Right Brain/Left Brain
Jane W. Wall
February 24, 2005
Demographics
Total enrollment: 954
•Male: 530
•Female: 424
•Minority enrollment: 76 (8%)
Left-brained strategies are the ones used most often in the
classroom.
Right-brained students sometimes feel inadequate.
•Experiments show that most children are highly
creative (right brain) before entering school.
•Because our educational system places a higher
value on left brain skills (mathematics, logic, and
language), only ten percent of these same children
will rank highly creative at age 7.
•By the time we are adults, high creativity remains
in only 2 percent of the population.
Left Side :
Right Side:
~Sequential
~Analytical
~Spoken Language
~Mathematical
~Reasoning
~Routine
Operations
It Recognizes:
Letters
Numbers
Words
~Holistic
~Abstract
~Interprets
Language through
Nonverbal
~Patterns
~Spatial Awareness
~David Sousa
It Recognizes:
Faces
Places
Objects
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic uses feeling
detail oriented "big picture" oriented
words and language symbols and images
math and science philosophy & religion
order/pattern perception spatial perception
knows object name knows object function
safe risk taking
Left-Brained Students…
•
Right-Brained Students…
Process from part to whole. (Their
brain takes pieces, lines them up,
and arranges them in a logical
order; then it draws conclusions.)
•
Process from whole to parts.
•
See the big picture first, not the
details.
•
Easily process symbols such as
letters, words, and mathematical
notations.
•
Do not enjoy making lists or
schedules but need to practice.
•
Can easily memorize vocabulary
words or math formulas.
•
Have more difficulty spelling.
•
Need information to be concrete.
Have little trouble expressing
themselves in words.
•
Want to see, feel, or touch the real
object.
Want to know the rules and follow
them.
•
May have trouble finding the right
words.
Will make up rules to follow if
none are given.
•
Are creative
•
•
•
Left-Brained Students…
• Are list makers.
Right-Brained Students…
• Enjoy planning.
• May have difficulty following a
lesson unless they are given
the big picture first.
• Complete tasks in order and
take pleasure in checking them
off when they are
accomplished.
• Need to read an assigned
chapter or have background
information before a lesson
begins.
• Easily learn things in
sequence.
• Need an overview before they
begin a lesson. (Essential ?)
• Are often good spellers.
• May have trouble outlining
(They often write papers first
and outline them later if an
outline is required).
• Enjoy the linear and sequential
process of math.
• Are good at following
directions.
• Need to know why you are
doing something.
Writing
In writing, the left side of the
brain pays attention to
mechanics such as spelling,
agreement, and
punctuation. But the right
side pays attention to
coherence and meaning.
1. In order to be more "whole-brained" in their orientation,
teachers need to give equal weight to the arts, creativity,
and the skills of imagination and synthesis.
2. To foster a more “whole-brained” scholastic experience,
teachers should use instruction techniques that connect
with both sides of the brain.
3. Teachers can increase their classroom's right-brain
learning activities by incorporating more patterning,
metaphors, analogies, role playing, visuals, and
movement into their reading, calculation, and analytical
activities.
Left-Brain
Activities
•
Offer outlines.
•
Discuss vocabulary words.
•
Let students make vocabulary
crossword puzzles.
•
•
Allow students to research topics on
their own.
Discuss abstract ideas.
Right-Brain
•
Draw out or illustrate
a math problem.
•
Make mental videos of stories heard
or read.
•
Color code information or write main
points on the board.
•
“Become” your lesson! Allow
students to act out events in history.
•
•
“Walk” through steps of a sequence
(Become the food moving through the
digestive system.)
•
Encourage students to make posters,
mobiles, dioramas, or papiér-mâché
projects.
•
Move often from one task to another
offering frequent breaks