Philippine E-Journals

The Implications of Left or Dominance for Engineering Right Brain Education***

Rosemarie L. Montanano

Discipline: Engineering

 

Abstract:

The brain dominance theory states that learners use different sides of' their brain to process different kinds of information. The right brainers can handle elusive, uncertain information and form intuitive problem-solving; the left brainers prefer established, certain information and favor multiple-choice type of tests and logical problem-solving. In terms of brain preferences, a study was made at De La Salle University to compare first-year student's from the College of Engineering with those from the College of Computer Studies and the College of Science. These students are assumed to be more left brained than right brained. Based on the results of the investigation, the Engineering group showed 25% left dominance-21% right dominance-54% bilateral; Computer group, 15%-3%-82%; and Science group, 24%-32%-44%, respectively. Since there are more bilaterals than left or right brain among the Freshmen, the recognition of wholeness is crucial for teachers or educators. The whole brain approach uses active learning techniques to coax the whole brain into communicating between the two hemispheres, resulting in wholly integrated brain Function.