Scientists have long acknowledged the presence of two separate hemispheres in the human brain as well as the severe difference between the two. The significance of these differences however was not until recently properly understood. The scientific community formerly considered the right hemisphere of the brain inferior to the left. Author of the book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel H. Pink explained that the capabilities of the left hemisphere are everything that people expect in a brain. It is responsible for sequential reasoning, analysis, logic, and language- everything which is thought to separate humans from other species. The right hemisphere however is much more instinctive, thus scientists believed that humans had outgrown the purpose for it.
[...] As human subjects were used in this study, there are many factors that could have potentially altered the results of this study. Students surveyed from all three grades attended High Tech High and High Tech Middle School. High Tech High schools encourage the exercise of the right hemisphere of the brain. According to this organization, the goal of the High Tech High central organization is to “become a self-sustaining central organization conducting “behind the whiteboard” management practices that are as exemplary as the front of students” programs offered at HTH schools.” (“About High Tech The belief of the school is to change schooling by “generating holistic designs that enable new ways of teaching and learning” thus implementing right hemisphere thinking. [...]
[...] Written language, invented by the Greeks around 550 B.C.E., has helped reinforce left hemisphere dominance (at least in the West) and created what Harvard classicist Eric Havelock called alphabetic mind'”. (Pink. 18) Languages such as Arabic and Hebrew are written only in consonants, meaning the language is based on whole context. Languages such as these are usually written from right to left, therefore exercising the right hemisphere of the brain. Emphasis on left hemisphere thinking is strong in Western society. How quickly does this ideal effect people's minds? [...]
[...] Once these surveys were returned the raw data was first input into the computer and then organized into separate charts by age, ethnicity, religion, birthplace, parents' birthplace and languages spoken other than English. By organizing the data in this way it could clearly be seen which factors were the most influential in determining brain hemisphere dominance. Chart I Raw Data Results for Sixth Grade Test # Age Ethnicity Religion Gender Born Parents Born Languages # Chart II Raw Data Results for Eighth Grade Test # Age Ethnicity Religion Gender Born Parents Born Languages # left Chart III Raw Data Results for Eleventh Grade Test # Age Ethnicity Religion Gender Born Parents Born Languages # Results Sixth grade students had the highest percentage of having no dominant hemisphere at 39% while 35% of eighth graders and 32% of eleventh graders showed no dominant hemisphere. [...]
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