Left brain vs. Right Brain: How does it impact learning? Arthur Weaver College 100 American Public University Karen Dolnick The brain is an incredibly complex organ with differentiated parts that work in mysterious ways. It’s also a self-organized structure that is highly connected. According to Eric Jensen, author of The New Paradigm of Teaching, “Much of the original work of Nobel Laureate Roger Spietry, who discovered the functioning differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, remains valid today.But the spin put on his research also remains today (Eric J. 2008).

” Today research still goes on trying to achieve more knowledge about the brain. Ask yourself, how does the left and right brain impacts learning. In this paper I’ll be sharing with you the fact from research and how it impacts our learning. Research identifies the left-brain as the “academic brain,” because educators generally emphasize its processes in the traditional everyday classroom, resulting in certain groups using hemisphere specialization to explain limitations of traditional learning.

Although the left brain may be more dominant for calculation, math and logical abilities, it has no biological mandate for language, but it does contain soft biases in information processing that are preferential to language skills. The right brain is the side that is most known for it’s intuitive, holistic, and synthesizing. The right hemisphere is intuitive and responds to demonstrated instructions. It also problem solves with hunches and looks for patterns and configurations.

The right brain play’s a critical role in how we deal with certain situations. It receives input associated with emotion, movement and other non-cognitive functions. It also governs intuition, imagination and perceives the big picture. Because of that, it has been elevated to the pedestal in recent years as the “creative brain. ” The truth is that neither left brain nor right brain can work very well by itself.

How does the left brain and right brain impacts learning? As you know, both side are very important, and each side play critical roles.According to Eric Jensen, “Current brain research tells us that we generally use both sides of the brain most of the time. Nevertheless, the right brain emphasis produced the proverbial pendulum swing, which resulted in a hyperawareness of the brain lateral processing tendencies. To ensure optimal learning, we must facilitate learning activities that include the strengths of ought to be focused on the whole-brain learning (Eric J. 2008). ” Therefore, both sides, left and right, impacts how we learn and what we learn about.

Although each side of our brain works in different ways, at the end of the day, they need each other to function properly. Research shows that the left and right brain can also do some of the things the opposite hemisphere is more dominant for. So, how does the left brain and right brain impacts how we learn? It’s simple, when each side is not doing its job, a learning process is already in place pushing out valuable information each day. From this research paper you will now have a better understanding of how the brain functions and how it does impacts learning.

References: Jensen, E. (2008). Brain -based learning: the new paradigm of teaching. (pp. 19-22). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Chudler, E. (2011). Neuroscience for kids. Retrieved from http://faculty.

washington. edu/chudler/split. html Jensen, E. (2005).

Teaching with the brain in mind. (pp. 7-19). Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. David, K. (2003).

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