The RELATIONSHIP OF NURSING STUDENTS BRAIN HEMISPHERE DOMINANCE WITH THEIR ACADEMIC AND CLINICAL PERFORMANCE IN A NURSING CORE

SUBJECT

PONIO, KRISTIE ANNE FAITH L. PUEDAN, GINO CARLO D. RAFER, ALAIN BRIAN M. ROJAS, VICTOR IAN E. ROXAS, ANA MELIZA A. SABERON, MARIANNE IVES B. SALES, JOSE MARTIN K. SAN MIGUEL, MARIANELA E. UY, ROXANNE DIANE R. VERGARA, JOHANNA MAE A. VILLARAZA, DUSTIN KENT E. VILLARBA, LOVELLA ALMA J.

Henderson

Section B

THESIS ADVISER: Dean Carmel Villegas

CHAPTER 1 The Problem and Its Background Introduction What is the brain doing when we think? We know what it says, but we cant see or feel it working. experience. It stores knowledge that had been taught and learned from life

These information regarding things that we see, hear, smell, taste, and

thought off are processed in the different section of our brain. We know where our feelings are located like anger, love, hate, sympathy, and so forth but none of this is visible while it is happening.

Hippocrates, who examined the brain during autopsies he performed, concluded The brain of man is double. He was referring to what we know now as hemispheres. These hemispheres are the two halves of the brain-the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere commands the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere commands the left side of the body. Functions of these hemispheres are not shared equally. One side of the brain may be dominant. The left and right can both reason but in different ways. The left brain is considered to be more analytical hemisphere. They are good in math and logic and prefer reading and quiet environment. On the other hand, the

right hemisphere is described as holistic or global and is thought to be involved more in functions such as spatial perception and musical ability. They are good in creative writing, art and prefer daydreaming, philosophy and sports.

There have been many studies on how the brain functions. Because of the discoveries of the functions and parts of the brain, many scientists pioneered to work and focus studies about the hemisphere dominance of individuals. One has been made by Roger Sperry which tells that each half of the brain has different characteristics and abilities. Then there is Ned Herrmann who is named the "Father of Brain Dominance Technology". He incorporated the research of Paul McLean of the Triune Brain and Roger Sperry's Left Brain/Right Brain function, and built a Four-Quadrant Model of cognitive preferences.

The researchers became interested in the study because they want know the connection of the Brain Hemisphere Dominance (BHD) with performance of students. By conducting the study, the researchers want to determine if there really is a relationship between nursing students brain hemisphere dominance and their academic and clinical performance in a nursing core subject which is a combination of didactic classroom/ lecture learning and skills/ hands-on learning. In doing so, the researchers will gain knowledge on how the brain works and will be able to understand some factors affecting students performance in their subject. At the end of the study, the researchers will try to determine something definite about students brain.

Theoretical Framework This study is based on the Four Quadrant Model of Ned Herrmann. William E. "Ned" Herrmann (1922 - December 24, 1999) who is considered to be the father of brain dominance technology was known for his research in creative thinking and whole-brain methods. He spent the last 20 years dedicating his life to applying brain dominance theory to teaching, learning, increasing self-understanding and enhancing creative thinking capabilities on both an individual and corporate level. Herrmann's contribution to the application of brain dominance brought him worldwide recognition. In 1992, he received the Distinguished Contribution to Human Resource Development Award from ASTD. In 1993, he was elected President of The American Creativity Association. In college, he majored in both physics and music. He became Manager of Management Education for General Electric (GE) in 1970. His primary responsibility was to oversee training program design, covering topics like how to maintain or increase an individual's productivity, motivation, and creativity. In 1978, Ned Herrmann created the Herrmann Participant Survey Form to profile workshop participant's thinking styles and learning preferences in accordance with brain dominance theory. Sponsored by GE, he developed and validated the Herrmann Brain

Dominance Instrument (HBDI), the scored and analyzed Participant Survey, and designed the Applied Creative Thinking Workshop (ACT), which has been recognized[citation needed] as a leading workshop on creative thinking. He presented a model of the human brain with two paired structures, the two halves of the cerebral system and the two halves of the limbic system can be made. This model not only shows the diversity of the two paired structures of the brain-the right and left brain, but also reveal the elaborated preference of the cerebral and limbic system. This model is a metaphorical interpretation of how people think and what their preferred ways of knowing.

The Four Quadrant Model of Ned Herrmann shows the part of the brain which is dominant and its preferred thinking processes. This will be the basis of the researchers study because the Four Quadrant Models dominant part of the brain is the counterpart of the researchers study on brain hemisphere dominance of nursing students; and the Four Quadrant Models illustration of thinking processes is the researchers counterpart for the academic performance of nursing students in their study.

Conceptual Paradigm

Nursing Students Profile - BHD - Gender

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE RATING

CLINICAL PERFORMANCE RATING

The independent variable of the study is the nursing students profile. Brain hemisphere dominance results from the test that will be given by the researchers. Gender will be considered as contributing factors for their BHD. The dependent variable of the study will be the academic and clinical ratings acquired by the nursing students in a level nursing core subject. Ratings will rely on the input of the respondents toward the subject, which will be graded by lecturers and clinical instructors.

Statement of the Problem The researchers aim to determine the relationship between BHD of nursing students and their performance in the nursing core subject. More specifically, this research aims to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of SISC Nursing Students in terms of the following: 1.1. BHD 1.2 Gender 2. Is there a significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their gender? 3. Is there a significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their academic performance in a nursing core subject? 4. Is there a significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their clinical performance in a nursing core subject? 5. Is there a significant difference between the established relationship between BHD and performance in a nursing core subject among the two groups of respondents? 6. Is there a significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their performance in a nursing core subject?

Hypothesis Ho1: There is no significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their and their gender Ho2: There is no significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their academic performance in a nursing core subject Ho3: There is no significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their clinical performance in a nursing core subject Ho4: There is no significant difference between the established relationship between BHD and performance in a nursing core subject among the two groups of respondents Ho5: There is no significant relationship between BHD of nursing students and their performance in a nursing core subject

Basic Assumptions 1. The researchers assume that respondents will take the test seriously 2. The researchers assume that the students are graded individually

Significance of the Study The results of this study will benefit the following: Nursing Faculty. Once the clinical instructors and lecturers get to know the result of the study, it will aid in the formulation of their teaching strategies to maximize the students learning capabilities. Researchers of this study. After the study, the researchers will gain awareness of brain hemisphere dominance and how it will enhance their performance as students. Future Researchers. Through the conduct of the study, it will provide direction for future research which will lessen the difficulty of their study. It will serve as a baseline for their research. Scope and Delimitation The conduct of this study will include two groups of respondent from Southville International School and Colleges (SISC): the first group will include incoming third year nursing students batch 2011 and the second group will include graduating nursing students batch 2009. The respondents gender will be gathered. Their brain hemisphere dominance will be tested. The researcher will include their final ratings in both academic and clinical performance in a nursing core subject.

On the day of implementation, absent respondents will not be included in the research.

Definition of Terms Academic Performance Ability to do, carry out, accomplish school related task Brain Hemispherical Dominance It is the tendency of a students brain to be prevalent on either left or right, or both by using a test. To become a left brain a student must score from 4.8 and below in the test. To become a right brain a student must score from 5.2 and above in the test. And to become a whole brain a student must score from 4.9 to 5.1 in the test. Clinical Performance Ability to do, carry out, accomplish medical related task Nursing Core Subject A Bachelor of Science in Nursing program which is a combination of didactic classroom and clinical experience. Management. Nursing Students This refers to two groups of college students from Southville International School and Colleges. The first group is comprised of students taking up Bachelor of Science in Nursing, who successfully passed all academic requirements of the second year. The It is specifically known as Nursing Care

other group is comprised of students taking up Bachelor of Science in Nursing who have fulfilled all academic and clinical requirements, make-up duties for all year levels qualified for the pinning and clinical graduation.

CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature CONCEPTUAL LITERATURE I. School Performance A. Background Tuckman (1975) posited that, performance is used to label the observable manifestation of knowledge, skills, concepts, and understanding and ideas. It is the accomplishment of set tasks in a course objective in order to meet the requirement of examination syllabus. It is also the application of a learning product that at the end of the process provides mastery.

Wiseman (1961) mentioned that the acquisition of particular grades on examinations indicate candidates ability, mastery of the content, skills in applying learned knowledge to particular situations. A students success is generally judged on examination performance. Success on examinations is a crucial indicator that a student has benefited from a course of study. As Fishman (1962) states that, all British studies have relied on examination performance. This reality provides the basis on which performance is measured.

However, Harrison (1974) posited that although an examination is not a perfect measure of educational success of pupils, it is an important indicator in ones countrys educational systems and such cannot be ignored.

B. Academic Performance Many studies have been published concerning the prediction of academic success. Various and often widely differing variables have been proposed for this purpose. According to Hoyt (1971), in general, one can distinguish between studies oriented towards intellectual traits and studies concerning non-intellectual characteristics of the student population.

Concerning the intellectual traits, Jex (1966) stated that there seems to exist a clear relationship between academic results and high school record and the results of some specific standardized achievement tests according to Fredericksen and Melville (1954). In a Miles study (1979), a significant correlation is found between academic record and the mental ability at age 11. And according to Walburton (1952), some ability tests have proven to be of little value for the prediction of academic success

There is no proof of positive correlation between the intelligence quotient and academic success according to Malmquist (1978).

Hoyt (1971) stated: "Nonintellectual traits usually yield a weaker correlation with academic results. This is not surprising, because of the much larger number of possible variables. Among the most important are socioeconomic status, sex, motivation, academic interests, personal adjustment to the university subculture, social maturity and emotional stability, personality style, extracurricular activities and choice of study field."

According to Rossi (1961) and Miles (1979) there is a positive albeit limited relationship between the socio-economic status and academic results. Generally, according to Hoyt (1971), girls have a bigger probability of success than boys. Some authors explain this by the differences in role expectations imposed by society rather than biological differences. The female student still sees herself as a potential mother, according to Komarovsky (1973). Cole (1977) said that girls are also more pessimistic than boys concerning their future academic results

Hoyt (1971) stated that one consistent finding has been that the two sexes differ significantly in their academic success. As noted before, no completely satisfactory explanation for these findings is available.

