humanistic curriculum
Humanistic
Education
Humanistic education (also called person
centered education) is an approach to education based on the work of humanistic
psychologist, most notably Abraham Maslor and Carl Rogers.Carl Rogers has been
called the father of Humanistic Psychology” and devoted much of his efforts
toward applying the result of his psychological research to
person-centered teaching where empathy, caring about students and genuineness
on the part of the learning facilitator
were found to be the key tracts of the most effective teachers.
Books of Carl Rogers “Studies of the
person Series”,Freedom to Learn,Learning to feel-feeling to Learn-Humanistic
education for the whole man by
Harold.C.Lyon.Jr
These approaches seeks to engage the “
whole person” the intellect, feeling life,social capacities and artistic and
practical skills are all important focuses for growth and development.
Important objectives include developing
children’s self-esteem their ability to set and achieve appropriate
goals and their development toward full autonomy.
Humanistic
Theory
In the humanistic theory scholar’s were Abraham Mastow,Carl Rogers,Firty Pearls and
Erich Beone.
The humanistic curriculum emphasized
responsibility of students in learning language, making decision, choosing and
initiating actions, expressing themselves in feeling, opinion, needs, abilty
etc.
In the humanistic view, people are responsible for their lives and actions and have freedom and
will to change their attitudes and behavior. Two Psychologist Abraham maslow and carl rogers
became well known for their humanistic
theories.
Humanistic Curriculum
“The humanistic curriculum supports
the American Ideal of individualism
,helping students discover who they are,not just shaping them into a form that
has been designated in advance.”John.D.Mc Neil.
What is
humanism all about?
According
to Abraham Maslow,it is the hierarchy of Motives or need satisfaction.
Psychological need-Breathing, food, water,
sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion.
Safety-Security of body of employment, of resources
,of morality ,of the family ,of health of property.
Love/Belonging-Friendship, family, Sexual
Intimacy
Esteem-Self Esteem, Confidence achievement
,respect of other.
Self-actualization-Morality, Creativity
,Spontaneity, Problem Solving, Lack of Prejudice, acceptance of facts.
Humanism
is all about
1) Self
–actualization
2) Individualism
3) Self
discovery
4) Creativity
5) Problem-solving
skills
6) Innovation
7) Relevant
Learning
Purpose
Humanist believe that the function of
the curriculum is to provide each learner
with intrinsically rewarding
experiences that contribute to personal liberation and development. To humanist, the goals of education are related
to the ideals of personal
growth,integrity and autonomy.
Healthier attitudes toward self, peers
and learning are among their expectations. The ideal of self-actualization is
at the heart of the humanistic
curriculum. A person who exhibits this
quality is not only coolly cognitive but also developed in aesthetic and
moral ways,that is a person who does good works and has good character.The
humanist views actualization growth as a basic need. Each learner has a self
that must be uncovered,built up,taught.
Role of the Teacher
The
teacher provides warmth emotions which continuing to function as a
resource and facilitator. He or she should present materials imaginatively and
create challenging situations. Humanistic
teacher motivate their students through mutual trust. They encourage a positive
student-teacher relationship by teaching out of their own interests and commitments while holding to the belief
that each child can learn.Those who assume a leadership role in affective
approaches to learning get in touch with themselves and students.
Albert Einstien’s comment,”The supreme
act of the teacher is to awaken joy in
creative expression and knowledge”,
believes a humanistic orientation.
Three
essentials for the humanistic teachers as seen by students are the
following.
1.Listens comprehensively to the
students view of reality.
2.Respects the student
3.Is natural and authentic, not putting
on appearances
Directions in Humanistic
Curriculum
Two-prevalent forms of humanistic curriculum are:
Confluent and Consciousness
Confluent Curriculum
The Essence
of confident education is the integration of an affective
domain(emotions,attitude,values) with the cognitive domain(Intellectual
knowledge and abilities).The confluent teacher helps learners both to acquire
language skills and to discover
themselves.Their goal is to provide students with more alternatives to
choose from in terms of their own lives, to take responsibility for
appreciating the choices available,and to realize that they, the learners can
indeed make choices.
Participation: There is consent, power
sharing ,negotiation and joint responsibility by co-participants. It is
essentially not unilateral.
Integration: There is interaction and integration of thinking,
feeling and action.
Relevance: The subject matter is closely
related to the basic need an lives of the
participants and is significant to the them,both emotionally and
intellectually.
