Right-brianed vs. Left-brained

[Felicia]

Has anyone heard of this? Does anyone have any resources for learning about this theory more indepth? Also, has anyone applied this teaching technique and how has it helped your child(ren)?

 

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Felicia

[lionfamily1999]

I learned about it in art class. The right brain is more artistic, less analytical. The left brain is more mathmatical.

 

I'll look for resources and be back to post away ;)

 

resource 1:

http://www.funderstanding.com/content/right-brain-vs-left-brain

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

Definition

This theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different “modes” of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other.

Discussion

Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

 

Most individuals have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools tend to favor left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain ones. Left-brain scholastic subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis, and accuracy. Right-brained subjects, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity.

How Right-Brain vs. Left-Brain Thinking Impacts Learning

Curriculum–In order to be more “whole-brained” in their orientation, schools need to give equal weight to the arts, creativity, and the skills of imagination and synthesis.

Instruction–To foster a more whole-brained scholastic experience, teachers should use instruction techniques that connect with both sides of the brain. They 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.

Assessment–For a more accurate whole-brained evaluation of student learning, educators must develop new forms of assessment that honor right-brained talents and skills.

Reading

Bernice McCarthy, The 4-MAT System: Teaching to Learning Styles with Right/Left Mode Techniques.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Edited December 31, 2008 by lionfamily1999

[lionfamily1999]

http://www.funderstanding.com/content/right-brain-vs-left-brain

 

http://www.mathpower.com/brain.htm

 

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html

 

http://brain.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm

 

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3629

 

Some of these have tests and things included, most have in depth descriptions.

[Pongo]

Has anyone heard of this? Does anyone have any resources for learning about this theory more indepth? Also, has anyone applied this teaching technique and how has it helped your child(ren)?

 

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Felicia

 

 

I use the lesson plans posted on Dianne Crafts website for RBL(right brain learners). I have the Brain Integration Therapy manual and we do the exercises. It's been about 5 months and my dd picked up reading and spelling faster in that time than she did the whole year I tried working with her. It seemed like overnight, she stopped sounding out words and is currently reading at a 3rd grade level. I thought she had learning disabilities, but I happened to take Dianne Crafts Seminar on RBL at out home-school conference and realized I had one:D

[Aurelia]

From what I have read, the right brain deals with learning more visually/with movement and the left brain processes things more sequentially/by auditory means. Some children (called "leapers" by the people I have talked to) are right-brained. They tend to be creative/sensitive and just "get" a concept without seeming to go through all the steps and they have a hard time explaining how they got their answer. (This makes it difficult if required to show proofs in geometry, for example. I know; I'm one of these people.) Others, ("mappers") go step by step and can usually walk another person through their thought process. Most traditional curricula are designed for left-brained learners.

 

I actually just finished a book on right-brained learning Unicorns are Real. It's OOP, but if you can check it out at your library, it has some good suggestions. Another resource I like is http://www.visualspatial.org.

[Lori D.]

While some families find their children don't seem to fall into a particular learning style or brain dominance, I can say that both our children (as well as DH and myself) do. Our younger son is mildly dyslexic; an "out of the box" thinker; highly visual and 3D in his thinking; great intuitive and big picture thinker; and a great puzzle solver. On the other hand, he was delayed in learning to read; and continues to struggle with abstract math concepts, spelling, and writing (although he has begun to make some strides in the past 2-3 years). He is just about to turn 15yo.

 

As a result, learning to understand how he intakes information and processes it has been very important for me to find curriculae and ways of teaching that will connect for him. As he has grown older, he is maturing not only physically but also mentally, and how material is presented to him is starting to become less of an issue -- it was absolutely *critical* all through the elementary and middle school grades.

 

Below is information and resources I've collected over my years of research and experience; if you have any specific concerns or questions, please ask! I'd love to help in any way. Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

LEARNING STYLE = how a person most easily/naturally/usually TAKES IN information; typically described as 3 types:

- kinesthetic = through touching/manipulating and hands-on

- auditory = through hearing it

- visual = through seeing it

 

 

Brain Dominance = how a person PROCESSES that information in the brain.