C. Skills/Clinical Performance Joan Freeman (1993) states that, Good intellectual skills have to be learnt, although basic sensory awareness naturally is a normal condition. Meaning, ones

intellectual ability to cope with incoming information, store it in flexible category in the memory, retrieve it for application to different situations, and adopt new information, all have to be refined to reach levels of competence. This process needs directive teaching, such as in learning to distinguish between shapes, recognizing forms and estimating distances to mention a few skills. All the senses are teachable to develop them into intellectual skills.

It is through skills such as reading, and listening that an individual acquires information (Lindgren, 1976). The need for information about the world is a challenge that we can only meet by acquiring and using appropriate skills, and it is impossible to learn skills without using information.

Accuracy is needed in any field of work. It therefore means that, workers have to utilize as much skills as possible in this area. By reading and listening, then the skill of comprehension will be improved. It can be noted that at the point where the students understand what is expected, then they will be ale to perform the tasks more competently. The ability to listen to instructions is an important factor to be considered. This will enable the students to produce accurate work and efficient work.

Communication is another extremely important skill that is required by students that need mentioning because of the interactive nature that should be established in the communication system between employees.

Freeman (1993) postulated that, the processes of intellectual development are not confined to the simple acquisition of skills; each new skill adds to and changes what has already been tried out. Perception is learnt from experience and it affects reasoning: good reasoning based on mistaken perceptions will produce faulty conclusions. Good quality education is largely concerned with correcting misconception and by broadening a childs view, in such a way that the individual can reach personal conclusions from what s/he has observed.

Freeman (1993) argued that analytical skills are sometimes called successive progressing which uses information in a time sequence. Meaning that one thought must logically follow another. In that, each process is linked in the chain of reasoning being dependent on the last.

McNicals (1979) view was that, in the performance of any skill, the skill the student is consciously or unconsciously, based his/her movements on acquired knowledge. If the learner does not know the relevant basic knowledge in certain areas, his/her performance will lack some of the characteristics of the skill expected. For example a worker who has to use tool(s) must be aware of the use of each piece of equipment so that he/she can choose the right one(s) for the Job; because if s/he uses the wrong tool(s) the results of the job could be an inferior product and awkward movement in trying to reach the prescribed goal.

On the issue of study skills, Ann Irving (1985) argued that, the teaching of study skills has become an important issue. We would have noticed over the years that despite the methods and materials of the teaching/learning process, many pupils are still unable to improve their learning. Irving (1985) argued further that, pupils fail to put into practice the full range of skills and habits they possess. The emphasis on talk is made into the belief that pupils develop their ideas more quickly through talking that writing and that expression and organization of ideas in writing will best occur where there is some organization in the mind of the writer before writing begins.

On the matter of revision and examination preparation skills, Irving (1985) argued that, before the examinations were to begin, pupils should be given lessons on how to prepare for their examinations. In particular, they should be taught how to write a revision plan. Once the plan had been written and corrected by the teachers, in the ensuring weeks time was spent advising pupils how to write revision notes, how to make the most of ones memory and the importance of testing recall above all else.

Irvings (1985) view was that, the final week before the examination, the teachers should make the students aware of the problems that they are likely to encounter and how they might be overcome or at least reduced to proportions that are more manageable before the sitting of the examination.

Whitson (1957) states that clinical experience is the core of the nurses education. The information which the nursing student reads in a textbook, the lectures she hears in the classroom, and the experiments she observes in the college laboratory must be synthesized in the clinical area. The nursing student learns by actual experience in patient care; she learns to nurse by nursing.

II.

Brain Hemisphere Dominance A. Background The human brain is composed of two hemispheres. The left hemisphere receives motor and sensory input from the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere receives input from the left side of the body. When we bring the two systems together and begin the task of developing harmony and synchrony, the first step is to achieve an efficient balance between the two sides of the brain. Because most mental processes involve both sides of the brain, integration problems between the two hemispheres can result in inefficiencies in brain processes. The idea that the two hemispheres are specialized for different modes of thought has led to the concept of hemisphericity- or also known as lateralization or dominance, is the idea that a given individual relies more on one mode or hemisphere than on the other. As defined by Bradshaw & Nettleton (1981); McCarthy (1996); Springer & Deutsch (1993), brain hemisphericity is the tendency of an individual to process information through the left hemisphere or the right hemisphere or in combination. This differential utilization is presumed to

be reflected in the individuals cognitive style-the persons preferences and approach to problem-solving. A tendency to use verbal or analytical approaches to problems is seen as evidence of left-side hemisphericity, whereas those who favor holistic or spatial ways of dealing with information are seen as right-hemisphere people. As research into the specialized functions of the two hemispheres continued, the pattern of results suggested a new way to conceptualize hemispheric differences. Instead of a breakdown based on the type of tasks (for example, verbal or spatial) best performed by each hemisphere, a dichotomy based on different ways of dealing with information in general seemed to emerge.

In fairness the old phrenological notions about posterior versus frontal lobe functioning were not the sole source of such a lateralized view of brain function. It became known, beginning in the 1870s that cortical sensory centers were located predominantly in the posterior regions of the brain and motor centers in the frontal regions. A certain amount of clinical and experimental evidence was reported, which seemed to suggest that these centers were differentially represented in the two hemispheres. The Austrian physiologist Sigmund Exner, who later was Sigmund Freuds university instructor, used clinical data to make interferences about motor and tactile representation on the human brain. He came to the conclusion that motor representation as both more intensive and more extensive in the left hemisphere, while sensory representation was more intensive and extensive in the right hemisphere (Exner 1881, 64).

The left hemisphere is specialized for language functions, nit these specializations are a consequence of the left hemispheres superior analytical skills, of which language is one manifestation.

The right hemispheres superior visouspatial performance is derived from its synthetic, holistic manner of dealing with information. Much of the work that led to this reanalysis of hemispheric differentiation was conducted by Jerre Levy and her colleagues working with the California series of patients.

One of the first suggestions that the two hemispheres have different information-processing styles came from a study in which split-brain patients were asked to match small wooden blocks held in the left or the right hand with the appropriate two-dimensional representation selected from drawings of blocks shown in opened-up form. Overall, the left hand was considerably better than the right at this task. The two hemispheres appeared to use different strategies in approaching the problem.

An analysis of errors showed that the patterns the right hand (left hemisphere) found easier to deal with were the patterns that were easy to describe in words but difficult to discriminate visually. For the right hand (right hemisphere), the reverse was true. Thus, the left hemisphere appeared to make its

matches on the basis of verbal descriptions of the properties of the blocks and the two-dimensional patterns. The left hemisphere of the split-brain patient marches by function and the right hemisphere matches by appearance. Levy concluded that the left hemispheres strategy in dealing with incoming information is best characterized as analytic, whereas the right hemisphere appears to process information in a holistic manner. Ball (1884) stated: "Indeed, the important point . . . is not at all the preponderance of the left hemisphere over the right hemisphere; it is the superiority of one of the two halves of the organ [over the other]. In general, man chooses the left brain, in a few exceptional cases, he gives preference to the right side; but the thing that is necessary to establish, above all , is that man is not at all naturally ambidextrous like the animals; he is essentially unilateral. "

Within ten years of publication of Brocas initial observations, the concept now known as cerebral dominance began to emerge as the major view of the relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain. In 1864 the great British neurologist John Hughlings Jackson wrote, Not long ago, few doubted the brain to be double in function as well as physically bilateral; but now that it is certain from the researches of Dax, Broca, an others, that damage to one lateral half can make a man entirely speechless, the former view is disrupted.

In 1868 Jackson proposed his idea of the leading hemisphere---a notion that may be viewed as the precursor of the idea of cerebral dominance. The two brains cannot be mere duplicates, he wrote, if damage to one alone can make a man speechless. For these processes [of speech], of which there are none higher, there must surely be one side which is leading. Jackson further concluded that in most people the left side of the brain is the leading side---the side of the socalled will, and that the right is the automatic side.

Findings formed the basis of a widely held view of the relationship between the two hemispheres. One hemisphere, usually the left in right-handers, was seen as the director of speech and other higher functions; the right, or minor, hemisphere, was without special functions and subordinate to control by the dominant left. The origin of the term cerebral dominance is obscure, but it captures nicely the idea of one-half of the brain directing behavior. Although the concept originally associated with this term underestimates the role of the right hemisphere, cerebral dominance is still widely used today. Regardless of whether it found its ultimate origins in nature, nurture, or some combination of the two, it was not long before the left hemispheres functional superiority over the right had become an unquestioned tenet of human cerebral physiology. In France, logically enough, it generally was felt that the old view of the two sides of the brain as structurally identical was no longer tenable in the light of their dramatic functional differences. Thus, the quest was undertaken for the structural conditions underlying left brain predominance.

In 1865, Broca had called attention to Gratiolets report on developmental differences between the frontal (and occipital) lobes of the two hemispheres. He was doubtless quite pleased when, a year later, he learned of the work of a German osteologist, Hans Carl Barklow, which he felt importantly confirmed the Gratiolet data. In his Bermerkungen zur Pathologischen Osteologie, Barkow , looking at the phenomenon of plagiocephaly (plagio meaning slanted or oblique), had found in his sample of human skulls a tendency for the frontal region to be slightly more pronounced on the left side, and the occipital region slightly more pronounced on the right side (Barkow, 1864). In the wake of Brocas endorsement, Barkows work was widely seized upon as pointing strongly to the conclusion that the frontal convulutions on mans brain were more numerous on the left side, and the occipital convolutions more numerous on the right. From the way in which later authors (including Hughlings Jackson) cite Barkow, is seems pretty certain that many had not seen the original work and were unaware that it was concerned with skull configurations and not with direct measurements.

In his 1866 report, Broca praised the exactness of Barkows results, obtained avec une patience toute germanique, mentioning that he had had the opportunity to confirm them himself on two series of twenty brains, male and female respectively (Broca 1866b, 196). Three years later, the case for the left frontal/right posterior convolutional differences between the two hemispheres was

given an explicity functional cast, following a report to the Societe d Anthropologic claiming that the left frontal lobe tended to be more abundant in gray matter than the right and the right occipital lobe more abundant in gray matter than the left, gray matter being seen as stuff of intellect. In a complementary fashion, the right frontal and left occipital lobes both allegedly possessed relatively more white matter than their homologues (Roques 1869).

