sy a a4 [ he Aa: y >a } = June poms ar COMMENT 1979 dune For example: What is the largelill city in New York State? Name the ABC Countries of South America. > RR: reac tary crea mus at n pha; _ ders A Convergent question calls for the analysis and integration of given or remembered data. The an- swers to these questions may be predictable, but convergent questions are_ broader than . 5 ‘ ‘bec cognitive memory questions. ~, prec For example: Why are the AB (clas Countries important in South ~ crez teac America? What is there about the location of New York City that accounts i its importance? Divergent question calls for anSwers which are creative anid imaginative and which move into new directions. For example: In what wayi might Argentina, Brazil and Chile be different if they had beam colonized by England? How might the lives of the people! of New York City be different if the city problems, learning in other sub- jects, and motivation of students. The strong emphasis in this presentation was on the education of “‘both brains.”’ Until recently, we have visualized the brain as a single, two-sided organ. It has now been discovered that these two sides of the brain are actually two fullfledged brains in their own right, each performing a different function. Simply stated, the left brain, working with letters, words, and numbers, is analytical and logical. Conclusions of this brain are drawn from facts only. It works with established and proven data. It is conventional, proper, and deals only with the known. Our schools have given their prime emphasis in training the left-brain skills, habits and disciplines. The products of this training are industrious, efficient and orthodox engineers, doctors, lawyers and accountants. Extremely left-brained people are resistant to new ideas and to innovation. Correct procedures and structure are characteristics of these people. They are suspicious and distrustful of openmindedness, novelty, creativity of any kind, and precedent breaking. The traditional school teachers prized this side of the brain, and many schools today act as if ‘their main function is to train the left brain of the student. In contrast to this, the right brain is prized by entrepreneurs, inventors and artists. It invents new undertakings, works with what is not yet real, preoccupies itself with new possibilities. It thrives on the imaginary, the fantastic and the unorthodox, the improper and even the unthinkable. The right brain is favored by leaders in politics, science, art and some professions. They are trailblazers. Examples of famous people are Einstein, Golda Meir, Picasso, Madame Curie, Swietzer, and Major L’Enfant who envisioned and planned the city of Washington D.C. A total population of extreme right-brained people or a total population of extreme left-brained people could be a menace. Convergent and _ divergent thinking relates well to concepts of left brain and right brain development. Memory and convergent questions whose answers are based on rote memory or the analysis and integration of given or remembered data are non-imaginative and do no promote creativity. Divergent and_ evaluative questions call for creative and imaginative answers and deal with matters of judgment, value and choice. The kinds of questions which teachers ask evoke similar kinds of responses. That is, divergent questions cause pupils to engage in divergent thinking and cognitive memory questions evoke cognitive memory responses. The following is a brief explanation of four categories of Divergent and Convergent questions taken from Gallagher and Aschner: A Cognitive memory question is a narrow question and involves rote memory. located in the torrid © An evaluative question dealil with matters of judgement, vale and choice. They may be either broad or narrow. 4 For example: Why would you — like to live in New York City? is broader than would you like to live” in New York City? What things would you q like to — visit in Argentina? or Would you — prefer to be a guacho or a cowboy? Professor Raymond Hock of Drake University feels that early — readers may be less creative, ~ Stating that children should not be taught to read before starting : elementary school, and preferably not before the age of eight. Thats Fs Recently, the Weber State College School of Education faculty conducted an open meeting on the value of creative arts and their relationship to school discipline were zone? = by Olive M. Maccarthy Assistant Professor of Education because too early emphasis on 3 ae Educate both brains reading could cause _ over: development of the left side of the brain, which deals with linear and ~ logical concepts, as opposed to the © right side which is creative and “deals more with the intuitive and | metaphorical’’. At the age of five, when mos children start elementary schodl, these two sides of the brain arestill ” : relatively well balanced unless too much emphasis has been placedon reading during the child’s pre i. school years. Hock says children don’t need to learn reading until the age of eight. At that point they're7 ; likely to learn more catch up to those quickly, a who ya startedgiat reading at five. , i “Educaiti should reqi 1ex and creat tud life... enci gin criticl S.