- LEFT hemisphere dominance = abstract, sequential, understands the individual parts which leads to adding up to "the big picture"

- RIGHT hemisphere dominance = concrete, random, intuitively sees the big picture first and then begins to understand the parts that add up to it

 

 

LEARNING STYLES CHECKLIST

 

KINESTHETIC (Do-ers/Touchers)

 

Kinesthetic Traits:

- favors sports and building

- high energy

- loves to touch

- uses body when antsy

- in constant motion

- dislikes sitting long

- uses fingers to count

- usually has rumpled clothes

- has difficulty following oral directions

 

Kinesthetic Helps:

- math manipulatives

- manipulatives

- allow touching

- take many breaks

- use hands-on activities

- divide chores up

- allow building/construction

 

AUDITORY (Talkers/Listeners)

 

Auditory Traits:

- remembers commercials

- uses rhyming to remember

- talks aloud doing math

- a better listener than reader

- reads aloud

- has difficulty reading maps

- very verbal

- likes to talk to people

 

Auditory Helps:

- make audiotapes (esp. for spelling)

- set learning to music

- talk them through writing a paper

- read aloud

- study groups

- have a quiet place for study/learning

- watch videos (for audio narration)

 

VISUAL (Watchers)

 

Visual Traits:

- assemble by pictures

- close eyes to memorize

- observant

- good with puzzles

- vivid imagination

- looks neat

- better reader than listener

- rarely volunteers answers

- takes many notes

- watches/learns from TV

 

Visual Helps:

- illustrate everything

- make a mind-map (visual plan) for writing

- use post-it notes to organize

- highlight different topics in different colors

- write down chores

- use transparency sheets to reduce glare

 

"Hook" your child's interest with their learning style strength, then present the material in all the learning styles to strengthen their weak areas and really embed the information in their brain in multiple ways, using a variety of learning styles.

 

 

 

BRAIN DOMINANCE CHECKLIST

 

LEFT BRAIN

 

Left Brain Uses or is Strong with:

- analytical

- dates

- numbers

- taxon memory

- lists

- names

- math facts

- short term memory stored here

 

Left Brain Takes In Information By:

- Words

- the Familiar

- Sequential

- Listens

- is a Joiner

- Step-by-Step

- Routine

- Organized

- Linear Thinking

- Writing/Talking

- Detailed

- Focused

 

RIGHT BRAIN

 

Right Brain Uses or is Strong with:

- spatial

- color

- music

- creativity

- design

- feelings

- storytelling

- hands-on

- long-term memory stored here

 

Right Brain Takes In Information By:

- pictures

- the new

- is random

- particpates

- is independant

- demonstrations

- is impulsive

- creative

- 3-D thinking

- drawing

- oblivious to detail

- highly distractable

 

 

WEBSITES:

 

- Dyslexia: The Gift -- Strategies for the Visual Spatial Learner

http://www.dyslexia.com/library/silver1.htm

 

- Hoagie's Gifted Education Page

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/visual-spatial.htm

 

- Article and Checklist to Identify Learning Type by Leslie Sword

http://www.nswagtc.org.au/ozgifted/conferences/SwordVisualSpatial.html

 

- Gifted Development Center: Visual Spatial Learners

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm

 

- Auditory Learning (list of how they learn best)

http://www.cuyamaca.net/eops/DSPS/resourcesaud.asp

 

- Auditory Learners (checklist for identifying auditory learners)

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~cwong/auditory_learners.htm

 

- Study Skills (techniques to help all learning styles)

http://www.adline.co.uk/samples/study/start.html

 

 

BOOKS

 

- How They Learn; and, Every Child Can Succeed (Cynthia Tobias)

First book is an overview to learning types.

Second book gives learning environment strategies, esp. for jr./sr. high ages.

