Right or Left Side of the Brain

According to the Free Online Dictionary, the brain refers to “…the central nervous system of the vertebrate which is enclosed in the cranium and continues with the spinal cord that is composed of white matter and gray matter”. The brain is thus “the primary center for the control and regulation of activities in the body through receiving and interpretation of sensory pulses and transferring of information to body organs and muscles”. The brain is, therefore, an important component of the human body because it is the seat of thought, consciousness, emotion and memory.  Scientists have over a long period of time continued to learn more about how the brain of human beings work and it has been ascertained that the right and left sides of the human brains have different functions (Schering, et al, 2011).

From various studies conducted, it has been ascertained beyond doubt that the Right versus Left side of the brain has various impacts on the learning of individuals. The left brain is an essential component of the brains because it is tasked with sequential and logical thinking and learning. The left brain is also responsible for linear thinking, analysis and need for structure. When it comes to solving problems and making real sense of the world, the left brain is essential. The right brains, on the other hand, are responsible for mental pictures, musical tunes and patterns through the use of beliefs and intuitions. The right brain is thus in control when an individual feels loyalty, beauty or even love. When making decisions, whole brained individuals can encounter confusion and, thus, greater connection between the two halves of the brain (the right brain and the left brain) enhances the chances of creativity and learning.

While left brain students will tend to prefer to enjoy reading independently, work alone and prefer a quiet classroom, right brain students will prefer studying in groups and make something as opposed to attending lectures. In general, most societies all over the world have been known to cater for left-brain thinking and, thus, left brain teachers will normally prefer discussing, outlining, lecturing, instructing independently, having a more classroom and assigning more research, while a right brain teacher will in most circumstances prefer displaying visuals, hands on activities, having books and materials scattered and assigning group projects. It should therefore be of noteworthy to realize that such differences greatly have an effect on the learning process (Margaret, 2010).

The various teaching methods employed by teachers when imparting knowledge to their learners has tremendous impact on the learning process. This is because various learners will tend to retain more knowledge when their teachers employ certain teaching methods as opposed to the others. As a result, there are differences in the learning capabilities of various students, pupils or even scholars. Given the fact that various people will derive benefits arising from the use of different learning styles in a variety of ways, it is vital for all stakeholders involved in the learning process to clearly understand that everybody’s brain is at most times different. The human brain is also influenced by the environment, experiences, social conditioning, upbringing, education and genetic makeup. As a result, the both of the brains’ hemisphere contribute significantly to the way individuals learn since while some individuals may make greater use of one of the brain’s hemisphere as opposed to the other, majority of people in general use both the left and right hemispheres, but may on the other hand utilize one of the side more than the other (Hayes, 2010).   

For learning tasks which require a lot of imagination, it was ascertained that individuals who mostly used their right side of the brain stood to benefit more as opposed to those who used their left side of the brain. For instance, the application of techniques which employed word mapping, visualization, idea representations and word association will often employ the use of imagination. On the other hand, individuals who are left brained do not heavily make use of such techniques and are, thus, strongly believed to make constant use of constructive reasoning of a different type.   For example, individuals who are left brained are capable of benefiting educationally from rote memory, lists, fixed methods and formulas and, thus, in order to make the most out of the learning process, it is not only advantageous but also vital to make use of both methods on all sides of the brain. This will ensure that there is greater comprehension of the knowledge and thus enhance the learning process.

In general, both the right and left brains have various techniques of learning. For instance the right brain is responsible for word association, word mapping, and visualization and artistic and creative learning exercises, while the left brain, on the other hand, is responsible for rote memory, chunking of data, fixed methodologies and formulas and logical thought sequences. Since, the two hemispheres of the human brain are abnormally associated with various kinds of mental abilities, being capable of knowing which side of an individual’s brain is dominant or is constantly used by an individual can enable teachers, instructors, tutors, lecturers and other people involved in imparting knowledge to learners to choose the type of learning style that is suitable to such learners taking into consideration what such learners are the strongest at . this will ensure that the learning process attains the set objectives (Jedynak, 2009).

Despite the fact that an individual can be strong in a given kind of reasoning that is associated with either one or the other hemisphere, this does not necessarily imply that there can’t be any development of other styles of learning or that such styles cant be made stronger.

According to Gabe (2009), individuals who are left brain dominant happen to be better scientist, mathematicians, lawyers e.t.c while individuals who are right brain dominant will in most circumstances become better artists, painters, musicians etc. It is further ascertained that the key to adoption of better styles of learning will arise from how best one understands how these two particular processors do their work in unison. It should, however, be understood that both the left and right hemisphere of the brain are important components of the human body not only in the learning process but in other activities as well.