The Left-Brain Student

Left-brain students prefer to work alone. They like to read independently and incorporate research into their papers. They favor a quiet classroom without distraction.

Let's say, for example, that we are introducing a unit on the solar system. Here are some left-brain teaching techniques that will help Krish and others to moderate left-brain students feel engaged during lesson:
· Write an outline of the lesson on the board. Students with left-brain strengths appreciate sequence.
· Go ahead and lecture! These students love to listen to an expert and take notes.
· Discuss vocabulary words. Students like Dorothy have a large vocabulary and are interested in words. Make a crossword puzzle on the Solar System.
· Discuss the big concepts involved in the creation of the universe, how the solar system was formed, and so on. Left-brain students love to think about and discuss abstract concepts.
· Assign individual assignments so students may work alone.
· Ask the students to write a research paper on the solar system that includes both detail and conceptual analysis.
· Keep the room relatively quiet and orderly. Many students with left-brain strengths prefer not to hear other conversations when working on a stimulating project.

The Right-Brain Learning

In this form of learning, teachers generally prefer to use hands-on activities over a lecture format. In concert with the right-brain preference of seeing the whole picture, these teachers incorporate more art, manipulatives, visuals, and music into their lessons. They tend to embrace multiple intelligences. They like to assign more group projects and activities, and prefer a busy, active, noisy classroom environment.
Right-brain students like most kids prefer to work in groups. They like to do art projects, industrial arts electives in middle school, and graphic design. They would prefer to design and make a space shuttle rather than write "another tedious term paper."

Taking the solar system example, and other students with moderate to strong right-brain and Left Brain strengths, get the most out of your lesson:
· Main points are discussed with charts and presentations during lecturing
· Audio Visual aids to help them understand better. Since the students tend to miss the points discussed verbally, the visual pointers will help the students "see" and comprehend the points.
· Having group activities during the week of the solar system study. Students enjoy the company of others.
· Students create a project (such as a poster, a mobile, a diorama, or paper mache planets of the solar system) in lieu of writing a paper.
· Play music or pretending to be an astronaut gives them a clearer look at the subject details as they learn with emotion, feelings and kinesthetic way.
· Bring in charts and maps of the universe and let the students find the Milky Way. Maps and graphs make use of the students' strong right-brain visual-spatial skills.

Whole-Brain Learning

It is fascinating to watch students gravitate towards their neurological strengths when given a choice of assignments. Those with moderate to strong right-brain strengths will choose to draw, act, or create. Those with the left-brain preference will write or speak.

Research and experience have confirmed that children are born with incredible abilities including speed-reading, photo-reading, computer-like calculation, high-speed memorization, image visualization, multiple language learning capabilities etc. The left-brain is continuously dumping old information to make rooms for new data, but the right-brain memory is never deleted. The right brain teaching does not attempt to present principles underlying knowledge. Instead, it provides the child with large volumes of raw data. This stresses on Whole-Brain learning with balance between the two hemispheres of the brain

A child's ability to learn can increase or decrease by 50 percent or more, depending on whether he or she grows up in a stimulating environment.
By better understanding our own neurological strengths and weaknesses, we can adapt our lessons to reach all of our students.