 

- How to Get Your Child Off The Refrigerator and onto Learning (Carol Barnier)

Specific learning strategies for very active, kinetic, or challenged learning styles.

 

- "100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing The Right Curriculum And Approach For Your Child's Learning Style" (Cathy Duffy)

Specific program recommendations for specific learning types.

 

- "Upside Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Child" (Linda Silverman)

Detailed overview of visual-spatial and auditory-sequential brains

for intaking/processing information.

 

- Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World (Jeffrey Freed)

Specific learning strategies for jr./sr. high ages.

 

- Unicorns Are Real: A Right Brained Approach to Learning (Barbara Meister Vitale)

Has specific diagnostic tests and learning strategies for elementary ages.

 

- Gift of Dyslexia; and, Gift of Learning (Ronald Davis)

Both books are geared for dealing with specific, more extreme issues such as dyslexia, disgraphia, discalculia, ADD, etc. But some of the ideas can be helpful for any child.

 

- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Daniel Amen)

Specific diet, food allergies, prescribed drugs, and mental exercises/strategies for managing/minimizing AD(H)D; anxiety; depression; OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder); and anger. AD(H)D children are especially believed to be "right" brained or Visual Spatial Learners (VSL)

[Felicia]

Thank you all so much for this information. I see I have a lot to learn. My son is 10 going to be 11 in Feb. and from everything I have learned thus far he is most probably a right-brained learner.

 

I am pretty sure I am left-brained, so this question might be stupid or insensitive to him, but is there any particular curricula that any of you like to use to help your right-brained child?

 

Or should I get off the curriculums all together and if so, how do I teach then?

 

I really just love him terribly and don't want him to ever think he isn't smart. Which at times he compares himself with some of his friends and he feels dumber than they. I think he has an amazing mind when I sit and watch or listen. I used to think he was dyslexic but I don't anymore. He is fine with writing letters the right way and actually has beautiful handwriting, although he takes forever because it is more of an art with him. He wants it to be beautiful. :)

 

I appreciate your patience with me on this. This is just something I never even heard of until recently.

 

Many thanks again.

Felicia

[lionfamily1999]

Thank you all so much for this information. I see I have a lot to learn. My son is 10 going to be 11 in Feb. and from everything I have learned thus far he is most probably a right-brained learner.

 

I am pretty sure I am left-brained, so this question might be stupid or insensitive to him, but is there any particular curricula that any of you like to use to help your right-brained child?

 

Or should I get off the curriculums all together and if so, how do I teach then?

 

I really just love him terribly and don't want him to ever think he isn't smart. Which at times he compares himself with some of his friends and he feels dumber than they. I think he has an amazing mind when I sit and watch or listen. I used to think he was dyslexic but I don't anymore. He is fine with writing letters the right way and actually has beautiful handwriting, although he takes forever because it is more of an art with him. He wants it to be beautiful. :)

 

I appreciate your patience with me on this. This is just something I never even heard of until recently.

 

Many thanks again.

Felicia

Compare Tessla to Edison. Tessla was BRILLIANT, so was Edison. They were the complete opposite of eachother.

[Aurelia]

Thank you all so much for this information. I see I have a lot to learn. My son is 10 going to be 11 in Feb. and from everything I have learned thus far he is most probably a right-brained learner.

 

I am pretty sure I am left-brained, so this question might be stupid or insensitive to him, but is there any particular curricula that any of you like to use to help your right-brained child?

 

Or should I get off the curriculums all together and if so, how do I teach then?

 

 

Felicia

 

 

He may be too old for this, but DD LOVES Right Start math. Math-U-See might also be good since there are the blocks. Also she learns well with online programs (we use/d Time4Learning, Reading Eggs, Starfall, etc.). Something like that (Teaching Textbooks, Chalkdust, etc) might be good for him. DD basically likes anything she can interact with. If I can make it different colors, that's even better. We have put her spelling/reading words in different colors (like when studying the "ee" sound I put all the letters that made that sound in green and wrote the other letters in pink. Now if she gets stuck, I can ask "What do the green letters say?" or "This was one of the green sounds" and she can recall it much faster than she was doing.