It is important to realize that other authorities---for example, the physiologist Alexander Ecker (Ecker 1868) and the neuroanatomist Carl Vogt--flatly denied the Gratiolet-inspired theory of unequal development between the frontal and posterior lobes of the two hemispheres. Leonce Manouvriers (1883) detailed analysis of plagiocephalic skulls also contradicted any conclusions one might have been tempted to draw from Barkows work, finding no consistent tendency for asymmetry to be oriented in one direction or the other (see also the negative results of le Bon 1878a). perhaps, partly in reaction to such unhelpful studies, an 1879 report measuring lateral differences in the brains composition quietly dropped the frontal/occipital distinction and contented itself with the claim that, in general, the left hemisphere from a very early age possessed more gray matter and the right more white matter (Parrot 1879).

Later, during the post-Wernicke years when attention was no longer so exclusively riveted on the role of the frontal lobes in speech, Jules Bernard Luys would contend that actually structural asymmetries between the two hemispheres

tended to be most pronounced in the spheno-temporal regions (Luys 1879). This proposal, which went almost unnoticed by contemporaries, would receive a measure of support in 1890 from a Viennese anatomist, O. Ebertaller, who claimed to have found that the left sylvian fissure in the man tends to be slightly longer than the right. Research by D. J. Cunningham, published two years later in Ireland, agreed with that of Eberstaller (Cunningham 1892). Cunningham, however, denied that the differences in fissure length had any implications for the understanding the structural conditions underlying speech-asymmetry and handedness. This is because he had found the same asymmetries in the brains of various higher apes; and he did not believe that apes displayed any evidence of right handedness (Cunningham 1902, 293). The idea that hemisphere functional asymmetry might in some way be explicable in terms of temporal lobe asymmetries then went underground for some eight years, to be resurrected in the 1960s with the work of Norman Geschwind and his colleagues in the United States (Geschwind & Levitsky 1968).

Since, to many people, more numerous convolutions on the left side implied a heftier piece of brain matter, studies investigation possible differences in weight between the two sides of the brain complemented and overlapped with the convolutions studies. An extensive investigation by Robert Boyd in England, which predated by several years Brocas asymmetrical localization of language, claimed to have found that almost invariably the weight of the left cerebral hemisphere exceeded that of the right by at least and eighth of an ounce (Boyd

1861). In contrast, John Thurman was only one of a number of writers who found tendency for the right hemisphere to outweigh the left (Thurman 1866). This might have been deemed a serious setback for left-brain superiority, had it not been for the fact that Brocas theory only required that the left frontal love be functionally dominant over the right. Over a period of more than ten years, Broca studied 440 brains and concluded in his final 1875 report (which actually only looked at a small sample of his data) that, while the overall weight his table one finds a slight bias in favor of the right), the left frontal love outweighed the right by an average of 4 grams (Broca 1875). In an early reference to these researches, Broca had suggested that the overall lack of difference In the weight of the two hemispheres was probably due to a sort of compensation between the weight of the two frontal lobes and of the two occipital lobes (Broca 1866b, 196).

Towards the end of the century, one writer struck upon another way of getting around the fact that weight comparisons of the two brain-halves had failed unequivocably to favor the left. He simply turned the standard argument on its head. Researchers had agreed that the left hemispheres higher ratio of gray to white matter was what made is superior to the right hemisphere. What they had failed to realize, though, as that gray matter, being less dense, weighed less than white matter. Consequently, the lighter weight of the left hemisphere actually was proof of its functional superiority (van Biervliet 1899, 296). The supporting data changed; the foregone assumptions remained unaltered (cf. Gould 1981, 73-112).

For some nineteenth century neurologists, it was not enough simply to affirm that certain developmental or compositional differences between the two sides of the brain favored the unilateral education of the left. What, some asked, was the immediate physiological cause of those differences? For a while, one finds a considerable amount of attention being paid to a theory, first formally proposed by Armand de Fleury of Bordeaux (de Fleury 1865) and later by William Ogle in England (Ogle 1871), that the left hemisphere was structurally superior to the right because it was nourished by a more vigorous blood supply. This in turn was possibly caused by differences in the mode of origin of the two carotid arteries or by differences in their respective circumferences. De Fluerys blood-supply theory made no attempt to accommodate itself with the French argument, being made during those same times, for unequal but compensatory anatomical differences in between the two sides of the brain. No one seemed to mind. It was enough, perhaps, that a bit of biochemistry had been introduced into the debate. Enamoured as they were with neuroanatomy, French neurologists also were fascinated by the arterial system of the brain and the nutritional processes of the blood. The former bias perhaps had its roots in the successes of Charcots clinic-anatomic method; and the latter may have been partly inspired by the equally impressive achievements of the Claude Bernard School of physiology.

In any event, it turns out that Broca himself was rather lukewarm about de Fleurys blood-supply theory. In an 1877 review of de Fleurys work, he opined that the mode of origin of the two carotids exerts a certain influence on the

distribution of work between the two hemispheres---but not a decisive influence. Reasonably enough, he pointed out that is asymmetry of the carotid arteries were sole cause of cerebral functional asymmetry, then it followed that all left-handers are free from this rare anomaly, and that, so far as the origin of the aortic vessels is concerned, they do not differ appreciably from right-handers (Broca 1877, 526). The blood-supply theory became even less creditable as it was increasingly realized that the two cerebral arteries were connected by the anterior communicating theory, meaning that the blood contributed by each was pooled, equalizing both supply and pressure to the two hemispheres. Efforts to demonstrate appreciable and consistent differences in the size of the carotid arteries were also unsuccessful (Harris 1980, 22). During childhood, we develop "brain dominance" also called as brain hemisphericity or brain lateralization. The decision is affected by our genetics, childhood experiences, and family environment. Emerson (1996) states that all theories believe you are born either left or right brained. This will not change. The event is three fold: 1. Born with it-gender and genes, 2. Environmental, 3. Choices made. The degree to which you are left or right brained, depends on the

combination of these three, but the results are still left or right brained.

Subtle differences in how a single gene behaves on opposite sides of the growing brain may explain how various intellectual talents - language, math skills, imagination -arise in specific sides of the brain in most people, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers.

According to HHMI investigator Christopher A. Walsh, postdoctoral fellow Tao Sun, and their colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, their discovery that a gene called LM04 is expressed differently in the cerebral cortex in the left brain, compared to the right brain, may help understand how in most people one side of the brain achieves dominance over the other. It is well known that, in most people the "left brain" has a larger role in languages and math, while the "right brain" is more essential for spatial tasks and abstract reasoning.

Perceptions of the right side of the brain generally, it is not surprising that this should become the female side of the brain. Quite early on, Victor Meunier had affirmed his belief that there are between the respective modes of activity of the left brain and the right brain, differences analogous to those currently existing between the respective modes of activity of the male brain and that of the female (cited in Delaunay 1874).

A good fifteen years before most people had any reason to suppose that the two sides of the brain functioned in a complementary fashion, Joseph Buchanan in the United States also had argued for the relative masculinity and femininity of the left and right hemispheres. His the only pre-Broca argument of this sort I found (I exclude the related but separate belief that the left and right halves of the human body are feminine and masculine respectively; the

history of the idea in medicine-especially embryology- can, of course, be traced back to classical times). Buchanan based his vision of complementary masculine/feminine functioning between the two brain halves on certain craniological data he had gathered himself. As he explained, When you examine the head of a right-handed man, you will find that the left hemisphere is the best developed, particularly in those portions which give muscular power and energy of character. But while the basilar developments are stronger on the left side of the head, it is not so with the moral organs. The right side of the brain and the left side of the body seem to have a gentler and more effeminate character. The right body and left brain have a stronger and more masculine character. In the closing paragraphs of his paper, Buchanan waxed increasingly lyrical, describing exuberantly how the two hemispheres of the cerebrum, which I have already shown to have relatively a masculine and a feminine character, sustain to each other in action the same relation which exists in a harmonious family, where a perfect marriage has a thoroughly united husband and wife (Duality and decussation 1850,522,524,528).

Armand de Fleury had also called the right hemisphere female and the left male; indeed, there seems to have been a feeling among at least some neurologists that assigning genders to the two hemispheres of the brain was one convenient way of summing up their respective characteristics. As late as 1898, one can still find it being said that the terms male hemisphere and feminine hemisphere should render rather well the differences in nature between the two brains, of

which one, more intellectual, is more stable, and of which the other, more excitable, is also more readily exhausted (Klippel 1898, 56-57). One cannot help but reflect wryly that, once one has given the two hemispheres gender identities, the idea of cerebral dominance becomes a rather apt metaphorical encapsulation of the social and economic relationship between the sexes in the nineteenth century Europe.

It does not seem that all writers necessarily believed the association between the left hemisphere and masculine thought, the right hemisphere and feminine thought, was anything more than a pleasant smile. There is o question, however, about the position on thius point of the French physician and comparative biologist Gatan Delaunay. By his own account, Delaunay had first become interested in the question of hemisphere differences as a medical student during the ill-fated 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War. Assigned to ambulance service at Tours, he was compelled to treat a considerable number of soldiers with frostbitten feet, and it began to seem to him that the left foot of each of these men was always more severely afflicted than the right. He relayed this curious fact to Brown-Squard, who assured him that, according to certain researches of German origin, the right side of the body did tend to be hotter than the left.

The frostbite affair was the starting point for what was to become for Delaunay a virtual obsession with the comparative biology of right and left. Delaunays medical thesis, submitted in 1874, was entitled Biolgie compare du

ct droit et du ct gauche chez lhomme et chez les tres vivants. It opened with the following bold assertion of Broca, taken (without reference) from the latters 1869 article: Asymmetry is a characteristic of superiority. Although presumably this citation was intended to set the tome for the rest of the thesis, it is a bit misleading. One quickly realizes that Delaunay believed only asymmetry in favor of the right side of the body, and left side of the brain, was a sign of superiority. Asymmetry favoring the left of the body, and right side of the brain, seems to have been as bad or worse than no asymmetry at all. In fact, lack of asymmetry and asymmetry in the wrong direction are conflated throughout the thesis.

Delaunay stated in his thesis that his aim originally had been to compare the different pathologies to which the two sides of the body were subject. In the course of pursuing his researches, however, he had found himself increasingly struck by the remarkable parallels he kept finding between the right and left side of the brain and body, and the known physical and mental differences between men and women. It was impossible, he felt, that these could all be mere coincidence. As he began to look further into the matter, he seemed to find reason to believe that, in fact, women lacked a good portion of that right-sided/left-sided asymmetry that Broca had taught signified a high level of evolution. His researches, for example, had convinced him that left- handedness was significantly more common among women than men. Even women who were right-handed, he said, tended to have many left-handed habits. (e.g., women buttoned their coats left over right, while men did the reverse).

