This post will look at the right brain learning style as opposed to the left brain learning style. I will also discuss how to help right-brain leaning people learn objective subjects. Right brain people are big picture people. They tend to be creative and deal well with subjective material over objective material. In college, these will be the people that thrive in discussion type classes over technical classes. In young children, right-brain leaning will present itself in the dramatic play area. These will be the children that create whole universes. They will thrive at discovery type activities.
Right-Brain Learners
Today's teaching trends are nearly custom made for the right brain learner. Discovery type activities and hands-on learning usually set very well with right-brain leaning people. They also tend to do well in group activities and active learning settings. They absorb information more as a whole than a sum of its parts. Whereas left-brain leaning people need information presented line upon line, right-brain leaning people like to have the whole concept presented. Right-brain leaning people are not necessarily good with details but they understand the main concept. As I said in my post on left brain learning, I can usually spot an adult that is right-brain leaning when they read out loud. They do not change the meaning of the story, but they may not read exactly what is on the page.
The Split
Most people have close to a half/half split between right brain and left brain. They may have one slightly more dominant than the other, but they still have the other side dominant enough that they can hang with activities designed for the less dominant area. Having one side increasingly more dominant becomes less prominent in the population. Therefore, 50% of the population will have a very close split between right and left brain. Another 25% will have a more prominent split but will still be able to deal with activities that are designed for their less dominant side. They will just not like them. The remaining 25% will be so dominantly one-sided that they will struggle with activities designed for their less dominant side. The more prominent the dominance, the more they will struggle.
Is Dominance Unchangeable?
This brings me to the question. Is your dominance built-in for a lifetime or can you develop your less dominant side? Thankfully, you can develop your less dominant side with time and practice. When I was young, I was very left-brain dominant. Then I married a man that was very evenly split. He was left-brained enough to understand what I was saying, but right-brained enough to show me the other side. Over time, he has truly helped me to even out some. When I was younger, I was probably 80% left-brain and 20% right brain. Now I am 60% left brain and 40% right brain. However, let me tell you the tale of the couple (my parents) that had one as dominantly right-brained as the other was left-brained. Even though they were married for over 50 years, they did not ever even each other out. It takes the one in the middle to help the very dominant to develop the less dominant side. Therefore, if you, the teacher, are fairly evenly split, you will have greater success in helping a student develop the less dominant side of their brain than a teacher that is highly dominant on one side.
I bring up the subject of developing the less dominant side of the brain because many skills necessary for life are objective. People that have a large right-brained dominance will struggle with these objective subjects. Unfortunately, reading and math, two of the most-basic subjects everyone is expected to learn, are very objective. How can you, the teacher, help children that have a heavy right-brain dominance to conquer these objective subject matters. Many people do not understand that the reason they struggled in school with reading and math had to do with their brain dominance. They simply needed someone with an even split to help them understand the other side. However, in order for a teacher to accomplish this, they must understand how the two sides function and what skills the right-brained person needs to practice.
My Right-Brain Child
I learned this lesson as a homeschooling mom. God saw fit to give this very left-brain leaning mother a very right-brain leaning oldest child. Basically, God gave me a miniature version of my mother. My mother never had to even worry about helping me with school because school at that time was custom made for the left-brain child. She did try to explain one concept to me in the fourth grade and had me so confused I was doing it backward. Then I found examples in my textbook and figured it out on my own. I do not think I ever asked Mom for help again. Teaching my oldest child to read and do math had to be the most challenging thing I have ever attempted. Thankfully, by the time I homeschooled, my husband had already tempered my severe dominance to some degree. However, I had to really ponder different ways to present material in order to help my daughter make sense of especially math. God in His mercy lead me to a curriculum that presented material in many different ways, and I learned how to teach the right-brain child. In the process, I was also able to temper her severe dominance because I made her do activities that developed the left-brain after she had acquired basic comprehension in a subject. There is the key. A child has to have basic comprehension of an area before you can begin to expand his/her thinking into the less dominant side. Therefore, a right-brain child will more than likely have to have objective subjects presented in concrete ways in order for those subjects to make sense. They will also require drill and practice even though they will hate it with a passion. Items such as math facts that have to be learned outright must be drilled until they become second nature to the right brain child. I have found the same to be true with very right-brain dominant preschool children and learning the names of colors and shapes. It takes almost three times as long for these children to learn such items, but when it passes into their second nature, they know it well. The key is finding ways to drill and practice in sneaky ways. In my preschool, I drill and practice in sneaky ways all day long. Sometimes, my left-brain dominant children will help me out and drill their peers during free-play time because they pick up on my methods. However, I also outright drill and practice during the one-on-one instruction for each child. How I approach that drill and practice is tempered for each child. For the very right-brain leaning, I will keep the drill and practice very straightforward and simple because I know they struggle. When they conquer a subject, I will begin to work them on variations in order to build their less dominant side. I do the same for left-brain leaning children in developing their right brain. As preschool teachers we have the unique opportunity to help very one-side dominant children to develop their less dominant side at a time when their brain is most pliable. Believe me, we do them huge favors when we do this.
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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