Tuesday 24 November 2020

Plato’s idea of a beauty, elegance and gracefulness.

 

1.      Plato’s idea of a beauty, elegance and gracefulness.

Beauty

Plato came up with a theory that combined both mathematical system and one that could be comprehended (immutable to change). He brought the ideas of Pythagoras and Heraclitus who said that our minds cannot know as the world was in constant flux. Plato recognized that beings can know through the intellect which is illuminated by the immutable which many attribute to God. The forms represent the immutable and intelligible that our minds can grasp.   The world according to Plato is divided into two namely sensible which represents the lowest and in constant change hence unreliable as source of knowledge and the intelligible (highest) which is the world of forms that represents the intelligible and knowable world. We can see the correlation with Augustine, who said that through contemplation of eternal truths we can know. The two portends that the intellect is the highest knowing faculty in man but needs illumination from above if it has to know in the proper sense.  For Plato not every mind can know except those who have contemplated and their intellect has been illuminated by the light from above. A person who has been illuminated can grasp the eternal forms which are immutable hence closer to God. 

People no longer recognize the beauty of the social organization, but detest it as a hindrance towards a preset of self ideal.  Art has become a creation and not a mimesis as it was in the ancient and middle ages. Whatever one creates has become a self discovery process which is termed authentic hence each person has to become creative to attain recognition which results in self fulfillment. There is confusion between originality and creativity as the latter is not constrained by any rules. We can see the slide to relativism on what constitutes authenticity in art. So when people claim they are authentic what they mean is that, they are living their lives in a way in which they deem fit and in an atmosphere of freedom from societal demands. Each person should make his own life an ideal and live it that way

Elegance

Elegance can be defined as simplicity, though some authors says there can are no simple theorems.  Plato says that an elegant life is one characterized by the pursuit of justice, virtue and salvation as a personal responsibility. To attain this it means we have to practice temperance and self control especially in the satisfaction of our sensual pleasures. He gives an example of sobriety which means simply not to abstain from alcohol but partake in moderation. Elegance means the ability to forge bonds in social set ups and leading a life worth emulating by others.

Gracefulness

Graceful means to be humble in our undertakings and avoid pride and arrogance. He says that mimesis will largely be restricted to auditory and visual likeness of a good person behaving steadfastly and sensibly. Someone who is gracefulness is reflection of a harmonious soul. Soul which has recognized the forms especially beauty which is in harmony with a graceful person.

It means knowing the truth of things in every sphere and drawing inspiration to greatness, in emulation of predecessors. This shows that a graceful person recognizes in humility the greatness of other men especially heroes hence imitate.  But he places a caveat that they should not imitate any unworthy character, let alone a whole variety of them. They should imitate only characters they wish to emulate in their own lives.

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values’ by M.F. Burnyeat and it's bearing of these lectures in the education of the humanities

 

1.      What is the bearing of these lectures in the education of the humanities?

First we have to attempt to interpret what mimesis is and we shall go with what Christopher Janaway that “at most general level it tends to mean something which is like something else in some way. Often, though not always, this will be a copy or likeness which is less real than an original of which it is the likeness”. For Plato he allowed some form of poetry in his ideal state such that dramatic characterization was deemed necessary  as it was beneficial in enabling one behave  like a good person and in so doing imbue the soul with gracefulness.  This understanding already establishes some sort of difficulty in education in humanities since the person who is the best imitator is deemed the best.  In book 3 he is against poetry that appeals to the senses as its impersonation and never attends to the individual actors souls. There is no motivation to be good as what is important is pleasure. This is what Plato sets out by banishing tragic poets such as Homer in his ideal state.

In book 10 he says that mimetic art is a dim reflection of the truth. As he states in 595b8: “Mimetic art is far removed from the truth and that is why …..It can make everything because it touches only a small part of each thing, and that an image. Mimesis comprises of some forms poetry and paintings. Modern day artists make a representation of arts, in which the artists represents something by making appearance of it. In education of humanities Plato would accept that future artists can be taught to make an appearance which by the intention resembles things of some kind but is not really one of them. This understanding means that there is disconnect between the artist and art.  Artists can produce something which is a representation and they far removed from the produced item. This is what is prevalent in the education of arts such that musicians produce music that is just imitation of certain western cultures and have no bearing to them.

