The Whole-Brain Solution

Luke Lawson is a teacher and administrator in Vancouver, B.C.

There is a constant demand from many educators and parents for
high-order thinking in schools. This brief book provides teachers with
some strategies for obtaining that higher order.

The Whole-Brain Solution is broken into the following components:
observing, generating ideas, asking questions, connecting, making
analogies, recognizing patterns, solving problems, transforming, and,
finally, synthesizing. Each of these chapters contains lesson plans, a
student self-assessment, and reproducible worksheets. One of the
book’s strengths is the cross-curricular use of the above components,
with suggestions provided for use in math, social studies, and language
arts.

The one big weakness of The Whole-Brain Solution is the fact that
high-order thinking enables students to stretch their minds and perhaps
to “think out of the box.” With that in mind, a book with many
worksheets seems to invite students to stifle their expressions. Filling
in sheets with brief answers is not much of a challenge for students.
The obsession with worksheets (many of which limit high-order thinking)
displayed by many so-called educators baffles this reviewer.

Finally, the book states that its contents are “based on the needs of
students in grades 6 to 12.” However, many high-school students, and
those in grades 11 and 12 in particular, would find most of the
exercises and worksheets a waste of time. These students should be
reading and analyzing much deeper writings and novels, not filling in
worksheets.