Whole-Brain Learning and Teaching                       

Siegel and Bryson (2012) in The Whole Brain Child state, “the goal, then, is to help our kids learn to use both sides of the brain together – to integrate the left and right hemispheres” (p. 21).

“Whole Brain Teaching is a set of strategies that combines the best attributes of Direct Instruction and Cooperative Learning to create an engaging classroom environment for students and an enjoyable workday for teachers.  WBT combines both classroom management as well as sound teaching pedagogy in one system (Biffle, 2013, p. 178-79). Waggoner (2015) points out:  When students wrestle with a puzzle, classroom learning is energized.  Who can walk away from the invitation to tackle a puzzle?  It’s just too much fun to try to figure it out.  Even the most reluctant students seem to wake up and be drawn into the solution process.  But puzzles are much more than fun.  They give the brain a workout and nurture problem-solving skills (p. 5).  Study Scripts are designed to be puzzling to the mind.  Dividing the students into teams of three to solve the Study Script puzzle adds the favorable interactive dynamics of cooperative learning and collaborative problem-solving.