Early in my career, I was at a seminar and a woman shared how when she added physical activity to her curriculum her students did better. For example she would have them dance the alphabet or clap out the spelling. This was due to the right brain versus left brain dominance for the dominant race and culture of her students. This launched my curiosity into the brain and its impact on learning.

Let’s explore further. In general, how does right brain, left brain research factor into education?

I found an article by Dianne Connell for Scholastic Inc, (2015) (a popular education publisher), titled, Left Brain versus Right Brain in the Classroom, that discussed the characteristic of the right brain teacher, the right brain student, the left brain teacher and the left brain student. A quiz is offered to determine your cognitive style (as a teacher).

Here are the differences between right brain and left brain.

“Preferences of the Two Sides of the Brain

Description of the Left-Hemisphere Functions

Constantly monitors our sequential, ongoing behavior

Responsible for awareness of time, sequence, details, and order

Responsible for auditory receptive and verbal expressive strengths

Specializes in words, logic, analytical thinking, reading, and writing

Responsible for boundaries and knowing right from wrong

Knows and respects rules and deadlines

Description of the Right-Hemisphere Functions

Alerts us to novelty; tells us when someone is lying or making a joke

Specializes in understanding the whole picture

Specializes in music, art, visual-spatial and/or visual-motor activities

Helps us form mental images when we read and/or converse

Responsible for intuitive and emotional responses.

Helps us to form and maintain relationships” (Connell, 2015)

Connell further identifies the characteristics of the left brain teacher, left brain student, right brain teacher and left brain student.

“The Left-Brain Teacher

Teachers with left-brain strengths generally prefer to teach using lecture and discussion. To incorporate sequence, they put outlines on the board or overhead, and they like to adhere to prepared time schedules. They give problems to the students to solve independently. Teachers with left-brain preferences assign more research and writing than their right-brain peers. A reasonably quiet, structured classroom is preferred. The classroom tends to be clean, with items in their place.

“The Left-Brain Student

Left-brain students prefer to work alone. They like to read independently and incorporate research into their papers. They favor a quiet classroom without a lot of distraction.

The Right-Brain Teacher

Teachers with right-brain strengths generally prefer to use hands-on activities over a lecture format. In concert with the right-brain preference of seeing the whole picture, these teachers incorporate more art, manipulatives, visuals, and music into their lessons. They tend to embrace Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences. They like to assign more group projects and activities, and prefer a busy, active, noisy classroom environment. The classroom of a strong right-brain teacher will typically have materials and books scattered all over.

The Right-Brain Student

Right-brain students prefer to work in groups. They like to do art projects, industrial arts electives in middle school, and graphic design. They would prefer to design and make a mobile rather than write "another tedious term paper."” (Connell, 2015)

Here is a quiz to determine cognitive style. (Take the quiz and discuss your cognitive style.)

Cognitive-Style Quiz

Choose the one sentence that is more true. Do not leave any blanks.

1.

A ) It's fun to take risks.

B ) I have fun without taking risks.

2.

A ) I look for new ways to do old jobs.

B ) When one way works well, I don't change it.

3.

A ) I begin many jobs that I never finish.

B ) I finish a job before starting a new one.

4.

A ) I'm not very imaginative in my work.

B ) I use my imagination in everything I do.

5.

A ) I can analyze what is going to happen next.

B ) I can sense what is going to happen next.

6.

A ) I try to find the one best way to solve a problem.

B ) I try to find different answers to problems.

7.

A ) My thinking is like pictures going through my head.

B ) My thinking is like words going through my head.

8.

A ) I agree with new ideas before other people do.

B ) I question new ideas more than other people do.

9.

A ) Other people don't understand how I organize things.

B ) Other people think I organize well.

10.

A ) I have good self-discipline.

B ) I usually act on my feelings.

11.

A ) I plan time for doing my work.

B ) I don't think about the time when I work.

12.

A ) With a hard decision, I choose what I know is right.

B ) With a hard decision, I choose what I feel is right.

13.

A ) I do easy things first and important things later.

B ) I do the important things first and the easy things later.

14.

A ) Sometimes in a new situation, I have too many ideas.

B ) Sometimes in a new situation, I don't have any ideas.

15.

A ) I have to have a lot of change and variety in my life.

B ) I have to have an orderly and well-planned life.

16.

A ) I know I'm right, because I have good reasons.

B ) I know I'm right, even without good reasons.

17.

A ) I spread my work evenly over the time I have.

B ) I prefer to do my work at the last minute.

18.

A ) I keep everything in a particular place.

B ) Where I keep things depends on what I'm doing.

19.

A ) I have to make my own plans.

B ) I can follow anyone's plans.

20.

A ) I am a very flexible and unpredictable person.

B ) I am a consistent and stable person.

21.

A ) With a new task, I want to find my own way of doing it.

B ) With a new task, I want to be told the best way to it.

To Score

1. Give yourself one point for each time you answered "A" for questions: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21.

2. Give yourself one point for each time you answered "B" for questions: 4 ,5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18.

3. Add all points. Totals imply:

0-4: strong left brain

5-8: moderate left brain

9-13: middle brain

14-16: moderate right brain

17-21: strong right brain

The Alert Scale of Cognitive Style, by Dr. Loren D. Crane, Western Michigan University, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

I have always been told in numerous faculty development meetings the importance of not dominating instruction with our own learning styles so as to accommodate different learning styles. “The good news is that we can all strengthen the weaker parts of our brains. Researchers tell us that our brains are always searching for new meanings and adding new neural circuits to make connections.” (Connell, 2015)

Unfortunately,” Even though about half of students are right-brain learners, schools generally teach children using left-brain methods: auditory, black and white distinctions, and repetition. Lectures fall into this category.” (Enomoto, 2011).

Being that there are different skill levels possible depending on brain dominance, our instruction should offer various avenues for the obtainment of knowledge and assessment to accommodate student variety. The epistemology meanings should vary in a transformative manner for an optimal learning environment for all involved.

Based on these various factors the types of activities and the manner they are delivered and completed should be varied therefore offering optimal learning opportunities for those of each dominance or a combination there of.

References

Connell, D., (2015). Left Brain versus Right Brain in the Classroom, Scholastic, Inc.. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/left-brainright-brain (Connell, 2015)

Enomoto, L. (2011), Improving Academic Success With Right-Brain Learning Methods. CRC Health. Retrieved from http://www.crchealth.com/youth-programs/improving-academic-success-right-brain-learning-methods/

Image: http://www.i-choose-self-improvement.com/left-brain-right-brain.html