The brain factor
Hawes shows that the human intelligence comes in many forms and each person has different amounts of intelligence in their brain.
Trevor Hawes, one of UK's leading experts on the learning brain, visited a number of local Dubai schools recently to monitor the way pupils are taught. After several meetings, Hawes conducted training with parents and teachers of Horizon International school as a part of their ongoing development programme. He explained how to construct effective lessons, what he calls the 'brain friendly' way of teaching and how to nurture a child's brain.
Hawes, who was a teacher, and also director of education, now heads the Optimal Learning Group - an educational consultancy that specialises in presenting the latest neuro-scientific research on the learning brain.
Learning Styles
"Eighty per cent of the understanding about the human brain is less than 10 years old. I was excited by this research when it started to appear in the early 1990s. Researchers saw the brain functioning live by use of brain scan technology and this led me to do more research and find how each brain functions differently," says Hawes.
After researching and meeting some of the top experts in the UK, Hawes biggest message was that every individual has a unique brain. "We all learn in different ways and have a different set of talents inside us," adds Hawes. He said it is a challenge for schools and parents to ensure their children learn through their preferred style and for each child to see and realise his or her potential.
While at Horizon, he held workshops that enabled children, parents and teachers to understand the different learning styles and to ensure children are given lessons that suit their brains.
Left or right?
Hawes explained that the brain is divided into two halves and we each have a preference for one side.
Some people are left brained and more logical and academic in their learning process. Others, who are stronger on the right side, are creative in their learning process and enjoy open-ended creative tasks. Some children learn best from visual stimuli.
They like pictures and the written word, and think in pictures. Others are auditory, preferring the spoken word. It is the 'kinsethetic' child who Trevor believes has the most difficulty in classrooms. These children learn best by doing. Movement is essential to their learning processes and it is these children teachers have found most difficult to adapt to.
He believes that schools have been working best for children who are left brained visual learners and have good logical mathematical and linguistic intelligence. In contrast, creative right brained and kinaesthetic learners whose abilities do not relate to words and numbers have struggled, felt clumsy and stupid and never discovered or realised their potential.
In addition to learning styles Hawes shows that the human intelligence comes in many forms and each person has different amounts of intelligence in their brain.
How are you smart?
Hawes says that there are nine general intelligences. "You can become smart in any of these areas. However, we are not clones," said Hawke. "The question isn't how smart you are but, in what ways are you smart? We are all gifted and talented and the task of schools and parents is to enable children to realise their potential."
Hawes feels that parents must "love the kid you've got, not the kid you wish you had". He believes we can help children to see and realise their potential, feel good about who they are and believe in themselves "or we can also hold them back."