In the latter work (1878-79), Delaunay went on to suggest that the primary cause of the link between lateral asymmetries and gender differences was probably embryological. In light of research showing that every embryo was a fusion of his mother and father, it was not unreasonable to suppose that the male element always developed into the right side of the body (and apparently the left half of the brain), while the female element always developed into the left side of the body. Presumably, other forces were at work that caused either the female or the male element to predominate in the embryo, giving rise to sexual differentiation, though this problem was not addressed. Among the more remarkable pieces of evidence Delaunay cited in support of his argument were two cases apparently reported by Dr. Sibley in the United States. The first of these described a young girl with black hair on the right side of her skull like her mother; the second was concerned with a mulatto child, born of a white father and a black mother, who had smooth hair with fair skin on the right side and kinky hair with dark skin on the left (Delaunay 1878-79,72)

Considerable evidence suggests that females, on average, are superior to males in a wide range of skills that require the use of language, such as verbal fluency, speed of articulation, and grammar. Women also tend to be faster than men at tasks involving perceptual speed (the ability to rapidly identify matching items), manual precision, and arithmetic calculations. Males, on the other hand, perform better on average in tasks that are spatial in nature, including maze

performance, picture assembly, block design, mental rotation, and mechanical skills. In addition males do better in than women in mathematical reasoning and in finding there way through a route. They are also more accurate in guiding or intercepting projectiles.

A variety of evidence suggests that males tend to be more lateralized for verbal and spatial abilities, whereas women show greater bilateral representation for both types of functions.

Noting that females generally gain physical maturity at an earlier age than males, Deborah Waber proposed that sex differences of the sort reviewed here are attributable not to sex per se, but rather, to differences in the rates at which males and females develop.

Waber tested her hypothesis by comparing early and late matureness of both sexes on a series of verbal and spatial tests. Late maturers scored better on spatial tasks, and early maturers scored better on verbal tasks. Further analysis showed that only the spatial scores were related to maturational rate. Differences due to sex alone were not significant.

Waber concluded that the hormonal changes responsible for the timing of puberty are also responsible for sex differences in cognitive abilities. Although her idea is interesting, it has difficulty accounting for sex differences in tasks such

as mental rotation that occur well before puberty. Data have also shown that the association between spatial ability and age at puberty is quite small. Jerre Levy has suggested and evolutionary basis for sex differences. She argued that males have been the hunters and leader of migrations throughout hominid evolution and that those with good visouspatial skills enjoyed a selective advantage. At the same time, females were likely to have had selective pre3ssures for skills involved in child rearing, such as use of language as a toll for communication, development of social sensitivity, and facility with nonverbal communication.

Levy proposed that greater bilateralization of function may facilitate the skills needed by females, because those skills appear to require a blending of specializations of the hemispheres that may be best achieved by their representation within each hemisphere. In contrast, levys cognitive crowding hypothesis presented in Chapter 5 suggested that stricter separation of function would be necessary to ensure the high level of visouspatial skills in males that was needed for hunting.

Geschwind and Galaburda proposed that high levels of prenatal testosterone slow neuronal growth in the left hemisphere, allowing relatively greater development in the right hemisphere. Because males are usually exposed to higher levels of testosterone during prenatal development

Brain profile may change, but only if there are strong reasons for this to occur. This may occur over a long period of time because of changing interests, hobbies, environments and mentors. In rare cases changes occur over a short period of time because of significant events or major life-style changes. These changes maybe temporary. Researchers believe that brain dominance determines a persons preferences, problem-solving style, personality characteristics, and even career choices.

A number of people have developed paper-and-pencil tests that claim to assess Hemisphericity. They have asserted that by completing one of these tests and having it scored (frequently for a substantial fee) an individual can determine his or her preferred hemisphere. In turn, they have promised, this will be useful information when selecting a career or a spouse, or when making any other choice where hemispheric compatibility seems desirable.

Managers, in particular, are often targeted as potential users of such questionnaires, with claims that knowledge gleaned from the results can be used for enhancing the productivity of employees as well as for individual and organizational problem-solving. A whole industry has developed around consultants who provide corporate training seminars that promise new marketing and sales directions as well as greater employee performance and satisfaction, all based on the concept of hemisphericity.

One hemisphericity questionnaire that has undergone scrutiny of persons other than its developers is Your Style of Learning and Thinking. Developed for research purposes by educational psychologist E.P. Torrance and colleagues, the questionnaire has 36 items with three alternative responses per item: one indicating left-hemisphere specialization (for example, not good at remembering faces inhibited in expression of feelings and emotions), one indicating righthemisphere specialization (for example, not good at remembering names able to express feelings and emotions freely), and one signifying an integrative style (for example, equally good at remembering names and faces controlled in expression of feelings and emotions).

A careful look at the questionnaire shows that the scores correlate highly with tests designed to measure creativity. This is not surprising in view of the logic underlying such tests. As the nonverbal hemisphere, the right hemisphere is seen as responsible for intuition which, in turn, is seen as a core characteristic underlying creativity. According to this line of reasoning, a test measuring creativity would reflect the degree of right-hemisphere involvement, and hence, hemisphericity.

A similar approach has been taken by Ned Herrmann, developer of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). According to his advertising literature, the HBDI is an extensive, computer-analyzed, scientifically developed

questionnaire that is the word standard for identifying brain dominance. Going beyond a simple left-right dichotomy, Herrmann describes four types of mental preference---analytical/logical, organized/detailed, interpersonal/expressive, and imaginative/conceptual---and promises that understanding these preferences will lead to valuable insights and performance improvements for both executives and employees.

In evaluating the claims that have been made about questionnaires and hemisphericity, we need to separate the possible usefulness of the results from statements that have been made about the questionnaires themselves. Corporate executives may indeed find practical value in the applications that are proposed; they are in the best position to determine whether a particular technique results in greater productivity or enhanced employee satisfaction. What we wish to focus on here is the more basic claim that the questionnaires measure hemisphericity.

A major problem with these claims is that there is little in the way of scientific evidence linking creativity to the right hemisphere, let alone evidence trying degree of right-hemisphere utilization. Before the idea of hemisphericity can be fairly evaluated, we will need good measures of differential hemispheric activity. There are a number of possible candidates for such a measureear asymmetries in dichotic listening, evoked potential measures, regional cerebral blood flow---but each currently has problems that limit its usefulness as a measure of hemispheric activity in a particular individual. Such measures, and perhaps

others, may ultimately prove useful in testing the notion that each of us relies more on one hemisphere than on the other, but we cannot do so at present. Hemisphericity thus remains an interesting but untested hypothesis.

B. Left/Right Brain Dominance on Learning The left side of the brain processes information in a linear manner. It process from part to whole. It takes pieces, lines them up, and arranges them in a logical order; then it draws conclusions. The right brain, however, processes from whole to part, holistically. It starts with the answer. It sees the big picture first, not the details. If you are right-brained, you may have difficulty following a lecture unless you are given the big picture first. Do you now see why it is absolutely necessary for a right-brained person to read an assigned chapter or background information before a lecture or to survey a chapter before reading? If an instructor doesn't consistently give an overview before he or she begins a lecture, you may need to ask at the end of class what the next lecture will be and how you can prepare for it. If you are predominantly right-brained, you may also have trouble outlining (you've probably written many papers first and outlined them latter because an outline was required). You're the student who needs to know why you are doing something. Left-brained students would do well to exercise their rightbrain in such a manner. In addition to thinking in a linear manner, the left brain processes in sequence -- in order. The left-brained person is a list maker. If you are left-

brained, you would enjoy making a master schedule and doing daily planning. You complete tasks in order and take pleasure in checking them off when they are accomplished. Likewise, learning things in sequence is relatively easy for you. For example, spelling involves sequencing; if you are left-brained, you are probably a good speller. The left brain is also at work in the linear and sequential processing of math and in following directions. By contrast, the approach of the right-brained student is random. If you are right-brained, you may flit from one task to another. You will get just as much done but perhaps without having addressed priorities. An assignment may be late or incomplete, not because you weren't working, but because you were working on something else. You were ready to rebel when asked to make study schedules for the week. But because of the random nature of your dominant side, you must make lists, and you must make schedules. This may be your only hope for survival in college. You should also make a special effort to read directions. Oh yes, the mention of spelling makes you cringe. Use the dictionary, carry a Franklin speller, or use the spell checker on your computer. Never turn in an assignment without proofing for spelling. Because the right side of the brain is color sensitive, you might try using colors to learn sequence, making the first step green, the second blue, the last red. Or you may want to "walk" a sequence, either by physically going from place to place or by imagining it. For the first step of the sequence, you might walk to the front door; for the second, to the kitchen; for the third, to the den, etc. Or make Step One a certain place or thing in your dorm room or study place and Step Two another. If you consistently use the same

sequence, you will find that this strategy is transferable to many tasks involving sequence. The left brain has no trouble processing symbols. Many academic pursuits deal with symbols such as letters, words, and mathematical notations. The leftbrained person tends to be comfortable with linguistic and mathematical endeavors. Left-brained students will probably just memorize vocabulary words or math formulas. The right brain, on the other hand, wants things to be concrete. The right-brained person wants to see, feel, or touch the real object. Right-brained students may have had trouble learning to read using phonics. They prefer to see words in context and to see how the formula works. To use your right brain, create opportunities for hands-on activities. Use something real whenever possible. You may also want to draw out a math problem or illustrate your notes. The left brain processes in a linear, sequential, logical manner. When you process on the left side, you use information piece by piece to solve a math problem or work out a science experiment. When you read and listen, you look for the pieces so that you can draw logical conclusions. Your decisions are made on logic--proof. If you process primarily on the right side of the brain, you use intuition. You may know the right answer to a math problem but not be sure how you got it. You may have to start with the answer and work backwards. On a quiz, you have a gut feeling as to which answers are correct, and you are usually right. In writing, it is the left brain that pays attention to mechanics such as spelling, agreement, and punctuation. But the right side pays attention to coherence and

meaning; that is, your right brain tells you it "feels" right. Your decisions will be based on feelings. Left-brained students have little trouble expressing themselves in words. Right-brained students may know what they mean but often have trouble finding the right words. The best illustration of this is to listen to people give directions. The left-brained person will say something like "From here, go west three blocks and turn north on Vine Street. Go three or four miles and then turn east onto Broad Street." The right-brained person will sound something like this: "Turn right (pointing right) by the church over there (pointing again). Then you will pass a McDonalds and a Walmart. At the next light, turn right toward the BP station." So how is this relevant to planning study strategies? Right-brained students need to back up everything visually. If it's not written down, they probably won't remember it. And it would be even better for right-brained students to illustrate it. They need to get into the habit of making a mental video of things as they hear or read them. Right-brained students need to know that it may take them longer to write a paper, and the paper may need more revision before it says what they want it to say. This means allowing extra time when a writing assignment is due.

