This post will look into the left brain learning style as opposed to the right brain learning style. In the last 20 years this learning style has been villianized as the wrong way to teach children. As a person that leans heavily toward this style of learning, I have been trying to educate people about the difference between right-brained and left-brained learners. The rage now is teaching more of the right-brained way even though that does not work for at least half the population. Teaching style fads have been the demise of the American public school system for the last half century. One of these days, someone in a high-ranking position will begin to bring order to the chaos.
What Is Left-Brain Learning?
What exactly constitutes the left-brain style of learning? Left-brain learners are logical, analytical, and objective. Logical means that these children need learning to proceed in steps that build one upon another. They need line upon line and precept upon precept to borrow from an old saying. Analytical means that these children break concepts down into their basic parts. They can manipulate ideas and do not necessarily need concepts to be presented in concrete terms. Objective means that these children thrive with concepts that have one right answer. Therefore, they do well in math and the technical aspects of language because there is only one right answer. They also do well with technical details and complicated rules.
The Bell Curve
Before I move on to more specific information, I want to refresh an idea I presented in my last learning style post. When dealing with the opposing learning styles such as left-brained and right-brained, people will fall along what is called the bell curve. Most of the population will fall in the middle to slightly leaning one way or another. That means that they have an equal or almost equal amount of both types of learning. The ones that lean heavily to very heavily in one style will be on the tail ends of the bell curve. Imagine a giant wave where the tallest aspects of the wave represent most of the population while the shorter and flat ends of the waves represent the extremes. To put this in layman's terms, most of the population can function with either right-brained based or left-brained based learning. Neither style is more important than the other unless you take into consideration whether the material is objective or subjective. That does make a difference.
Objective vs Subjective
As a person that leans heavily left-brained, nothing drives me more insane that when subject matter that is subjective is treated as objective or vice versa. My last class in graduate school did this. It was very subjective material meaning that the right answer very much depended on your point of view. However, it was treated as if it was objective material meaning only one point of view was correct, and it was not my point of view. I finally learned to put the most ridiculous answer of the choices, and it would be right. It can be just as frustrating when objective subject matter is treated like it is subjective. I am sorry but 2+2=4 every time, all the time. I believe some teachers are running into this problem with Common Core.
How Can You Tell if a Child Is Left-Brained Leaning?
The easiest way to tell involves details. Does the child have a knack for details? The answer to that question can be the best clue to whether a child leans left-brain. A right-brained person tends to look at the big picture more than the details. A left-brained person usually looks at the details more than the big picture. When a child can tell you every detail of your normal schedule, that child probably leans left-brain. Another way I tell whether older children or adults are right-brained or left-brained is by listening to them read. Left-brain people read exactly what is on the page. Right-brain people tend to improvise but stay true to the meaning. My mother is right-brain leaning almost as much as I am left-brain leaning. (I take after my father.) Trying to get my mother to attend to all the details necessary in running a childcare nearly drives me to distraction. She does the most necessary things, but I have always prided myself on how I do the details. Try as she might, she just cannot deal with details or detailed systems.
Keep Objective, Objective and Subjective, Subjective
Remember almost half of the population has a leaning whether slight or extreme toward left-brained learning. What does this mean in the early childhood realm? Mostly, this means keep objective material such as math concepts, letter names, etc. away from subjective learning styles such as discovery or random methods. The left-brained leaning children in your midst will be aggravated to no end if you present these objective subject matters in a way other than direct instruction. They want you to tell them what that is called or how that functions. They will need step by step instructions for many skills. If you constantly expect them to learn through discovery, they will be unhappy children. It is also very frustrating for children that have developed analytical skills to have to do hands-on style learning. They already have the concept figured out plus a wide range of variables. They do not want to have to go back to the bare basics. Let me give you a good example. In kindergarten, I became so bored with the instruction that I learned to say the alphabet backwards. I could say the alphabet backwards faster than anyone else in my class could say the alphabet forwards. I needed more advanced instruction.
We Need Both Types
Before I leave this subject I want to touch on educational fads. The methods of instruction that were used 100 years ago actually lent themselves to left-brained leaning learners. The methods of instruction popular today lend themselves more to right-brained leaning learners. Guess what? We need both types of instruction not either/or. Rote memorization actually has a place in education along with discovery type activities. Drill and practice for some subject matters can be highly effective. An effective teacher must present material in as wide a variety of styles as possible in order to hit the individual learning repertoire of a large class of students. Do you know what I wish would happen in education? I wish we would begin to divide students by skill and learning style rather than age. I know in my educational journey that I have always learned more when the teaching style of the instructor and my own personal learning repertoire match. When I have had to be under an instructor that had the opposite of my own personal learning repertoire, those classes were torture. I have also learned more when my peers were closer to my own skill level. When I have had to be in classes where most of my peers were far below my skill level, I learned basically nothing. Instead, I spent my time trying to pull my peers up rather than gaining new skills myself. I am sure that children on the opposite end of the spectrum have the same results I did when a mismatch of learning style and skill level happen. It is hard to learn when the presentation of the material does not make sense. One of these days someone will have the guts to do education this way besides the homeschooling community.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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