Whole Brain® Learning in Higher Education

Evidence-Based Practice

Ann-Louise de Boer, Pieter du Toit, Detken Scheepers, Theo Bothma

• Publisher: Chandos Publishing
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781843347422
• eBook ISBN: 9781780634081
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

Facilitating of learning in higher education can be transformed through the use of Whole Brain® learning. Whole Brain® Learning in Higher Education argues that facilitating learning in Higher Education should undergo transformation in order to develop the full academic potential of all stakeholders following the principles of action research. Empirical data was collected from participants in a number of projects across diverse disciplines. Participants included students, academic staff, instructional designers, and professionals attending short courses at tertiary level.A number of case studies are discussed as evidence for the value of the proposed model for higher education. This title consists of seven chapters, covering: the theoretical framework, baseline study, professional development, studies in Whole Brain® application, learning material that makes a difference, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the way forward. - Defines Whole Brain® learning - Explains the rationale behind Whole Brain® learning - Demonstrates how the model can be applied in facilitating Whole Brain® learning in order to develop the full academic potential of students

1

Theoretical framework

Abstract:

In this chapter we give an overview of what Whole Brain® learning is, and discuss in depth the Whole Brain® Model of Herrmann (1995) as a tool to understand the diverse thinking preferences that individuals have. We highlight what a single dominant HBDI® profile looks like in each of the quadrants.Acknowledging that we have a diverse representation of thinking preferences in our classrooms, we emphasise that learning opportunities should be designed in such a way that they factor in the uniqueness of the individual student – this creates a challenge to all lecturers.

Keywords

Whole Brain® learning

facilitating of Whole Brain® learning

thinking preferences

1.1 Introduction

Our knowledge of the functioning brain has not only increased more over the past 40 years than in all previous centuries together, but is also still evolving. It has long been recognised that people vary significantly in their styles of thinking and learning, and models have been created in an attempt to capture these differences. The construct ‘learning style’ is often used by Kolb (1984), Felder (1996) and other researchers in this field, but in this book we use the constructs ‘thinking style’ and ‘thinking preference’ throughout (Herrmann, 1995; 1996). These are some of the questions raised by researchers such as Coffield et al. (2004), who study styles of thinking and learning:

How can student learning be facilitated if lecturers do not know how students learn?

How can the teaching practice of academic staff be optimised and transformed if they do not know how students learn?

What models of learning and facilitating of learning do lecturers use?

It is our intention to demonstrate and substantiate the value of acknowledging different thinking preferences that students and lecturers have. Furthermore, we propose a comprehensive, flexible Whole Brain® Model for learning and facilitating learning (see Figure 6.5) to be adopted by lecturers. This ‘inclusive’ model reflects a merging of aspects that come under scrutiny in different sections of the book. It embraces the original work by Herrmann (1995; 1996) and expands it by promoting Whole Brain® learning and a Whole Brain® Thinking approach to facilitating learning. The comprehensive Whole Brain® Model for learning and facilitating learning can provide a tool for lecturers to accommodate students’ diverse thinking preferences, and to develop areas of lesser preferred modes of learning, thus contributing to the development of students’ potential. According to Herrmann (1996) it is important to note that a preference for a particular thinking style becomes a motivational factor for the individual. Individuals who constantly have to operate in their least preferred modes become demotivated and their learning can be affected in a negative way because they lose interest.

Most lecturers take the traditional view that students are a homogeneous learning group, with similar interests and aptitudes for subjects. They therefore facilitate learning in a style where ‘one size fits all’, but the truth is that quality learning and understanding can only be accomplished if the learning group is assumed to be heterogeneous – highly dissimilar in interest and aptitude. The only safe assumption is that every learning group represents a composite of Whole Brain® Thinking (Herrmann, 1996).

1.2 Key contributors

Earlier brain research typified the left hemisphere as being logical, analytical, quantitative and rational, whereas the right hemisphere deals with conceptual, holistic, intuitive, imaginative and non-verbal aspects of thought. The split-brain research carried out by Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry and his co-workers confirmed that different hemispheres are responsible for different learning tasks (Herrmann, 1995).

Ongoing research has reaffirmed that the two hemispheres control vastly different aspects of thought and action. Each half has its own specialisation, advantages and limitations (Gazzaniga, 1998). Research shows that the left hemisphere breaks everything down into different elements, while the right hemisphere considers the whole and searches systematically for connections, analogies and similarities.

MacLean’s model, the Triune Brain Model (Herrmann, 1995), explains his research as an evolutionary model comprising a three-layered structure. Each layer represents a different evolutionary state. The deepest layer, known as the reptilian or R-layer, contains the cerebellum and brainstem and is important for survival. The next layer, the limbic system, consists of the amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus. It is responsible for emotions, and records memories of behaviours that produced pleasant and unpleasant experiences. The neocortex, the third layer, comprises the two hemispheres of the brain (cerebral cortex) and is involved with voluntary movement, processing sensory information, language, logical thinking, planning, imagination and consciousness. It is important to keep in mind that all three layers are interconnected and dependent on one another for survival through the corpus callosum (Herrmann, 1996).

1.3 Herrmann’s metaphoric Whole Brain® Model

Herrmann, acknowledged in literature as the father of brain dominance technology (Morris, 2006), focused his initial research not on brain dominance, but on understanding how the creativity of the human brain is unleashed. His valuable contribution to brain research during the 1990s involves his documentation of the fact that the human brain comprises four distinct learning modes and not only two hemispheres, where each of the modes has its own ways of processing information and functioning (Herrmann, 1995). His research proved that the brain functions as a whole, and there is a validated metaphoric Thinking Styles™ Model describing specialised clusters, or quadrants, of processing in the left, right, upper and lower modes, inspired by the physiological brain’s division into left and right hemispheres, embodying the left-right hemisphere brain theory of Sperry and his co-workers (based on research in the field of neuroscience during the 1980s), as well as the triune brain theory of MacLean (based on insights gained from anthropology during the 1970s). Herrmann further determined that each quadrant has very distinct clusters of cognitive functions within, called specialised modes of learning, and each quadrant has its own language, different ways to solve problems, values and ways of knowing (Herrmann, 1995). Every person embodies a coalition of these specialised processe...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Authors’ prologue
• About the authors
• Chapter 1: Theoretical framework
• Chapter 2: Baseline data – determining thinking preferences
• Chapter 3: Professional development
• Chapter 4: Evidence-based practice – case studies
• Chapter 5: Learning material that makes a difference
• Chapter 6: The way forward
• List of reference
• Index