The left side of the brain deals with things the way they are--with reality. When left-brained students are affected by the environment, they usually adjust to it. Not so with right-brained students; they try to change the environment! Leftbrained people want to know the rules and follow them. In fact, if there are no

rules for situations, they will probably make up rules to follow! Left-brained students know the consequences of not turning in papers on time or of failing a test, but right-brained students are sometimes not aware that there is anything wrong. So, if you are right-brained, make sure you constantly ask for feedback and reality checks. It's too late the day before finals to ask if you can do extra credit. Keep a careful record of your assignments and tests. Visit with your professor routinely. While this fantasy orientation may seem a disadvantage, in some cases it is an advantage. The right-brained student is creative. In order to learn about the digestive system, you may decide to become a piece of food! And since emotion is processed on the right side of the brain, you will probably remember well anything you become emotionally involved in as you are trying to learn. C. Bilateral Dominance on Learning Whole-brain dominants are those who process information through both hemispheres equally and exhibit characteristics of both hemispheres. Those individuals have flexible use of both hemispheres (McCarthy, 1996). Since our hemispheric predispositions are not only genetic but also to a great extent learned, it seems reasonable to assume that a change in environmental conditions could lead to the possibility of change in our style of cognitive functioning. To some degree we may have to live with a tendency toward either the right- or left-hemisphere style of information encoding. But it is possible to create conditions within our environments and schedules whereby the fullest

possible use is made of all our cognitive capacities.

Kinsbourne (1986) hypothesizes that the development of cerebral hemispheric proclivity evolves by increases in proficiency and, in each hemisphere, learning to give attention to contralateral stimuli. In several studies undertaken to verify this thesis, it was observed that giving the left lobe a verbal task reduced the left eye field superiority for recognizing faces; additionally, presenting a face recognition problem to the right lobe reduced the' right field visual superiority for words. Therefore, one way to counteract a tendency for, lefthemispheric dominance is to "prime" the right hemisphere's "pump" by looking at pictures or listening to music. Likewise, for the right-hemisphere dominant person, reading a book or listening to a lecture will set the stage for left hemisphere activity. In such a way one can momentarily lessen the dominance of one side of the brain and allow greater freedom for the other to apply itself cognitively (with its own separate data encoding system) to a problem.

D. On School Performance Dr. Carolyn Hopper (2003) said that when learning is new, difficult or stressful we prefer to learn in a certain way. It seems that our brain goes on autopilot to the preferred side. And while nothing is entirely isolated on one side of the brain or the other, the characteristics commonly attributed to each side of the brain serve as an appropriate guide for ways of learning things more efficiently and ways of reinforcing learning. Just as it was more important for our

purposes to determine that memory is stored in many parts of the brain rather than learn the exact lobe for each part, likewise it is not so much that we are biologically right brain or left brain dominant, but that we are more comfortable with the learning strategies characteristics of one over the other. What you are doing is lengthening your list of strategies for learning how to learn and trying to determine what works best for you

Contemporary understanding of human brain functions establishes that each brain is unique and that brains in general are specialized. When combined, the concepts of specialization and asymmetry of dominance produce within each human being a distribution of specialized preferences that affect general behavior. Specifically included is the individual's unique learning style. An immediate implication for the education and training profession is that the assumptions about the learner must now be completely reconsidered. Intelligence is no longer one dimensional, but rather includes the notion of multiple intelligences as Howard Gardner describes it. Each individual is now being thought of as a unique learner with learning preferences different from other learners. This means that learning designs must somehow factor in the uniqueness of the individual learner. This way, the subject matter will be equally understood by all the participants in the learning experience, not only in terms of comprehension, but also in terms of intended meaning.

Hermann developed a model that differs in design and delivery approaches. He improved and facilitated learning in each of these four

specialized quadrants. Appendix shows a model that shows four different design and delivery approaches in achieving academic performance.

Boyle & Dunn (1998), McCarthy (1996), Shiflett (1989), Torrance(1982) said that brain hemisphericity greatly influences the individual's learning style and all kinds of intellectual and personality characteristics. Boyle & Dunn (1998), Dunn, Sklar, Beaudry, & Bruno (1990) stated that research has demonstrated that students are capable of mastering new skills if they are taught through instructional methods that complement their hemispheric preference. Brennan (1984), Dunn, Sklar, Beaudry & Bruno (1990), Jarsonbeck (1984), also stated that several studies have found that students taught through methods that matched their hemispheric styles achieved statistically significant higher test scores than when they were taught through other teaching methods. RESEARCH LITERATURE Foreign Research THE "TWO-BRAIN" THEORY: LATERALIZATION IN THE

SEPARATE HEMISPHERES by Roger Sperry and Colleagues (1960-70)

The study of epileptics has shed much light on brain lateralization, thanks to the initial research of Robert Sperry (Cardoso, 1998). In 1960-1970, Sperry conducted simple experiments on patients who had undergone surgery for epilepsy. By severing the corpus callosum, seizures can no longer spread from one side of the brain to the other (Hugdahl, 2005). The results of his study were so significant, that he received a noble prize for his efforts (Cardoso, 1998). Sperry placed individuals in front of a screen that had words projected on the left and right sides. He instructed the patients to focus their sight on a central point of the screen, so that any projection on the left would be interrupted by the right hemisphere (due to the x shaped crossing of fibers from the eyes to the visual cortex). Amazingly, the patients would report they saw nothing when words were on the left side of the screen; whereas, when words were on the right side of the screen, they not only saw, but could also correctly identify them. Even in the first instance, the patients were able to pick up an item (placed outside their field of view) which corresponded to the words on the screen while using their left hand. How could someone be unable to see a word with their left eye, but be able to pick up the corresponding item with their left hand? The answer stems from the fact that the left hemisphere is responsible for verbal functions. Because the person saw the words with their left eye, the information was sent to be processed in the right hemisphere and then forwarded to the left-hand; since the information did not go through the left hemisphere, the person was not able to verbally express what they saw (Hugdahl, 2005). Among his colleagues who also contributed on the theory are Bogen, Vogel and Gazziniga

THE WHOLE BRAIN/ FOUR QUADRANT MODEL by Ned Herrmann (1990) Ned Herrmann incorporated the research of Paul Mclean of the Triune Brain Theory and Roger Sperry Lateralization Theory and made a Four Quadrant Models. He thought of by incorporating these theories, he can build a model of the human brain with two paired structure, the structures were the two halves of the cerebral system and the two halves of the limbic system. This allowed him to differentiate not only the popular functions of the left and right brain, but also to recognize specifically the functions of cognitive and intellect which describes the limbic preference. To further understand Ned Hermanns theory, he emphasized the concept of dominance. He believes that wherever there is two of anything in the body, one is naturally dominant over the other. Since dominance can only occur between paired structures, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Model focused on the Limbic and Cerebral layers of the brain. The model is a metaphorical interpretation of how we think and what our preferred ways of knowing. The Four Quadrant Model shows our four distinct thinking styles.

Herrmann then went onto develop the four-quadrant model of cognitive preferences and a questionnaire called the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). Ned Hermann divided the brain into four different systems with different preferred styles, and this became his inspiration to develop the Four Quadrant Model. A: Left cerebral hemisphere - analytical B: Left limbic system - sequential C: Right limbic system - interpersonal

D: Right cerebral hemisphere - imaginative With the development of the model and questionnaires, critiques saw that there seems to be little evidence for differences in the left and right hand limbic systems. However, Herrmann's system does not try to be an accurate model of the way the brain functions. Instead it should really be thought of as a model of different styles, partially inspired by the brain, but also the result of extensive questionnaires. As he refined his questionnaires, four separate clusters seemed to emerge which are reflected in the model. Considerable work has gone into testing the validity of this system with overall positive results. Same works where done by Jacquelyn Wonder, Priscilla Donovan, Beverly Moore, and others. BRAIN HEMISPHERICITY AND ACADEMIC MAJORS: A CORRELATION STUDY by Amany Saleh (2001) The study investigated the correlation between the students choice of academic majors and their brain hemisphericity. The respondents were the 429 graduates and undergraduates in a large university in southern part of the United States. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance to determine the influence of brain hemisphericity on students' choice of academic majors. The results served as support to earlier research which proved in their findings that there is a strong correlation between academic majors and brain dominance. Research showed that arts/literature students tended to be right brained while business/commerce students were left brained. Students majoring in education, nursing, communication, and law were right brained, while students majoring

in business/commerce, engineering, and science were left brained. The study also demonstrated an evidence of a general shift in students brain hemisphericity from earlier research, where more students were identified as whole brained. Research has demonstrated the importance of understanding brain behavior as it relates to learning styles and personality traits. This study examines the relationship between brain hemisphericity and college students' choice of academic majors. The results of this research should help teachers, school counselors, and college advisors to better understand their students' interests and abilities and steer them towards fields or academic majors that are compatible with their interests. LM04 by Christopher Walsh (2005) Walsh mentioned that most animals dont show right and left specializations of brain function. So he wanted to make a study which understands the difference with the left and the right brain.

There had been a detailed report in regards of their findings last May 12, 2005, edition of Science Express.

This left/ right asymmetry (in the brain) is an essential part of our humanness, Walsh said, and learning how it comes about is important for understanding where our human abilities came from. So it speaks about evolution, its part of the system that makes our brains so different from the brains of other animals.

Perhaps more important, this normal asymmetry of the brain is disrupted in a host of human neurological diseases, including dyslexia, schizophrenia and other disorders, he said. So this may offer us entry into how such problems relate to the development of the human brain.

The new research is based on earlier studies showing that certain genes do act differently in various areas of the brain. It was also well known that specific patterns of gene expression are involved in laying out the bodys basic architecture, ensuring the heart is on upper left, for example, while the liver and pancreas also grow where theyre supposed to. So we know what patterns of gene expression create the various body patterns, Walsh explained

Some researchers have wondered if there are specific genes for the right and left brain, he added, but we didnt think so. One thing we did know about gene expression patterns in the frontal cortex is that there are higher levels of gene expression the front of the brain compared to the back. This is well known in animals.

Years of brain research has shown, in fact, the distinct functional maps exist in the cerebral cortex. There are places where visual input from the eyes goes, a different part here input from the skin goes, and another place where the hearing goes. These are well-mapped areas in animals, and the same rules seem to apply to humans, Walsh said.

