Whole Brain Thinking
By
Terry Miller
The concept of whole brain thinking is the combinations of the thinking styles of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Whole brain thinking enhances your whole being by improving reasoning, logic, analysis, and artistic abilities. These types of improvement can affect every aspect of our lives. However, to understand the concept of whole brain thinking, one must first understand its components, right and left brain thinking, and that is where Ill begin.
Conventionally, the thinking types are broken down into two generic areas, right and left brain. The right brain thinker tends to be the artistic type of person. These types of people can include artists, poets, sculptors, and writers. This type of thinker is random, intuitive, holistic, subjective. The thought patterns can be characterized as patterned recognition. What does that mean? Well, the Air Force thought I fit this description. I had to take a test in which I was required to look at a pattern of cubes and decide what that pattern would look like if it was turned in a different direction, and I did very well on this test. So, I guess Im a right brain thinker.
The left brain thinker tends to be the logical person. People included in this area could be engineers, scientists, and machinists. The left brain thinker is logical, sequential, objective, and look at the parts rather than the whole. The left brain thought patterns can be described as a structured analysis. Once again, what does this mean? Well, this type of person likes a set procedure and pays attention to detail. They also place importance on performance and timeliness in a task. Ok, I fit into this category as well. In my Air Force job I had to follow procedures, and was concerned with performance, etc. So, I must be a left brain thinker.
One article I read both threw another aspect into this thinking viewpoint, and it clarified some things for me. This article split the left and right brain in to upper and lower divisions. The upper left includes logical problem solving, lack of much emotion, and importance of accurate facts. The lower left has preference for organization, security, timeliness and an importance of finances. The lower right has is a people type person, enjoys social situations, and is good at interpreting body language. Finally, the upper right person tends toward the big picture , doesnt always follow the rules, likes to do their own thing, and will act on a gut feeling. The way this article clarified things for me was in these four thinking styles 60% are dominant in two, 30% in 3, 7% in only one, and only 3% are actually whole brained and use all areas equally. So, if I think about the examples I gave earlier I can come to the conclusion that I am at least in the 60% that are dominant in two areas. Who in the world would be included in that 3% of whole brain thinkers? A few possibilities are Leonardo da Vinci (artist/scientist), and how about Frederic Bartholdi (Statue of Liberty creator and engineer of the same).
In conclusion the whole brain thinker can be any one of us at any point in time. We can become more whole brained by combining what we are good at with some aspect from the thinking we are not so adept at. An example that applies to me in my career choice is to include role playing into my lesson on the Revolutionary War. In this way I can mix the data with the students artistic ability to play a character. It is important that teachers give equal attention to right and left brain thinking in their classrooms and if we do maybe one of our students can become a Leonardo da Vinci.
References:
Right Brain vs. Left Brain, www.funderstanding.com
Whole Brain Thinking, www.holisticjuncion.com
Adams, John. Whole Brain Thinking, www.nzpf.ac.nz Terry's Geography Site |