The mimetic art is concerned with what delights their eyes and ears but the philosopher is concerned with beauty itself. This is the situation we find ourselves that modern buildings by architects is defined by what is appealing to the eyes and not beauty in itself. This situation can be related to the education in humanities which calls for redefining what art as a philosopher is would do. For Plato people who are not able to comprehend the Forms mistake the likeness for the real and have no knowledge but belief. As we know belief is what shaky and has no philosophical grounding hence everyone can produce anything and call it art.

Reasoning leads philosophers to the highest principles, and from it shall be able to deduce the relationship between a thing and its likeness.  Anyone who is unable to understand the Forms cannot have knowledge. Likeness is contrasted with their originals as being mere shadows and reflections of them. Forms cannot be viewed as likeness of something as they are the real thing itself. In education of humanities we have to strive for students to know the Forms as they are most real and proper objects of knowledge. Allowing students to dwell on likeness will be propagating falsehoods or counterfeits.

 While discussing painting of the couch, he says the carpenter does not produce a couch but something in the likeness of a couch. The couch is a likeness of a couch made by the carpenter which in turn is a likeness of the Forms. From this we can conclude that the painting is at the third level in reference to reality.  He is concerned with what kind of person is the practitioner of mimesis is. There is some sort of hierarchy in his understanding of various persons who practice mimesis. The originator of Forms and in our context is God has to be recognized within the education of humanities, that all mans creations are nothing but imitations of God’s creation. The recognition of this hierarchy means students of humanities of humanities have to be humble and submit that their works is a reflection of the real thing who is God. The more they imitative the closer they will be to God, but can never replace God. Likewise for scientists who want to play God, and forget that their art is nothing but mimesis of Forms or could be at second level (what has been made by others).

 

Plato in 598b6-8 alludes to his contention that mimetic art is far removed from  truth, and that’s why it can make everything , because it touches only  a small part of each thing, and that an image.  Such an understanding can be applied in education of humanities in that the education can pretend to offer everything but in reality could just be touching only a small part of each thing. Rarely do schools offer holistic education though there could be some allusions to it since it tries to mimic the truth about reality. Such an education presents the way an educated person should appear, as its viewed differently. The eternal realities cannot be represented hence within the realm of educationist to judge point at possible direction where its students can find the truth.  Forms don’t have an appearance; since they belong to the realm of the intellect, not sensible hence cannot subject it to the rules of science which requires sensible proofs. The painters do not make something which has substance but is an imitation of something hence important for students of humanities to have a clear distinction of this phenomenon otherwise they will live in a world of illusions.

In conclusion mimesis can give the impression of comprehensive knowledge and lead people astray with regard to what is good. The danger is to allow mimesis those masqueraders falsely as knowledge and corrupts moral judgments by the appeal it makes to emotions.

A teacher's reflection on learning styles


Understanding of how learning occurs and its application in my lecturing

Learning is a way of preparing students with adequate knowledge, skills and attitudes for the long and complex life lying ahead of them especially in the 21st century that is quite dynamic.  This calls for classroom competence with the ability to understand what is involved in learning something and then to be able to act intelligently on that understanding.  Both teaching and learning consist of favored strategies that become embedded in our most deeply rooted internal structures, for there is no time to rethink every single move in a busy classroom.

Ridding and Cheema (1991), comments that learning style can be conceived as a structure, process and a combination of the two. Under structure he espouses that there is a presumed structure that remains long after schooling is over. The onus is with the teacher to determine which learning style is suitable in a given environment. During lectures the attention span of students is basically twenty minutes hence need to incorporate active learning activities like discussion.  For process there is recognition that learning is a constant change which is upon the teacher to decipher this change so as to adopt teaching method.  Learning encompasses the following components:

·         Environmental learning style; some students prefer morning lecturers others mid morning while others late afternoon.

·         Emotional learning style; this learning refers to responsibility, structures, persistence and motivation.

·         Sociological learning style; some students learn best under a group especially when grouped with their friends.

·         Physiological learning style; students have physiological needs which if not attended to can affect learning and teaching during my lectures. I strive to give a break during a two hour lecture and allow some minutes for lateness. This enables students to be at ease.