This led to the hypothesis that differences in gene expression-that is, amounts and patterns of gene- other than gene identity, might be responsible for human right brain./left brain dominance. To find out, Walsh and his colleagues obtain samples of human fetal brain tissue from the National Institutes of Health for study. They dissected specific regions of the fetal brain tissues samples for study.

We compare the future language are of the left brain with the corresponding region of the right brain, he said. We found a lot of genes behaving differently, but we focused mostly on one called LMO4.

By studying mice with engineered mutations of Lmo4- prepared in the laboratory of Stuart Orkin, an HHMI investigator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute mad Childrens Hospital- they showed that Lmo4 is essential for normal cortical development. Walsh said that hat they found in humans was a surprise: In some areas, the amounts of LMO4 (expression) are equal on both sides. But the level of (LMO4 activity) in the brains future language area on the left is much lower than in the right cerebral cortex. We didnt know whether there would be differences in expression or not, so we were pleasantly surprised to find differences in expression of LMO4.

In contrast to humans, mice showed more subtle differences in LMO4 gene expression, without consistent right-left bias. This is interesting because mice do develop handedness, preferring left paw to right paw, or vice-versa. But unlike in humans, no systematic right-left bias is seen in mice.

Walsh said this difference between animals and humans may represent an evolutionary change, some sort of entertainment, or consistent biasing seen only in humans, while in animals its still a random system.

The HHMI team used new genome-wide methods to monitor the activity of thousands of genes at a time, watching for genes that were active under specific conditions.

SEARCH FOR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SOME PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS: THE USE OF A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW BY D. LECOMPTE, L. KAUFMAN, P. ROUSSEEUW, AND A. TASSIN (1983) The study was conducted to determine the relationship between academic performance and some psychosocial factors with the use of structured interview. The respondents were eight hundred and seventy-four freshmen. The scores were measured using the SPSS computer package. The results demonstrated positive significant relationships between study success and sex, fulfilled college expectations, informal contacts with faculty member, introversion and confidence. The scores indicated negative significant relationships between study success and regular alcohol drinking, abuse of medication and some psychopathological symptoms.

THE EFFECT OF BRAIN HEMISPHERE DOMINANCE ON LEARNING BY COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION AND THE TRADITIONAL LECTURE METHOD BY BENEDICT S.C. AND COFFIELD K .(1989) Since the brain hemisphere dominance is reported to affect learning style in a way, people are tended to be classified as left brain-dominant and right brain-dominant. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of brain hemisphere dominance on learning by computer assisted instruction (CAI) and the traditional lecture method. The Wagner Preference Inventory was used to determine brain hemisphere dominance. Content related to the use of Roman numerals was presented using both CAI and the lecture method. A two-way analysis of variance demonstrated an interaction effect between brain hemisphere dominance and teaching method. Subjects classified as right hemisphere-dominant scored higher on the posttest in the CAI group, and left hemisphere-dominant subjects scored higher in the lecture group.

A STUDY ON THE THINKING STYLES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS by E. Horak and J.W. Du Toit There is a worldwide industry led paradigm shift regarding engineering education. Industry indicates that success in the working environment is related to non-technical or soft skills like communication and interpersonal skills. Engineering education needs a bias correction from a historic focus on technical training. These non-technical skills are mostly associated with the right hemisphere of the well-known left/right brain model. The Department of Civil and Biosystems Engineering of the University of Pretoria used

the calibrated four quadrant whole brain theory and model developed by Ned Herrmann to measure the thinking preferences of first year civil engineering students. The study covered information gathered from student intakes during the period 1999 to 2001. The survey was done with lecturing staff too. The results confirmed a predominantly leftbrain bias among the students and the lecturing staff. Academic records of these students were correlated with these thinking preferences confirming that the right brain dominant students tend to perform academically below average and the predominantly left-brain preference students. The implications of the results are discussed with regards to curriculum changes, lecturing style and implications of admission criteria as well as the needs expressed by industry for the incorporation of non-technical or softer skills. In total 100 first year civil engineering students participated in this study over a three-year period as well as 13 of the lecturing staff of the department of Civil and Biosystems Engineering. An analysis of these students profiles revealed a diversity of thinking style preferences amongst the individual civil engineering students in the group. Although diversity exists in profiles, on average these profiles tended to be triple dominant with the primaries in quadrants A, B and D and the secondary in C.

This study revealed, as did studies at the University of Toledo in America (Lumsdaine & Lumsdaine 1995b) that more than one fifth of male students studying engineering tend to avoid the C quadrant. These students will have difficulty functioning as members of multi disciplinary teams in industry.

Lecturers at the Department Civil and Bio-systems Engineering also revealed a 11-2-1 profile, indicating structured and sequential thinking.

An approach is necessary where the learners and lecturers, through the implementation of a four-quadrant whole brain facilitation framework develop nontechnical skills. Facilitators need to accommodate the diverse spectrum of learners with a variety of delivery styles in a balanced way to avoid turned off learners. Lumsdaine et al. (1995a) report that they achieved a significant rise in average D-quadrant thinking preference with engineering students from first year to final year. They ascribe it mostly to an effort made towards a greater sensitivity and retention of their creative and different students. They state that students who think differently can be identified with the HBDI and given special encouragement, mentoring, and support to persist to graduation.

An investigation into the academic performance of the left/right brain hemisphere mode orientation (not included in this paper), revealed a few mentionable facts. Up to 80% of the group were found to be left-brain oriented with a left/right mode split of close to 60/40. Right brain students had a tendency to achieve slightly below average marks up to 7% lower than the left-brain students. These different learners need to be accommodated into the system to harness the full potential that sprouts from the diversity.

The study result is an indication that the Department Civil and Bio-systems Engineering is still in need of change and to experience a further paradigm shift as industry demands. The industry is in need of the new engineer as described by Beder (1998). The study spans the changeover from the old curriculum to the new curriculum (introduced in 2001). The effect of the new curriculum would therefore only be seen in due course. Nevertheless, the implication of the department potentially being stuck in the typical left-brain dominant profile typical of the 1960s to 1970s, are far reaching and probably typical of Civil Engineering Departments at South African Universities. It all boils down to the fact that such departments are in danger of training students with a dated or biased curriculum, still focused on hardcore technical and analytical aspects resulting in potentially ill-equipped engineers for the demands of the industry today.

THE EFFECT OF LEFT VS. RIGHT BRAIN HEMISPHERE DOMINANCE ON THE LEARNING CURVES OF REPETITIVE HAND-EYE COORDINATION TESTS SPRING VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL BY ARLEN CHEN (2002) The study tries to determine the effect of left and right brain hemisphere dominance on the learning curves of repetitive hand-eye coordination test in Spring Valley High School. The study also wants to determine which type of dominance results in the largest learning curve.

The researchers used computer, human subjects, survey form, hand-eye coordination test, left vs. right brain hemisphere dominance test and MINITAB 14.

The study concluded that the brain hemisphere dominance showed no relationship with learning curves according to hand-eye coordination, that brain dominance had results relatively similar to each other and have definite learning curve.

Local Research BRAIN DOMINANCE AND LEARNING STYLES OF HIGHSCHOOL

STUDENTS by Helen C. Madela (2006) This study was conducted to determine the prevailing brain dominance and the predominating learning styles among high school students of CSSAC-Calabanga, SY 2005-2006. The study also looked into the differences in learning styles with brain dominance as the factor of analysis. The researchers were informed by identified brain dominance and learning styles and were provided materials which were developed by the curriculum and were proposed to satisfy the varying learning needs of high school students. A descriptive survey method of research was utilized. Descriptive statistics including frequency counts, percentages and chi square were the statistical tools used to analyze the data. The questionnaire on brain dominance inventory and the learning style inventory served as the instruments for gathering the data that provided answers to the problems of the study. This study concluded that small majority of high school students as left brain learning, visual learning style predominates among high school students and brain dominance and learning styles are independent of each other.

BRAIN DOMINANCE, LEARNING STYLE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS AMONG FRESHMEN COLLEGE STUDENTS OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN BY ALFONSO SIMACIO MARQUELENCIA (2005) This study identified students brain dominance, learning style and academic achievement among freshman college students of the University of San Agustin. The study aimed at providing insights for the students, faculty, school administrators, guidance counselor, parents and curriculum planners on students learning styles and brain dominance. The researcher used descriptive co-relational research and employed a standardized brain dominance-questionnaire published by Human Resource Center of Ateneo de Manila University and learning style inventory adapted from Garner and Jewler. The subjects were the 250 randomly selected freshmen college students of the first semester AY 2004-2005 of the University of San Agustin. Frequency count percentages, rank and mean were used for descriptive statistics; standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, chi-square, lambda were used for inferential statistics. The significance level was set at 0.05. The results revealed that majority of freshmen students were visual learners, left-brained and have a good academic achievement. The researcher found no significant relationships among variables employed in the study namely brain dominance, learning style and academic achievement.

THE LEARNING STYLE AND BRAIN DOMINANCE OF STUDENTS IN CEBU INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: PROPOSED ENRICHMENT FOR THE

EDUCATIONAL MEDIA CENTER WHOLE LANGUAGE PROGRAM by Jeogenes Biongcog (1996)

The research aimed to determine the learning style and brain dominance of grades 2-12 students in Cebu International School as bases for enhancing the whole language program implemented in its Educational Media Center. The tasks that were pursued were determining the learning styles of the students using a learning style inventory and ascertaining the brain dominance of students as classified in a brain dominance inventory. The results of these inventories were then matched in congruence to whole language perspectives. Finally, an enrichment scheme was proposed to enhance the CIS EMC whole language program. A descriptive method was used. Instruments used were Barsch learning style inventory and brain dominance inventory as revised by Evelyn Davis. Findings showed that majority is left brained, one third is right brained and 7% of whole brained. Variations of dominant visual and minority auditory and tactile groups were seen. The study also showed that 55 of the respondents that are left-brained and 48 of the right brained is close to being whole brained.

