"To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all."
Anatole France 1881,
The brain is in fact triune in nature.
The Reptilian brain controls our basic instincts.
Whenever we are stressed our higher thinking skills shut
down and the Reptilian brain takes over.
Its main concern is our survival.
"How do I avoid this spelling test?"
In this setting enchanted learning experiences appear as
unattainable as water in a dry and dusty land.
Learning under these circumstances is impossible.
Under such pressure children will never access their
creative imagination.
The Limbic system or Mammalian brain controls,
among other things, our emotions.
All learning should involve the emotions to a greater or
lesser degree. In fact, the most important state for
optimum learning to take place is the emotional state.
In some schools work is now being undertaken on
the subject of emotional literacy as a more accurate
indicator of a child’s future potential to succeed and
live a fulfilled life than I.Q. Something that is in fact
‘learnable’ and not dependent on where you swam in the
gene pool.
When this concept is grasped by educators universally then
the creative imagination of children will be released.
The Neo-cortex controls the intellectual processes and is
divided into two hemispheres often referred to as the right
and left brain.
Each hemisphere has certain abilities associated with it.
It is the right brain that houses our creative imagination.
Western society has tended to value the functions of
the left brain and this, historically, has reflected the
way children have been taught.
The right brain is potentially far more powerful and, in fact,
complements the left brain.
If the two halves of the brain could be made to work
together regularly the greater potential exists for learning
and creativity. Children exposed to a system that
overemphasizes analytical thinking is harmful to the
brain's development. One psychologist comments:
"Such people's brains are being systematically
damaged. In many ways they are being deeducated."
Creative imagination is a very powerful ability.
Like George Cuisenaire, at school, Albert Einstein
displayed talent as a musician and artist.
How many enchanted learning experiences was Einstein
exposed to?
He actually failed his maths!
The Theory Of Relativity was conceived as the result of a
daydream he had on a summer’s day alone on the top of a
hill. In essence Einstein created his own enchanted
learning experience through the power of creative
imagination.
Using the power of creative imagination he visualized
himself riding on a sunbeam to the end of the universe,
returning toward the sun. He reasoned that if his dream
were to be proved correct then the universe must be
curved. What Freud would have made of it is anybody’s
guess!
For my part, as I consequence of the failure and
subsequent sense of guilt and shame experienced through
my failure to grasp math in school, I became motivated to
develop a math program that would ensure any and every
child could succeed. It took years of determined and driven
research.
I was going to make absolutely sure no child I
taught would experience that shattering sense of
failure and inadequacy.
Children would engage in enchanted learning experiences
in the subject that is most likely to cause disillusion and
despair. Throughout this process I drew on the most
powerful resource available - my creative imagination.
The resultant programme Ensure Your Child Succeeds At Math
is highly tactile and visually (right brain activities) based
but also draws upon logical evaluation of what has been
visualized (a left brain activity). In essence it engages both
hemispheres of the brain.
Whole-brain-learning approaches are now being
developed to ensure both right and left hemispheres
of the brain are engaged during the learning
process. For example, Brain-Gym is a universally
recognized and practiced method of enhancing wholebrain-
learning.
Until education systems consciously provide for both left
and right brain orientated students many of our children
will remain seriously disadvantaged, de-motivated and
ultimately disaffected. They will remain strangers to the
liberating power of creative imagination. For many children
we will have created an intellectual wasteland where they
are consistently denied the opportunity to drink from the
refreshing streams of creative imagination.
This has serious implications for society as a whole.