It is said that . The left hemisphereof the brain is more analytical and rational , it is dominant in language processing , logic and maths while the right hemisphere is in charge of spatial abilities, music processing anf face recognition, It heps us to understand visual images and make sense of what we see. However, both brain's hemispheres are interconnected , they give and receive information form the opposite side so both sides work together all the time to produce one consciosusness.
One of the pillars of education since the Industrial revolution has been the importance given to logic reasoning and maths. Intelligence was and it is still defined in terms of verbal and mathematical reasoning. So, we've come to the conclusion that rationalist forms of thinking are superior than creaitivty and emotions.
So what happens in the classroom? Do teachers encourage students to use both sides of the brain equally? Do we give importance in class to music, arts and creative expression? In most of the cases we can say , that the emphasis is put on the left side of the brain and everything connected to words and numbers which is fine, but what about other thinking styles?
Howard Gardner a Harvard psychologyst claims that there are multiple types of intelligences, Linguistic, musical, mathematical,spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal (relationships with others), and intra-personal (knowledge and understanding of the self) intelligence. He claims that these types of intelligence have the same importance though some might be “dominant” while others are “dormant.” He also says that we all have different strengths in different intelligences and that education should treat them equally so that all children receive the same opportunities to develop their unique individual abilities.
The Right Brain teacher.
These are just some ideas to incorporate in the classroom to encourage right brain thinking.
- Mind maps
The right brain teacher encourages activities that promote creativity and the use of visual imagery so instead of giving students long pages of information to memorize they can help them make a mind map to summarize key concepts.
- Projects
Art projects are great fun and really motivating for students. If they are in the English class learning the parts of the house and the furniture, you can give them the task of creating their dream home with different sizes of boxes. Once their home is ready they present it to their teacher and classmates using the linguistic itemes presented and studied in class.
- Group Work
In one of my classes my students prepared a news programme in which they had to prepare the script, think of the name of the programme, arrange the setting and then film it to present it in class. They really enjoyed doing this activity since they were in control of the task and the teacher (me) just helped them with the pronunciation of some words or the grammar.
- Tangrams for fast finishers
Tangrams are puzzles with seven pieces called tans The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline) using all the seven pieces. It is said that this game was invented in China during the Song Dinasty.
They are really useful to teach kids about spatial relationships.
- Mandalas
Mandalas are often kaleidescopic images with a centre rotating inward or outward creating a kind of wholeness, A possible activitiy could be to show students a simple mandala for some seconds and then hide the picture. Students should try to memorise what they've just seen and try to reproduce it. Another possibilty could be to give students copies of mandalas and give them free will to colour their mandalas as they want. Then students show their work to the rest of the class and talk about the colours they used, shapes, etc.
It is a good advice to tell our students that we are all unique and we have strenghths and weaknesses. Tell them that you do not expect them to be perfect in all the activities and that the main role of the projects in class are to help them feel free, use their imagination and creativity in order to make their learning process a meaningful experience.