MENTAL ABILITY, GENDER AND READING COMPREHENSION IN RELATION TO PUPILS ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS by Victoria Jaum (2004) The study aimed to determine the relationship of mental ability, gender and reading comprehension on the pupils performance in Mathematics. The study was conducted at Holy Name University, Tagbilaran City, SY 2003-2004. The research participants were the Grades IV and V pupils of the said school. The null hypothesis was tested that mental ability, gender and reading comprehension do not correlate significantly with the pupils academic performance in Mathematics. Descriptive

statistical procedures included taking frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations. The Pearson r and t-tests were computed to determine the relationships between variables. The study concluded that mental ability and reading comprehension skills are so vital in the academic performance in all subjects specially mathematics. Based on the result of the study gender is not a factor that sets a significant difference in the pupils performance in mathematics.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MENTAL ABILITY, APTITUDE, PERSONALITY, PRE NURSING PROPER ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND BOARD EXAMINATION RATINGS OF GRADUATES OF THE COLLEGE OF NURSING, ARELLANO UNIVERSITY by Fe B. Braga (1976) The study aims to determine the relationships among mental ability, aptitude, personality and pre nursing proper academic achievements and board examination ratings of graduates of Arellano University, College of Nursing. The researcher used a descriptive study and used the following instruments: 1) AUPEHS for the Mental Ability Test, 2) AUAT for the Nursing Aptitude, 3) CTP for the Total Personality Test, 4) Pre Nursing Academic Grade, 5) Nursing Proper Academic Grade, 6) Nursing Board Rating, and 7) School records. The study concluded that the individual selection or predictor factors-mental ability, nursing aptitude, total personality traits, pre-nursing academic grade average-have positive and statistically significant single correlation indices with success criteria factors such as nursing proper academic grade average, and nursing board examination rating. The researcher also concluded that the employment of a combination of the 4 selection criteria-mental ability, nursing aptitude, total personality traits, pre-

nursing academic grade average-for admission purposes, appears more appropriate than the utilization of 1 selective criterion. The researcher used the weights below in selecting students for admission purposes in the school studies. Pre-nursing academic average..45% Mental ability (AUPEHS)30% Total Personality (CTP)...15% Nursing Aptitude (AUAT)10%

The researcher generally concluded that the shorter the time span that separates the gathering of the data for the predictor variable from the criterion variable, the stronger is the relationship. Thus, among the predictor variables-mental ability, nursing aptitude, total personality traits, pre-nursing academic grade average-the pre-nursing academic grade average has the strongest influence in the nursing proper academic grade average; and in turn, the nursing proper academic grade average is the best predictor of success in the nursing board examination. The researcher also confined her study to one college of the university, hence, the conclusions stated for the research environment-College of Nursing of the Arellano University, Manila. The nature of sampling employed showed that this present study could be taken as an institutional validation study.

ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT,

INCLE

RATING

AND

CLINICAL

PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED EAC GRADUATES by Ronald G. Corpus (2002)

This study mainly aimed to see the relationship of college academic achievement, integrated nursing comprehensive licensure examination and clinical performance of EAC graduates. The study utilized a non-experimental research design called ex post facto design. Ex post facto research attempts to understand relationships among phenomena as they naturally occur, without any intervention. This research design was used to identify interrelationship or association between two variables, that is, a tendency for variation in one variable to be related to variation in another. The questionnaire: scale of 1-5; two open-ended questions were posed at the end of the tool to elicit qualitative responses from sets of participants. The questionnaire was constructed using the job description of a staff nurse as stipulated in the nursing service manual of the medical center manila. The research went to the office of the chief nurse to obtain a copy of the nursing service manual. Using the product moment correlation coefficient, the findings showed that there is no relationship between college academic achievement and the INCLE rating. Also, there is no relationship between college academic achievement and INCLE rating to the clinical performance of EAC graduates. Using the t-test for

independent samples, the findings showed that there is congruence between the selfrating and head nurse rating of the clinical performance of EAC graduates. The ratings were compared on the 6 components of the duties and responsibilities of a staff nurse at medical center manila. The mean rating of the head nurses to their staff nurses clinical was 1.4. The mean rating of the staff nurses to their clinical performance was also 1.4. The computed t-value was 0.

FAMILY RELATED FACTORS AND THERE RELATIONSHIP TO THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECOND YEAR NURSING STUDENTS (2003) by Christyn Bunag, Reina Rose Delos Santos, Cecile Jacinto, Michelle Lamboy, Juan Carlos Moreno, Janette Relano, Michelle Sison The researchers used descriptive survey design. The primary sources of this design is to gather information about 4 specific population, specifically second year nursing students of Arellano University, because of their availability. Descriptive design provides accurate description of the variables, as they occur naturally, in order to be measured in testing their relationship. In this type of design, the variables are partly controlled by the situation and by the investigator, usually by the method of choosing a sample for the study. Ninety percent of the total population were given questionnaires, and responded comprising of 22 males and 75 females. The remaining 11 students were not included either refused or unavailable during the data collection.

The study used purposive, non-probability sampling. The sample is the second year nursing students. Their total population is 108, with 22 males and 86 females. There are 87 regular students and 21 irregular students.

The instrument was developed based ion the variable identified through literature as possible factor affecting academic performance. Prior to data collection process, a pilot study was done. Selected students from other year levels were given a

questionnaire, and revisions of the questionnaire were done based on their feedbacks.

Using the Chi square test, an association between these variables, family related factors and academic performance turned out to be significant. However, not all

variables compared were significant. Based on the statistical test, type of neighborhood and family structure greatly affected academic performance. Students lives in

subdivision or village, show that family structure have failing grades. Family structure shows significant result in relation to arts/science and overall subjects compared to those who belong to nuclear family. Results of Chi square test for type of students and who have immediate family members working abroad revealed significant statistical finding.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THIRD YEAR STUDENT CONCEPT OF NURSING AND THEIR CLINICAL PERFORMANCE by Cortina G.F., Guianan D.T., Noble R.M., Remegio I.C., Sison Z.M. (1997) This is a correlational study designed to determine the relationship between the third year nursing students concept of nursing and their performance on their clinical experience. This type of research design were chosen as it attempts to understand

relationships among phenomena as they naturally occur, without any researcher intervention. Basically, a correlation is an interrelationship or association between 2 variables, that is, a tendency for variation in one variable to we related to variation in another. The basic aim of the correlational research design, which is to understand relationships among variables, best meet the purpose of this study. This study was conducted in UP College of Nursing using third year nursing students who had gone through the clinical experience in N-105 first semester of Academic Year 1996-1997 and were currently enrolled in N-107 as the subjects. The subjects who undergone the

clinical experience in N-105 just for completion were not included in the study to be able for the group to obtain information under equal factors. 60 out of 70 students were randomly chosen to be included in the study.

A questionnaire was used in the study to determine the students concept of nursing. The results of this examination were compared to the students grades in their clinical performance in N-105.

The group gathered consent from the subjects to obtain their grades in their clinical performance in N-105 from the college.

The questionnaire had two parts. In the first part of the questionnaire, nine true or false type of questions were asked to determine the students concept of nursing. The correct answer to these questions corresponded to the nine roles of nurse. The number of correct answer was the basis for the students concept of nursing.

In the second part, the students were given a list of 12 important characteristics of caring from which they were to choose only These 12 characteristics were categorized into 3 parts: a. concern that included gentleness, patience, respect and various helping act b. presence that include active listening, proximity/accessibility, provision of therapeutic touch and verbal communication

c. stimulation

that

included

smiling/giving

compliments,

guidance,

encouragement and competence

Each characteristic under concern was given the highest point of 3, under presence was 2 pts each, 9 a pt. for those under stimulation. The points that corresponded to each characteristic chosen by the students were then added wherein the perfect square was 12.Scores from both parts pf the test were added and then used as data. Using the Pearson test for correlation with the value of r=0.018 interpreted as low negative correlation meaning third year nursing students concept of nursing does not affect their clinical performance.

SYNTHESIS Sperrys study is about hemisphericity which is the same topic of the researcher. However it differs in the researchers study because it is an experimental study of people who had surgery for epilepsy.

Hermanns model best represents the researchers study because it deals with both school performance and the concept of BHD. However Hermann used a quadrant model while the researcher will only use hemisphere model.

Salehs study is about students choice and BHD.

It is similar with the

researchers study because it she used graduates and undergraduate college students. Also, like the researchers, the study will benefit school faculty in understanding students

performance. Its difference with the researchers study is that it used ANOVA as its statistical treatment.

Walshs and the researchers study both deal with the asymmetry of the brain. It differs with the researchers study because besides human its other subjects are animals, specifically mice. Also it is a laboratory experiment, unlike the researchers study which is a school-based research.

The study of Lecompte, Kaufman, Rousseeuw and Tassin is similar with the researchers study because it studies about academic performance and some psychosocial factors like gender. It differs in terms of its tool-it used interview forms while the researcher will be using questionnaires. Also its respondents are freshmen students, while the researchers respondents are graduating students and incoming third year students.

Benedict and Coffield study is about BHDs effect on CAI and traditional lecture. It is similar with the researchers study because it both deals with BHD and a learning subject. The difference is that it will use a different tool with the researchers, which is the Wagner Preference Inventory. treatment. Horak and Du Toit and the researchers study both deals with BHD profile of students. However in their study the population will be civil engineering students. Also Also it will be using ANOVA as its statistical

they will be using a tool which will not be used by the researchers which is the HBDI-the tool developed by Herrnann.

Chens study is similar with the researchers study because it has the same independent variables which is BHD and is both correlational. Like the researchers, BHD was tested but with a different tool. It differs because this study is an experimental one, while the researchers study is a non experimental inferential one. Also This

research incorporated many instruments like computers and hand coordination test. Its respondents are highschool students.

The study of Marquelencia is similar with the researchers study instrument which is the brain dominance questionnaire. And at the same time it is also a correlational study. However the subjects being used here is a Math subject, while the researchers study will be using a BSN program. Also, Marquelencia differentiated brain dominance as a quantified relative preference for thinking in 4 different modes: cerebral, limbic, left and right brain or according to hemisphere specialization: left-brain and right-brain task specialization while the researcher defined it as An individual's preference for using one's cognitive abilities. There are 3 styles of thinking - right brain, left brain and mid brain.

Biongcogs study is similar with the researchers study population which is students. The difference is that these students are from Grade 2 to 12, while the Learning style was also

researchers study will be dealing with college students.

incorporated int his study, which will not be included in the researchers study. Also this

study wants to enhance language program while the researchers study wants to establish a connection between variables.

The study of Jaum is similar to the researchers study in terms of considering gender as a factor in performing in an academic subject. It differs with the researchers study because it also considers reading comprehension and mental ability in achieving academic performance. Also the subject studied here is Math, while the researcher will be using a BSN program as the subjects of its respondents. Also it used a different statistical treatment with the researchers like Pearsons test and t-test.

