With increasing numbers of students receiving gifted services every year, it is more important than ever to make certain we are meeting their unique learning needs in the classroom. Differentiated instruction for these learners must go beyond adjusting content levels, task complexity, or product choice--it must truly challenge and support learners…

Research on brain hemisphere functions appears to indicate that (1) lateralization occurs from about age five to puberty; (2) both hemispheres are involved in language learning in ways not yet fully understood; (3) after age fifteen, pronunciation learning becomes difficult; (4) older language learners learn more quickly, but younger learners…

Students can be taught to read Chinese more efficiently and accurately by using the specific capabilities of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The right hemisphere is the site of image and pattern recognition, and students can be taught to use those capacities to process individual characters efficiently by watching for the element of…

This article describes sensory input systems and reflexes that are critical to normal functioning and explains some commonly used techniques for evaluating neurological development. Skillful use of evaluation and intervention techniques can help neurologically developmentally delayed children reach mature performance levels. (MT)

Discusses the irregularity and unpredictability of the human body. Presented are pictures showing the fractallike structures and research findings on the mechanism for chaos in the human body. Lists four further reading materials. (YP)

Educators are beginning to call attention to the failure to integrate right-brain, intuitive, holistic, visual processes into the curriculum. Approaches to right-brain education have characteristically called for the use of slow music, visual imagery, and relaxation techniques. Suggested principles for teaching basic skills include the facts that…

Provides background information and research findings on right and left brain hemisphere research. The cerebral hemisphere, research on split-brain subjects, research with normal subjects, and sex differences are addressed. Indicates that each hemisphere functions differently (left--verbal and analytical; right--spatial and perceptual) but both…

According to recent neurolinguistic theories and research, language and other analytic functions are located on the left side of the brain, while spatial and configurational abilities are located on the right side. However, there is some evidence that while learning a language requires the use of both hemispheres of the brain, the right hemisphere…

Studies in psychology, language, and foreign language suggest that it is the qualitative nature of the task students perform while learning that is important, because of the creativity factor. Some explanations of creativity are concerned with hemisphericity of the brain. Another explanation is that creativity results from divergent rather than…

This book describes a neuro-developmental approach to learning difficulty assessment and remediation through assessment of a student's reception of information through the sensory channels, processing of sensory information in the brain, and repertoire of responses for expression. Chapter 1, "Reflexes: Their Impact on Success or Failure in…

Argues that early childhood experiences with processes as diverse as language, mathematics, emotion, and music determine which neurons grow and remain active in the brain. Early exposure to these processes results in receptive programming. Discusses the implications for schools, teachers, and parents. (MJP)

A cadre of thinkers called cognitive scientists has been investigating some of the same issues that first possessed the Greeks. As did the Greeks, they seek to understand what is known, ponder the sources of knowledge, conjecture about the various vehicles of knowledge, reflect on language, and speculate on the nature of the activity of knowing.…

Two teachers of English as a second language composition discuss, in dialogue form, their intuitions about writing and some of the theories of language learning and writing advanced in recent years. Among the topics addressed are the following: self-consciousness; the importance of developing self-confidence in writing; finding a balance between…

Proposes that teachers use their own writing as a teaching tool. Discusses both the left-brain logical, rational approach and the right-brain intuitive approach to invention and states that in composing their own methods and materials, instructors can stress both patterns of creativity by illustrating how each complements the other. (EL)

The popular view that children have an advantage in learning a second language has considerable support in research, although it is not uncontested. One approach proposes that the child possesses a unique capacity for language that the adult no longer has. Another view argues that the child's brain is more flexible. A third approach assumes that…