Students do develop learning styles of which they are unaware of unless asked to reflect upon. What about teachers? When we go to class what is our teaching style? Is it in tandem with the students learning style? Does it take into consideration the various individual learning styles in class? All these are pertinent questions which a teacher can reflect on practice alone or with colleagues, which allows teachers to think about what approach they have towards teaching and learning.  The curriculum that students are exposed to can either is narrow or broad of which the latter applies to my situations. I teach students across faculties and the toughest task is for them to find relevance in humanities within their degree programme.

A skillful teacher capitalizes on curiosity, as it’s a powerful driver of students learning. In my case I always start off my semester by a series of videos and cases in the current affairs so as they can relate. Once I have pricked their curiosity there is always eagerness to learn since they now find relevance of a unit like Anthropology within an IT degree course. My main concern is to avoid switching off their learning switch. I always have to devise various ways of delivering various topics and relate it to their level. I love cracking jokes with everyday experiences that they can relate with. Sustaining their curiosity is a task throughout the semester is tasking that am more willing to take.

Giving them a flying start and laying a firm foundation for what will be many years of solving personal and societal problems is my mission every time me I step into a lecture room.  My students should be able to contribute to the increment of knowledge and development of human race. They should become independent and able to study on their own as well as be humble to learn from others. Teachers are role models and students learn a lot from us. If I am sincere, honest and fair in my dealings with the student then they will be at ease. There is nothing bad as being in a class of full of worried faces. I have to constantly reassure them that they will make it .  I have to live what I teach and if I don’t know something I should not fumble with an answer or issue threats since its going to end up closing their minds.

When teaching and learning work in harmony the results are far more impressive than when conflict exists. Students are sensitive to the kind of language a teacher uses hence the teacher has a way of explaining successfully rather than be simplistic and baffle students with unnecessary abstract concepts.  There is a consolation in that even the highly proficient teacher can improve what they do, because nobody will ever reach a state of perfection that would render further improvement impossible.  

It’s a great assumption that learners are aware of their learning styles. There are those who will just come to class to write notes, others to listen while others just wait for exams to read the materials.  Also there are teachers who follow a syllabus and tick off completed while some free wheel.  Its good to know what is the effect of such on students learning. Students like order and predictable classes. I strive to be organized and posted weekly materials so that student can make follow up after class.  Students need to be convinced that its worthwhile to reflect on how they learn, so as to find out what works best for them. Students have to be proactive and extend their learning beyond the allocated three hours per week.

Bennet  (1990)defines a learning  style as a consistent  pattern of behavior and performance by which an individual approaches educational experiences. It is the composite of the characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors’ that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with and responds to the learning environment. (Bennet, 1990, p.40).

We can conclude that improving learning effectiveness calls for strategies that try to match learning styles with instructional approaches. It will be imperative to teach students how to learn using skills such as active notes taking , active participation etc.

 

                                                                                               

Friday 30 October 2020

How use of buzz groups /interactive windows affects learning outcomes

 

Lectures are often un popular with students especially those in advanced years of study, who demonstrate their feelings by not attending them (Merrili,2001). Students tend to get distracted or bored by use of lecture method to deliver content and often times we get sentiments that there is need to find creative ways of breaking down the boredom. Despite such sentiments universities still allocate lecture hours to lecturers to deliver their content. Lecture method is the predominant method and will continue to be as there is no enough evidence to suggest which mode can replace it in the long run.  With this problem in mind lecturers have to invent ways to motivate the students so as to enhance learning. One such way is by use of buzz groups which can be defined as an activity whereby students are asked to spend some few minutes discussing a question or concept or even solve a problem in small group.  Interactive window can be defined as any activity that is short in nature.  It is integrated within the lecture whose aim is to encourage interaction and stimulation of thoughts as per their sitting arrangements.  Bellon, Bellon and Blank (1992) says that buzz groups fosters independent, cognitive thinking among group members with less reliance or presenter-based rote memorization.

Buzz groups cannot work independently but in a combination with another method e.g. lectures. It is highly recommended while dealing with difficult topics or problems that are controversial and calls for consensus.  The formation of buzz groups depends on the criteria set by the lecturer and once formed the teacher then introduces the problem to be tackled.  Buzz groups should ideally have a leader and person who record the interactive participation proceedings. The teacher should allow each group to present its findings to the rest of the class hence each buzz group can detect limitations in their proceedings.  Ideally a buzz group or interactive window should take 5-20minutes depending with complexity of the work to be tackled. The teacher should walk around to ensure groups are on track and avail self for groups seeking clarification. The lecturer uses the opportunity to stimulate discussion by introducing twists in the problems being tackled. The teacher should announce once the time is almost over and stop all the discussions and reconvene the class and call upon group leaders to present their group proceedings. This method allows all the students to get involved even those who are shy to talk before the whole class can do it in their buzz groups.

Though this method seems encompassing and involves the learner actively some critics have identified some drawbacks. Firstly there is loss of teaching time as sometimes the discussions may spiral out of the allocated time hence teacher more time controlling the groups than teaching. Secondly there is reduction in content since lots of time is spent discussing the material teacher has given and the end may not cover entire syllabus. The third drawback is that there is a tendency for inaccuracy in transmission of factual information as students have to work out the solutions and sometimes may leave lecture halls without solutions.  Fourthly is that the students might resist the method as it burdens them. This may lead to negative perception about the unit and the teacher.  The last which is the greatest risk is the loss of control on what the students are discussing as teacher cannot be in all the groups at the same time. Despite these challenges this method can be deployed in a minimalist approach and it can it can enhance learning outcomes.

In a study by HuxMan  (2005) whereby he examined the acceptability of interactive windows whereby he  used semi-structured evaluations over five years and got 500 responses. He gave two short problem-solving or discussion sessions in each lecture for two classes and  it emerged comparatively that interactive windows enhanced recall and understanding but the evidence was generally weak. He concluded that interactive sessions minimizes boredom but cannot replace lectures entirely.

Traditional lecture method is considered a passive mode of learning which compromises the attention and recall abilities of students.  In such settings students are turned into passive listeners and no deep learning takes place. The attention span for a typical student is 10-30minutes hence need to change activity after 15 minutes and this is where interactive window or buzz groups come handy. With such changes in activities students are able to reflect on what has been taught and in so doing lead to deep learning. In a study by Young (2009) on vigilance in class he noted that although the standard lecture format {talk and chalk} had the lowest attention spans if the material is stimulating enough students perceptions and approaches to learning could still be influenced. In his first  two lectures (L1 and L2) he used chalk and talk method with lecturer addressing class via power points with no opportunity for rest or interaction. In Lecture 3 he introduced guest lecturer who used same method as L1 and L2. In L4 he introduced buzz groups discussion while halfway briefly.  His conclusions were that the buzz groups increased active learning and therefore deep learning and off settled the attention decrement.

In another study that targeted perceptions of active learning in a large cross- disciplinary classroom by  Machemer and Crawford (2007) . The study surveyed students perceived value of a range of teaching techniques (from traditional to cooperative) utilized within a general education class. Students rated the various techniques on an ordinal scale and the values were statistically compared using mean difference (paired sample test). The study found that students valued lectures and being active.  Any activity, be it active, cooperative or traditional, that directly relates to improving exam performance was the most valued of all.

We can conclude that students value buzz groups or interactive windows when blended with lectures as it enhances active learning and kills boredom. For the students there should be no compromise on the content to be covered by lecturer and at the same time the buzz discussions should enable them to pass exams. This means the methods should be used to enhance discussion of content especially if the class size is large.  The teacher should try to use others methods but not to over rely on the buzz groups as it enhances recall and improves memory rather than synthesize of what was learnt. The use of buzz groups calls for the teacher’s preparation and shouldn’t be used as an afterthought. It should be part of the lesson plan and students oriented on what is expected of them.

REFERENCES

Bellon,J., Bellon, E., and Blank, M. (1992). Teaching from a research knowledge base. New York: Merill.

Huxman,.M .Learning in lectures. Do interactive windows help? 2005; The Higher Education Academy. London Vol 6 (1): 17-31

Machemer.,P and Crawford., P (2007) students perceptions of active learning in large groups cross-disciplinary classrooms: Active learning in Higher education, March 2007 Vol 8 no 1 9-30

Merilli,.B (2001). Learning and Teaching In Universities: Perspectives From Adult Learners and Lecturers: Teaching in Higher Education 6: 5-18

Young,S., Robinson,S., and Alberts,P., (2009)  students pay attention! Combating the Vigilance Decrement to Improve Learning During Lectures: Sage publications, Los Angeles; Active learning in Higher eduction Vol 10 (1) 41-55

The role of Social Psychology in attaining the goals of Education.

