In our study this week of the brain, I
read with great interest in our text regarding the left brain and the right
brain. I have always been intrigued by
that concept and because of my affection for the study of math and science I
automatically assumed that I was left brained because I like to learn in a
logical step by step process, as opposed to a right brained individual who is
more dominant in visual and spatial processing (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, n.d.,
p. 34-35). As I read a little
further in our text that there was no such thing as teaching to the left brain
or the right brain (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, n.d., p. 46), it got me
thinking more about the differences between the right and left brain. A great article on the left brain versus the
right brain in the classroom was found on the scholastic website, www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/left-brainright-brain
. It is a great site with a 21 question
quiz that you can take to see where you fall in the spectrum of either right
brained, left brained or middle brained.
Also listed on the page, were characteristics of the teacher and the
student that fell into each category either right or left. For those that fell into the middle-brained category,
characteristics include being more flexible, but vacillation between the two
brain hemispheres when making decisions. For those in the middle brain, tasks can be completed
using both the right brain and left brain.
Another site at http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivespsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm
calls the theory of left brained or right brained learning more a myth, and
that both sides of the brain work together, and one have a stronger right sided
or left sided brain network.
Other sites concerning left brained or
right brained learning include, www.mathpower.com/brain.htm,
which provides a list of successive hemispheric style and simultaneous hemispheric
style, www.singsurf.org/brain/rightbrain.php.
gives a great exposition on the brain, the quadrants and the function of each
quadrant, and spdsupport.org/articles/19-learning-styles-both-hemispheres.shtml
which toward the end of the article lists some well-known individuals who were
misunderstood as children but went on to do amazing things. If you want to see what category many of them
fell into, you will need to check out the article.
After reading and researching the above
sites and our class material this week, I am not convinced that people can be
categorized as being left brained or right brained. I think we all have preferences in how we
learn, and what characteristics come a little more naturally, but to say that
someone is right brained because they are artistic and someone is left brained
because they are good at logic or systematic problems, tends to lead people to
think that they think better with that side of the brain, when in actuality,
the quadrants of the brain work together simultaneously to learn, process
information and solve problems.
References
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