPATH manager.
outcome: PYTHONPATH and PATH do not change
In the terminal emulator in Spyder, I check to see if PYTHONPATH and PATH are updated but they are not.
in the python terminal emulator, this is the output:
!echo $PYTHONPATH
/Applications/Spyder.app/Contents/Resources
!echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
For reference, in the VS terminal emulator the PATH and PYTHONPATH variables are as follows:
(base) rahel-gerson:~ rahelmizrahi$ echo $PYTHONPATH
(base) rahel-gerson:~ rahelmizrahi$ echo $PATH
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin:/Users/rahelmizrahi/opt/anaconda3/bin:/Users/rahelmizrahi/opt/anaconda3/condabin:/Users/anaconda3/bin:/anaconda3/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/share/dotnet:~/.dotnet/tools:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands
parsed version:
note that I couldn't find some of these paths, like "/anaconda3/bin:". Perhaps I parsed the list incorrectly? (I thought that after a colon is a new path)
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/bin:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin:
/Users/rahelmizrahi/opt/anaconda3/bin:/Users/rahelmizrahi/opt/anaconda3/condabin:
/Users/anaconda3/bin:
/anaconda3/bin:
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:
/bin:
/usr/sbin:
/sbin:
/usr/local/share/dotnet:~/.dotnet/tools:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:
/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands