Re: [Paddlewise] Student types & Now: Communicating with Different LearningStyles

Consider this a clarification, not a flame, please.
> 
> There is a significant improvement communicating to students and/or other
> people in  general if one identifies the type of learner that you are
> communicating to.

Take preferred learning styles into account? Sounds good.

> Here is a hasty generalization that ought to get someone going:  Engineers
> are not by nature or training a touchy feelly sort of person and tend to be
> more thing or fact driven.
> 
> Example:  Rolling is a right brain action.  It is not intuitive nor is it
> mechanical.  I can't follow steps one, two, three ........   and expect to
> be able to roll.  Another example is: Try letting your left brain steer a
> bicycle, drive a car or fly a plane (I couldn't analyze my way to a hover!)
> - The act and "NOT" the rules are right brain controlled.  So, how does one
> communicate right brain activity to a left brain student?  As Nike
> says:  Just Do It!  

There's way too much misinformation about hemispheric localization (aka
right brain/ left brain) floating about. Rolling is a psychomotor skill
that uses muscles on both sides of the body; therefore, both right and
left motor centers have to be involved. It's not a "right brain action."
It may not be intuitive (the mammalian desire to breathe tends to get in
the way), but it certainly is mechanical (as opposed to spiritual?
mystical? emotional?). And yes, if you do the steps correctly in order,
you will come up. Thinking about it may or may not help.

There are specialized functions of the right and left cerebral cortices,
but they have to do mostly with cognitive and language functioning, not
motor skills.

It is certainly true that people learn in different ways. I like to
analyze and dissect (No, I'm not an engineer), others like to just do
it, still others like to watch a while. 

So, yes, let's take the preferred learning styles into consideration,
but let's drop the left/right brain business. 

Steve (who flunked his dichotic listening test)
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