Right or Left?

For fun I completed the Left-Brain/Right-Brain Test and discovered I have a 50/50 left/right side brain preference.

Well, it turns out this myth is busted making it incorrect to label ourselves as having a strictly right (or left) brain preference. The myth originated in the 1960s with Roger Sperry's Nobel Prize winning discovery. Patients, with epilepsy who had a surgical procedure severing the connection (corpus callosum) between their two brain hemispheres prevented the two sides from communicating with each other. 

The newest study by scientists from Utah University has debunked this myth. They scanned the brains of 1,000 human subjects revealing all subjects used both sides of their brains equally. 

What is true is that we use both sides of our brains and for different thought process'. As an instructor the important lesson here is that the connections, within all areas of our brains, work their wonderful magic giving us all the gift of being be both analytical and creative. 

I can confidently introduce learning activities that stimulate both sides of the brain knowing that it does not have to be subject specific (e.g. art or accounting). Instead, I can take the whole brain approach utilizing both analytical and creative activities based on what works best for the lesson at hand.

Here are two learning activities examples worth considering:

Analytical:

Pro and Con Grid - Ask the learner to create a pro and con list. 

This activity requires thoughtful process of looking at two sides of each issue and to scrutinize the value of both. 

Creative:

Word Journal - Ask the learner to write down one word to describe a small text, and then to write a paragraph or two to explain why that one word summarized the text for them. 

This activity requires focused reading, skill and creativity to summarize information they have read, and builds their skill in explaining and defending.


References:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-myths/201206/why-the-left-brain-right-brain-myth-will-probably-never-die

http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~phils4/splitbrain.pdf

http://www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html

http://testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transfer?req=MnwzMTc4fDQwODg3Mjd8MHwx&refempt=

Pappas, Stephanie. Live Science Contributor (February 18, 2011) 10 Things you Didn't Know about the Brain. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html#sthash.IsM1VAVW.dpuf. PLOS ONE. June 2016

Angelo, T. A., Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques. A handbook for college teachers. (Ed2). Jose-Bass, San Francisco, C.A.