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What "Whole Brain" Means: Why Wholeness Matters
Body, mind, and brain: a dynamic unity
Our culture has a tradition of focusing on parts, rather than on the whole, and many still focus on part of the brain and mind. Scientists are currently trying to identify the genes that "cause" ailments such as Alzheimer's or alcoholism. Reductionism has also permeated education. We separate curriculum into fragments and instruction into short lessons.
But there is a complex level at which body, mind, and brain are inseparable; each not only affects but is embedded in the others. The brain processes parts and wholes simultaneously. Many decades ago this dynamic unity was illustrated in stress theory. More recently this unity has been confirmed in such fields as psycho-neuroimmunology and in some brain research.
Why wholeness matters
Recognition of wholeness is crucial for educators because some of the basic human functions and capacities that we seek to develop and nurture, in students and in ourselves, are the properties of wholeness. Creativity is an example. At the heart of any intelligence is a capacity to deal with parts and wholes simultaneously, and it is by working with the whole person that this simultaneous functioning becomes possible.
How the mind/brain functions
A mind/brain does not function like a machine. It is a complex adaptive system, a key property of which is self-organization -- the system generates and preserves a high degree of internal order without that order being imposed by an external agent exercising control.
Self-organization is at the heart of meaning-making. Because emotion, thought, and body all work together, we use Gendlin's notion of "felt meaning" to convey the visceral level at which genuine understanding takes place. Moreover, research is beginning to show that self- organization focuses around core beliefs, values, and purposes. All humans form mental models through which we then interpret all our additional experience.
Implications for education
Although it is possible to program minds and teach for memorization, complex learning demands more. Such learning depends on the teacher's facilitation of the student's self-organization.
Following is the process:
- Orchestrated immersion of the learner in complex experience
- Active processing of experience
- Relaxed alertness
When these steps are combined in a dynamic way, the result is felt meaning, which leads to an expansion of perceptual knowledge and a change in mental models.
The challenge for educators
It takes a flexible, dynamic mind to facilitate complex learning. Educators need to be able to live "on the edge of chaos." The key to teaching all students for excellence lies in our being able to function at more complex levels. We have to change our minds and shift our mental models to the point where we can consistently function in fluid and dynamic ways. It demands of us a fourth quality -- the capacity for deep inner reflection in partnership with our colleagues, so that we can become the sorts of people, functioning in the sorts of communities, who can teach at more complex levels.
Geoffrey Caine, LL.M., is the national director of the MindBrain Network of the American Society for Training and Development.
Renate Nummela Caine, Ph.D., is professor of education at California State University, San Bernardino, CA. You can reach the Caines at P O Box 1847, Idyllwild, CA 92549.
Copyright © May 1997 New Horizons for Learning, all rights reserved.
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