Self:The self is a legitimate object of learning.
Goal: The social goal or purpose is to
develop the whole person within a human society.
Consciousness Curriculum
1) Mysticism
The curriculum involves not only a cognitive mode of
consciousness but an initiative receptive mode guided fantasy and various forms
of meditation.
For eg; Transcendental Meditation(TM) is concerned
with altering states of consciousness ,Voluntary control of inner
states and growth beyond the ego.TM has been used reduction of social tension, increased learning ability and improved athletic
performance has religious implications(ie; the experience of going beyond any
state or realization of being) It may
help learners discern new possibilities, new directions and new questions. A
curriculum of transcendence should
foster a spirit of criticism towards existing practices by encourage underdeveloped
potential and hope in improving one’s existence.
2)Transpersonal Techniques
Bio feed back for controlling brain waves, deep
hypnosis,yoga and the use of dreams are additional transpersonal techniques.
Mental imaginary and mental rehearsal help a person
to perform better on skills that require a thoughtful systematic approach.
Bio feedback can reduce muscle tensions.
The four humanistic responses to
depersonalization of the curriculum to focus’s
on basic skills
1)Self-Directed Learning
Achievement Motivation—Hope of success motivates the
learner if the task is of appropriate
difficulty; fear of failure inhibits the learner if the task is either too
difficulty or easy.
Attributive Theory—Learners see themselves as the
reason for their success children’s interests-self selected study of high interest topic result
in focused effort.
2) Evan
Keislars Curriculum Model for Self
Development
Cognitive-Children
learn from response to problem
Affective-Children
handle challenges on an emotional level & See failure as a learning
experience.
Social-Provides training with co-operative and competitive
groups as well as assertiveness & role training.
Moral-Conflicts in the
class & Community create learning experiences.
Ego Development—Self respect and self
confidence develop without regard to ability or maturity.
3) Finding
the personal in the academic-Recognizing the limits of academic knowledge &
the relevance of other forms of
knowledge and internalizing or finding personal meaning of academic knowledge.
Literature-Finding
personal connections
The arts balance
between expression & craftsmanship
Math-Integrating
learners emotions into the symbolic
process
Science and social
science-applying knowledge to meet human
needs.
History recreating or role playing past events to personally
involve students.
4)Connecting Individual
learnings & Social Learnings
Humanistic Curriculum
is faulted for focusing on self.
Humanists continue to work on ways to combine individual & Societal change
by starting with the individual & thin connecting to the community, country
and finally the world.
Philosophical
Foundations of the humanistic curriculum-Philosophical Roots
The philosophical roots
of the humanistic approach pre-data Socrates can be seen throughout history.
The greek envisioned education as a way
to develop a well balanced & harmonic person. This vision develop into what is commonly referred to as
the “humanities or the humanistic approach”
Psychological
basis of Humanistic Curriculum
Behaviorism and
Freudian psychology are partly rooted in existential thought-Humanism is often
referred as the “American existentialism
because of its focus on the good in all
of its.
A third force
psychology originated to address in fist behaviorism and second Freudian force psychologies.it
follows that curriculum must encourage self-actualization allowing learners to
express, act out ,experiment, make
mistakes and discovers who they are.
Abraham Maslow is a key
figure in the development of third force psychology.
For Maslow, the peak
experience of awe, mystery and wonder
are both the end and the beginning of
learning” Cognitive & Personal growth should take place simultaneously.
Mikkail
csikszentmihalyi—A third force psychologist
who exhorts students to develop complexity in their consciousness and to
acquire multiple interest and abilities. Complexity is made up of two closely linked process
differentiation & Integration.
Differentiation: When
individuals feel free to pursue individual goals and to become as different as
they can be from each other.
Integration: When
individuals become aware of the goals of others and help them to realize their
goals.
Carl Rogers a third force psychologist offered a frame
work for the humanistic curriculum. Believed everyone has a natural ability to
learn and wants to continue learning as long as the experience is positive.
Emphasized learning how to learn.
Transcendentalists are
using nontheistic spiritual tradition’s from asia such as Buddhism. Aiming at high
level of consciousness and alternate way
to relate to the world. This direction is sometimes termed as fourth force
psychology.
Transcendentalist
encourage additional way of learning
& knowledge such as being guided by intuition –an inner voice, feeling
thought or image. The interplay between the rational and non rational is
necessary for creative imagination & a pre requisite to logical thought.
Comments
Post a Comment