[Lori D.]

My son is 10 going to be 11 in Feb. and from everything I have learned thus far he is most probably a right-brained learner.

 

 

The really nice thing is that along about age 12-14, many VSL (right brain) children begin to also develop other brain areas as well and so areas that were a horrible struggle early on become much less so. And because they are developing other brain areas, it often becomes less critical which program you use. So you are very likely right on the cusp of seeing things get better/easier for him in areas of struggle over the next few years. :001_smile:

 

 

 

I am pretty sure I am left-brained, so this question might be stupid or insensitive to him, but is there any particular curricula that any of you like to use to help your right-brained child? ... Or should I get off the curriculums all together and if so, how do I teach then?

 

 

Well, just my opinion, but I would first look at what you are already using and determine how it is working for him (student) *and* you (teacher). If something is working, then I would stick with it -- there is always a learning curve for both student and teacher whenever switching programs.

 

Are there specific areas you feel he is struggling in? And if so, do you think it is because of the particular program or way it is presented? Or is it because you son is just not ready for those particular concepts?

 

I've found that it's best in our family for me to strike a balance in selecting curriculum. Especially in areas our son struggles in, I look for material that he will most readily connect with; as he begins to grasp those concepts, I reinforce with material that may not be quite so VSL-oriented, because I want to help him develop the ability to use other areas of brain as well -- and because as an adult the world will not cater to his needs, I want him to be able to struggle (and sometimes fail) here at home with us where it is safe to do so, and we can encourage and cheerlead him on to try again.

 

In areas that are not a problem for him (for us that would be things like literature, science, history, geography, etc.), I look for material that will appeal to both of us.

 

In an area that I don't have the expertise in (for example, if he had a speech, vision, or hearing disorder), OR, if I can't find a program that connects for him or is one I can teach, then I consider outsourcing -- a tutor, a specialist, a co-op class, a single public/private school class, online class, etc.

 

 

 

 

I really just love him terribly and don't want him to ever think he isn't smart. Which at times he compares himself with some of his friends and he feels dumber than they.

 

My feelings exactly about our VSL son! :001_smile: Starting about age 9-10, when he was realizing he struggled and other kids didn't, we did some testing to help pinpoint the specific areas and to help me figure out how to best help him. And we talked to him about everyone's brain being wired differently, so everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. We acknowledge with him that, yes, these areas harder for you and so you're going to have to work harder than many of your friends to succeed in them. But we also remind him that he has the bonuses of getting to school at home so we can tackle those areas in the ways that will best connect for him, AND he has us here encouraging him and cheering him on. And, we also help him look at how the VSL aspect is a real gift in many ways that others *don't* have -- creative, artistic, puzzle solving, etc. etc.

 

 

Blessings on you and your family Felicia in your homeschooling journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[yslek]

I have this book on hold at my library:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Child-Thinking-Style-Preferences/dp/0399532463/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230748324&sr=1-2

 

I haven't read it yet, but I've read this one by the same author:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Organizing-Your-Brain-Type-Solution/dp/0312339771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230748324&sr=1-1

 

She explains that the cerebral cortex is divided into four roughly-equal parts by fissures, and that each of us prefers to funtion out of one of those quadrants. Apparently I prefer the right-front quadrant (according to the author I'm an "innovator") while MIL prefers the right-back quadrant ("harmonizer").

 

We have one of Dr. Amen's books--dh has read some of it & told me about it mostly; really interesting stuff. We've started using some of his recommended supplements & they do seem to help. :)

[Felicia]

Thank you all again for your suggestions. I have many books and much reading to do I see. :) Lori, thank you for your encouragement and sound advice to look at what I am doing. It is nice to know that we are not the only ones going through this and that I am not a complete failure as a teacher for my son.

 

I am excited about the next part of this school year and after talking with him, he now is too.

 

Thank you again, everyone

Felicia