Brain Dominance

Brain dominance refers to a preference for using one hemisphere of the brain over the other hemisphere. The left hemisphere of the brain is rational, analytical, and verbal, while the right hemisphere is holistic and intuitive, responsive to visual imagery. Brain dominance can be assessed with the Hemispheric Mode Indicator or with the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument.

Once very popular, this view of the brain has fallen out of favor recently due to further research showing it is not quite as clear-cut as all that. However, considering these two opposites as preferred learning styles can be helpful.

Right-brained learners prefer:

• pictures, diagrams, charts, or graphs,
• video,
• talking about feelings,
• social activities,
• music,
• attention to the "big picture," and
• creative activities and projects.

Left-brained learners prefer:

• lots of reading,
• writing,
• assignments involving reasoning and analyzing,
• attention to detail
• quantitative methods,
• linear, organized approach to lessons, and
• a syllabus showing what will happen when.

Our educational system seems to favor a left-brain style, with an exception being activities that involve creativity.

Using both left-brain and right-brain activities is a way to reach both kinds of learners. For example:

• Draw illustrations on the whiteboard, or ask students to draw them.
• Show video clips and discuss them afterwards.
• Use web-based learning since the web has lots of pictures and using it is not sequential.
• Use a chat room for brainstorming ideas for projects, then use asynchronous communication to choose ideas and develop them further.
• Assign students a final product or project that has a creative element as well as an analytical element.