Bragas study is similar with the researchers study instrument which is students grade average. This study however has 6 variables while the researchers study only has 2 variables.

Corpus wants to establish in his study that there is a connection between academic achievement and clinical performance-in the researchers study clinical performance is just one out of the two divisions of nursing students academic performance. Also the researchers study doesnt study academic achievements-just their performance.

The study of Bunag, Delos Santos, Jacinto, Lamboy, Moreno, Relano, Sison tries to correlate family factors with academic performance. It is similar with the researchers study because it both talks about academic performance and its factors. However it

differs because it used non probability sampling-the opposite of the researchers type of sampling which is a probability sampling.

The study of Cortina, Guianan, Noble, Remegio, Sison deals about students concept of nursing and their clinical performance- in the researchers study clinical performance is just one out of the two divisions of nursing students academic performance.

CHAPTER 3 Methodology Research Design: The design will be an inferential quantitative study on the relationship between BHD and academic performance of nursing students.

Population: The study will include two groups of respondents. The first group will be the incoming third year BSN of Southville International School and Colleges batch 2011. The other group will be the graduating BSN students of SISC batch 2009

Respondents: The researchers will be using systemic sampling. The researchers will be getting the total population of the two groups of population. After getting the total population the researchers will be withdrawing a sample based on a 5% margin of error.

Research instruments: Brain Dominance Questionnaire. This instrument was published by Human Resource Center of Ateneo de Manila University. The derivation of this instrument is the Brain Dominance Indicator from "Whole Brain Thinking" by Jacquelyn Wonder and Priscilla Donovan in 1984. This research instrument determines ones primary brain dominance. It consists of 35 items. To obtain data on brain dominance, the researcher followed a scoring procedure on brain dominance. The encircled letter for each item

represented the subjects score. The obtained scores for each item were totaled and a mean score was computed. To diagnose the left and right brain qualities, the number of points you scored was added and was divided by total number of answers checked. The latter number may vary among testers since questions 8 and 33 have a large number parts. For example: If ones points totaled 300 in 40 answers, the brain preference indicator (BPI) would be 7.5 and this corresponds to dominant right brain because the result is greater than 5, hence, if brain preference indicator is less than 5, this corresponds to dominant left brain. The number then be found on this continuum:

Left

- + --- + --- + --- + --- + - Right. 1 3 5 7 9

The scoring key for brain dominance inventory. A 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. SWIMMING 9 GOLF 4 SKIING 7 SINGING 3 7 1 3 9 1 1 9 B 1 5 7 7 7 9 1 3 9 1 3 C 3 7 D 9 9

PLAYING INSTRUMENT 4 SEWING 3 ARTS/CRAFTS 5 PHOTOGRAPHY 3 TRAVEL 5 COLLECTING 1 CHESS 2 ROULETTE 7 DANCING 7 RUNNING 8 KISSING 9 CHATING 4 TENNIS 4 CAMPING/HIKING 7 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 9 9 1 1 9 7 9 6 3 1 1 7 9 1 1 5 3 6 9 4 1 3 5

FISHING 8 GARDENING 5 HOME IMPROVEMENTS 3 READING 3 COOKING 5 DOING NOTHING 9 BICYCLING 8 WRITING 2 BRIDGE 2 CHARADES 5 WALKING 8 HUGGING 8 TOUCHING 9 DEBATING 2

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33

3 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 7 9 8 1

1 9 9 5 7 5 9 7 9 8 9 3 1 2 9

CONTRACTS 1 VISUALIZE 9 CHATTING 3 POSTPONE 7 PUNS 3 FREEZE 3 SCHEMATICS 7 ADVANCE 2

PLAN TRIP 1 FIND WORDS 1 NOTES 1 NOWHERE 9 34. 35. 9 1 1 7 5

Nursing Students Ratings. To measure the academic and clinical performance, the researchers will be using the ratings of nursing students in their nursing core subject.

SISC Grading System. To rank the ratings of nursing core subject, and be able to tabulated it with their BHD, the researcher will be using SISCs grading system.

Administration of Instruments: The researchers will get the total population of the two groups. Then BHD will be tested. After BHD testing the researchers will summarize BHD along with names of students which will be submitted to the Deans office for coding of names along with their academic and clinical ratings. Once coded, the researchers will then use systemic sampling in drawing the respondents. Respondents academic and clinical performance will be categorized according to SISCs grading system. Then statistical treatment will be applied.

Statistical Treatments: In order to test Ho1, the researchers will be using Phi Correlation In order to test Ho2 and Ho3, the researchers will be using Rank Biserial Correlation In order to test Ho4, the researchers will be using Mann Whitney test In order to test Ho5, the researchers will be using Rank Biserial Correlation

Full Name (Please Print): _____________________________ Gender: M F Age:______

Please do not analyze the questions. Answer them quickly; encircle the answer that first feels right to you. When there are multiple choices, select the one that most closely represents your attitude or behavior. 1. In a problem solving situation, do you: a. take a walk and deliberate solutions over, then discuss them?. b. think about, write down all alternative, arrange them according to priorities, and then pick the best. c. recall past experiences that were successful and implement them? d. wait to see if the situation will right itself? 2. Daydreaming is: a. a waste of time b. amusing and relaxing c. a real help in problem solving and creative thinking d. a capable tool for planning my future 3. Glance quickly at this picture

Is the face smiling? a. yes b. no 4. Concerning hunches/guesses: a. I frequently have a strong ones and follow them b. I have a strong hunches/guesses but don't consciously follow them. c. I occasionally have hunches/guesses but don't place much faith in them. d. I would not rely on hunches/guesses to help me make important decisions. 5. In thinking about the activities of your day, which most typical of your "style" a. I make a list of all the things I need to do, people to see b. I picture the places I will go, people Ill see, things Ill do c. I just let it happen d. I plan the day's schedule, blocking out appropriate times for each item or activity. 6. Do you usually have a place for everything, a system for doing things, and an ability to organize information and materials? a. yes b. no 7. Do you like to move your furniture, change the decor of your home or office frequently? a. yes b. no

8. Please check which if these activities do you enjoy (Select all that apply): [ ] swimming [ ] tennis [ ] golf [ ] camping/hiking [ ] skiing [ ] fishing [ ] singing [ ] gardening [ ] playing instrument [ ] home improvements [ ] sewing [ ] cooking [ ] reading [ ] doing nothing [ ] arts/crafts [ ] writing [ ] bicycling [ ] bridges [ ] photography [ ] charades [ ] travel [ ] walking [ ] collecting [ ] hugging [ ] chess [ ] touching [ ] roulette [ ] debater [ ] dancing [ ] kissing [ ] running [ ] chatting 9. Do you learn athletics and dancing better by: a. imitating and getting the feel of the music or game? b. learning the sequence and repeating the steps mentally? 10. In sports or performing in public do you often perform better than your training and natural abilities warrant? a. yes b. no 11. Do you express yourself well verbally? a. yes b. no 12. Are you goal oriented? a. yes b. no 13. When do you want to remember directions, a name, or news items, do you: a. visualize the information? b. write notes? c. verbalize it (repeat it to yourself or out loud?) d. associate it with previous information? 14. Do you remember faces easily? a. yes b. no 15. In the use of language, do you: a. make up words? b. devise rhymes and incorporate comparison? c. choose exact precise terms? 16. In a communication situation, are you more comfortable being the: a. listener? b. talker? 17. When you are asked to speak without preparation at a meeting. do you? a. make a quick outlines? b. just start talking c. shift the focus to someone else or say as little as possible? d. speak slowly and carefully?

18. In all argument, do you tend to: a. talk until your point is made? b. find an authority to support your point? c. just become withdrawn? d. push chair or table, pound table, talk louder, yell? 19. Can you tell fairly accurately how much time has passed without looking at your watch? a. yes b. no 20. Do you prefer social situations that are: a. planned in advance? b. spontaneous 21. In preparing yourself for a new or difficult task, do you: a. visualize yourself accomplishing effectively? b. recall past successes in similar situations? c. prepare extensive data regarding the task? 22. Do you prefer working? a. alone? b. in a group?

23. When it comes to "bending the rules" or altering company policy, do you feel: a. rules and policy are to be followed? b. progress comes through challenging the structure? c. rules are made to be broken? 24. In school, did you prefer: a. algebra? b. geometry? 25. Which of these handwriting positions most closely resembles yours?

a. regular right-hand position

b. hooked right hand position (fingers pointing towards the chest)

c. regular left-hand position

d. hooked left-handed positions 26. In note taking, do you print? a. never? 27. Do you use gestures to: a. emphasize your point? b. frequently? b. express your feelings?

28. Do you instinctively feel an issue is right or correct, or do you decide on the basis of information? a. feel b. decide 29. I enjoy taking risk a. yes b. no

30. After attending musical: a. I can sing the tune without opening my lips b. I can recall many parts of the lyrics 31. Please hold a ballpen vertically to the ground at arm's length, centered in your line of vision and lined up with a frame, board, or door. Holding that position, close your left eye. did your ball appear to move? a. yes b. no Close your right eye, did your ballpen appear to move b. yes b. no 32. Sit in a relaxed position and clasp your hands comfortably in your lap. Which thumb is on top? a. left b. right c. parallel 33. Check as many of these items as you feel are true about you; [ ] I can extract meaning from contracts, instructions manuals, and legal documents. [ ] I can understand patterns and diagrams [ ] I strongly visualize the characters, setting, plot of reading materials [ ] I prefer that friends phone in advance of their visits [ ] I dislike chatting on the phone [ ] I find it satisfying to plan and arrange the details of a trip [ ] I postpone making telephone calls [ ] I can easily find words in a diagram, names in a phone book [ ] I love puns (use of a word in different senses or of words which differ in meaning but sounds alike) [ ] I take lots of notes at meetings and lectures [ ] I freeze when I need to operate mechanical things under stress [ ] Ideas frequently come to me out of the nowhere 34. I have a. frequent mood changes b. almost no mood changes 35. I am: a. not very conscious if body language, I prefer to listen to what people say b. good at interpreting body language c. good at understanding what people say and also the body language they use

SISC Grading System

Grade Point 4.00 3.75 3.5 3.25 3 2.75 2.5 2.25 2.0 1.75 1.5 1.25 1.0 0.00

Percentage Description 99-100 97-98 95-96 93-94 91-92 89-90 87-88 85-86 83-84 81-82 79-80 77-78 75-76 74-below Excellent Superior Very Good Good Satisfactory Fair Passed Failed