Re: Concept maps Vs right-left brain learning theories

From: Diego Luego (dluego_at_yahoo.es)
Date: 02/25/05 

Date: 25 Feb 2005 04:24:45 -0800

Wolf, I appreciate your time in expressing your thoughs
in this subject. Your reasoning makes sense to me, though
being or not persuaded by them is not an issue. Neither
it is to have a big debate on it too.

My intention was to somehow interact with more experienced people on
this sort of things. Applying a phrase of yours, just reading
books or google links on the subject is not fun enought. So one gets
bore very quickly.

Wolf Kirchmeir <wwolfkir@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<rhnTd.41825$Am3.1250649@news20.bellglobal.com>...
> Diego Luego wrote:
> > I do not see why right-brain vs left-brain "learning styles" it's bad
> > science now.
> >
> > Whe you mention below to use as much examples as possible to
> > some how activate the learning by doing something, isn't it a way
> > of trying to motivate the ability to think by using the appropriated
> > side of the brain according to the cognitive tasks the brain
> > hemisphere can handle?
> >
>
> There are three issues here:
> a) is it beneficial to provide a variety of learning experiences to a
> class of students? Answer: yes, since any one student's ability to learn
> from any given learning experience depends on his/her history, which is
> to a large extent unknown (even to the student, who is not likely to
> have reflected on how (s)he learns).
> b) is there evidence that different learning experiences involve one
> hemisphere more than the other? Yes, but not enough to draw firm
> conclusions, and definitely not enough for guiding lesson structure.
> c) is there evidence that people's different learning styles depend on
> some innate or acquired difference in right/left brain dominance? Even
> less than for b).
>
> As I said before: the only benefit of the fad was to remind teachers
> (once again) that it's important to provide as wide a variety of
> learning experiences as poissible. BTW, a leraning expreince that won't
> work for some student in September may well work in Januury. I;ve seen
> it often.
>
> I hope this is sufficient comment. If you are not staisfied, by all
> means google on appropriatye phrases. You will find a lot of useful
> material to guide your lesson planning, but the justification for it
> will be mostly moonshine.