The left brain's impact on learning

Brain

The left and right brain

The left brain vs. The right brain: How does this impact learning

The left brain vs. The right brain: How does this impact learning

People often categorize themselves or others as left brained or right brained. This is based on the functions of brain. It is said that the people using right brain more emotions oriented, intuitive, creative, imaginative and subjective. On the other hand, the left brain capabilities are logic, critical thinking, thinking in term of numbers and not images and, reasoning. The functioning of the brain is found to be involved in different activities. It was found during experiments that different parts of brain, left or right are active during different activities (Nielsen, Zielinski, Ferguson, Lainhart, Anderson, 2013). The psychologists and educationists are interested to find how the working of the brain can be used to help the process of learning.

Contradictory findings

While some researches claim that some brain parts are responsible for different unique activities like imagination and creativity is attributed to right brain while logic is linked to left brain (Nielsen, Zielinski, Ferguson, Lainhart, Anderson, 2013) there are also scientists and psychologists that say that the segregation of tasks between left and right brain is mythical (Reilley, 2013). The assumptions that lay that a person is either left brained or right brained does not establish that such a person uses only one part of brain but it is to say that he is more oriented to a specific set of activities than others. Understanding his orientation will help him use different methodologies to get his work done effectively and efficiently.

Brain Functioning and Learning

The functions of brain are complex and a complete map of brain is still far from being totally developed. However, many networks and functions of brain have been established with time. The brain working differs among people. Thus, the educationists think that the people that are more into images i.e. right brained, have difficulty understanding numbers. These people in their childhood need to be identified as right brained and the parents and teachers can make efforts to help such children think in terms of images. Thus in place of showing two as a digit, a child can be shown two sheep to help him learn counting. In the same way, the child who is left brained will take it longer to manipulate the image and will learn faster in numbers. Thus it is not matter of child sharpness alone but the working of brain part matters too. A left brained child might be equally capable as a right brained child is but the teachers may be using a technique that simply does not match his brain working and thus the child may lag behind in the process of learning.

Resistance in Learning

Two methods of learning can be effective that is both can offer same results at the end of the process. However, one of these methods can be more efficient than the other that means that one of the methods can offer same results in lesser time. On the other hand it is also possible that one method works better for one child and the other is better for the rest. The advantage of using the right method is that it avoids time and energy spent in resisting the learning. For example, the aim of learning is to help a child memorize a chapter. The left brained child might learn it quickly if he is explained the working of the chapter, its importance and weightage in the exam. On the other hand, this may not work with the right brained child. He might resist learning the chapter simply because it is boring. On the other hand, the same right brained child will work much better if he is asked to add a few headings in the chapter and offer implications of the learning outcomes too. Now, since imagination and creativity is involved, the child's talent is in harmony with the learning outcomes thus he would do extra work to achieve the learning outcomes. Thus, it can help to modify the learning methodologies according to the capabilities of a child.

Reasoning vs. Imagination

While a dream weaver is not very ideal when it comes to lying down and achieving objective plans, this is quite a quality when the job is to find implications of a study. While it is a fact that without rational thinking the educational would be only blind following, it is also vital to add features that are based solely on creativity. Thus, the left and right brain functions are equally important in the educational system and none of these should be ignored if true learning objectives are to be achieved.

Matching Skills

An article in Huffington Post suggests that the working of brain is either connected to right or left portion of the brain but this does not mean that a person cannot use the other portion (Right Brain, Left Brain? Scientists Debunk Popular Theory, 2013). Thus, people can be imaginative and logical at the same time but their skills are more oriented to one side often than the other. It is not to say that a left brained person will always be a scientist and cannot be a painter and a right brain user cannot be a physician. The use of brain helps affect the learning process but it does not confine the capabilities of a person. People can also have moods where one mood is more imaginative and the other is rational. While the fact remains true, the brain working can be used in designing how a child will be taught. To avoid limiting all the options to the working or single brain part, a teacher may like to involve all the parts of brain thus not making the child rely only on memorization, only logic, only imagination or only emotions.