[BELL RINGING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi there and welcome to Good Thinking.
Today's topic, 46 steps toward effective autumnal bulletin
board adornment.
Step one, procure pimply gourds.
Wait.
We're doing this now?
Yes.
There are only 23 decorating days until the equinox.
Time is running out.
Ready for step two?
I'll take that as a yes.
It's how much orange is too much orange?
Spoiler alert.
There's never too much orange.
Hey, now is not the best time.
No, hay is actually step seven.
Look, in 20 minutes, Amar's parents
will be here to discuss his progress,
or actually, lack thereof.
I got to prepare.
Amar, Amar, oh, that shy kid.
He seems nice.
He's delightful, hard worker, gets along with everyone,
but he's been struggling lately.
Well, Amar was student of the month in Miss Chen's history
class.
And he's a whiz in Fletcher's orchestra.
He's probably just right-brained.
He's what?
Ow!
Amar's having trouble in science class
because it's not his thing.
He's right-brained.
You know, creative, intuitive, emotional, more subjective.
Being right-brained isn't a real thing.
Well, of course, you would say that.
You're a science teacher, logical, critical, analytical,
skeptical, total left brain territory.
Sorry, buddy, but the whole left brain, right brain thing
is just a neuro myth.
Humans aren't actually divided up like that.
Oh, yeah?
Well, I will have you know that I was scientifically
proven to be 111% left-brain in a recent online quiz.
An online quiz?
Oh, thank goodness.
Wait.
How did I miss you under there?
You're right.
Those quizzes probably can't be trusted.
I once took one to see which famous literary character I am.
I got Meg from Little Women.
Do I not scream Holden Caulfield?
Bunch of phonies.
Let me school you, sonny.
A lot of this left brain, right brain mumbo jumbo
stems from studies of people who suffered brain damage to one
side of their brain and had their mind and behavior
impaired in a particular way.
Scientists discover that some different brain functions
do occur primarily on certain sides
or specific areas of the brain.
Damage to the left hemisphere often impairs someone's ability
to speak, while damage to the right does not.
See?
That's what I'm talking about.
Hold your horses there, partner.
Just because the two hemispheres of the brain
serve different functions doesn't mean
there are right-brained or left-brained people.
There's actually no evidence to suggest
that some people have stronger networks
on one side or another.
Why don't we peek inside Amar's brain and I'll show you.
Is this going to involve some psychedelic transition
to indicate--
aha!
I knew it.
So this is Amar's brain, huh?
Oh, man.
That right side must go crazy when he's playing the violin.
I guess that's when the left side takes a nap.
Au contraire, mon frere.
See, all the people use both hemispheres
of the brain for most everyday tasks,
which are actually pretty complicated.
Let's see what happens when he picks up the violin.
In most real world activities, the left and right sides
work in sync, constantly communicating with one another.
When did you get here?
I never get to go anywhere exotic on vacation.
In fact, some research has suggested
that better communication between the two
sides of the brain produces better performance
in mathematics.
A little privacy, please.
Oh, sorry.
OK.
So maybe people aren't actually left
or right brain, scientifically speaking,
but aren't left and right brain personalities
still a useful way to--
no offense coming-- lump students into groups.
Not at all.
In fact, branding Amar an English History
or a right brain student is unfairly limiting and may
become a self-fulfilling prophecy if he's
led to believe the myth that science will never be his,
quote unquote, "thing."
And to boot, even if the right/left dichotomy were true,
that would still only be a tiny fraction
of who we are, how we think, and what
we aspire to be due to the vast array of factors associated
with learning, motivation, resilience, role models,
interests and inclinations, values,
and beliefs, to name a few.
Heck.
Even science itself depends on creativity and curiosity,
typically seen as right brain traits.
Come on, isn't science mostly numbers and calculations?
Are all narrators reliable?
Amar might be more keen on English and history right now,
but that doesn't mean that he's only creative and not logical
or that he uses one half of his nug and more than the other.
From arithmetic to forming hypotheses,
science is a blend of logic and creativity.
And scientists use their whole brains just as artists do.
And when you think about it, the entire progression of science
depends on both being open-minded enough
to ask new questions, and explore novel hypotheses,
and on being skeptical enough to scrutinize evidence and draw
unbiased conclusions.
Truth is, the kind of work Amar is going
to do in school and throughout his life
will be complex, analytical, and creative.
And he's got the noodle to do that.
So if it's not his noodle, what do I tell his parents?
That's slightly above my pay grade.
Hold on, you're getting paid?
I need to talk to my agent.
But remember that there are a host of other factors
that could be affecting Amar's effort in science class.
Perhaps our video on motivation would be a great place
to start.
Well, now that I stand corrected on all this,
shall we return to my fall decorating theme?
Two words for you, purple maize.
To discover more about how kids learn science and the types
of misconceptions they might have,
visit us online at ScienceEducation
.SI.edu/GoodThinking.