 

Introduction

The objectives of education are of great concern to students, parents, teacher, society and other stakeholders. In order to organize students experiences education social psychology plays a crucial role considering that increasingly better instructional materials are being developed and new media especially the internet are being adapted  and being refined for instructional purposes. Nevertheless, provisions for differences among students in rate and style of learning are still not adequate. Teachers and others are well aware of present inadequacies and probably education social psychology will offer solutions for better management of institutions. Teaching and learning are fundamentally social enterprises.  Teachers' roles in the classroom are equally social. Explaining concepts, keeping students on task, and communicating with fellow faculty members and parents are obviously social. Although less obvious, planning classes and grading papers are anticipatory social acts in that these activities require teachers to forecast how students will react to lesson plans and comments, respectively.

The discipline of social psychology has great untapped potential to help teachers understand and manage many of these social aspects of the classroom. Although some concepts from this discipline (e.g., self-efficacy, stereotype threat, etc.) are already known in education circles, many are not. Realizing the potential of these lesser known concepts will pay off in important ways. There are various advantages that once recognized can help manage education institutions.

Gehlbach  (2004) says that  firstly  because social processes are fundamental to so many aspects of learning and teaching, intervening at this level often produces multiple desirable outcomes (i.e., one intervention might have an array of benefits). Furthermore, by drawing on fundamental principles, applications of these ideas may be generalized across many facets of teachers' jobs (i.e., one principle may have multiple applications). Second, the effects of interventions that successfully modify basic social processes can be disproportionately large. In other words, by changing social processes that occur repeatedly, small interventions can have big effects. Third, because social processes often set cycles in motion, interventions that establish positive patterns of interaction can be long lasting.

The core construct of social psychology entails discerning the thoughts and feelings of others with particular attention to how others perceive the situation. According to this formulation, social education psychology is a complex aptitude consisting of an ability dimension as well as a motivational dimension (Gehlbach 2004).

Though we have to be open to naive realism which is the belief that we see objective reality; those that agree with our point of view also see objective reality; but those who disagree must be (a) subject to different (presumably lesser) information, (b) too lazy to process the information fully, or (c) biased (Ross and Ward 1996). Mitigating these biases will help teachers more accurately perceive their students which, in turn, will enhance their pedagogy. To understand how, it is helpful to illustrate how these biases can unfold in classrooms. Among their multiple roles, teachers must monitor students' academic progress—are students' grades, homework completion rates, and conceptual understandings improving or not? When a student's rate of progress declines abruptly, teachers need to understand why. In other words, this is a critical moment for teachers to be motivated and accurate in taking the student's perspective if they are to help remediate the situation. The more accurately teachers infer their students' thought patterns, the more readily they can identify conceptual misunderstanding.

Discussion

Education psychology is the science that studies student behaviors in educational settings; that is, student behaviors and education set the boundaries of the content and methodology of science. The content focuses on the nature of learning, the development of student’s abilities, focuses on the nature of learning, the development of students’ abilities, types of learning outcomes acquired by students, conditions within the student and within the school setting associated with efficient learning, and measurement of the outcomes of learning. Education social psychology does emphasize the theories, principles and related applications that appear to be the most relevant in actual modifying of student behaviors which is the practical function of the school.

The responsibility of educating children is the work of teachers and parents. Typically students spend more time with their teachers hence the need to know how to respond to their needs. Even under optimal conditions, most children and youths will experience some problems in school hence upon teachers to mitigate this in order to have better institutions. The role educational social psychology is to improve and understand the teaching and learning processes. The teacher’s perception of what takes place in class is substantially different from the perception of students. Psychologists have discovered many things about human behavior, and they have established principles and theories that summarize and clarify insights. Objectives, materials, student characteristics, teacher characteristics and interactions are important components of a schooling system. A teacher influences whether a student is able to understand concepts based by his ability to gain the students attention and maintain it. The mentioned factors have to be arraigned in a certain way to achieve learning.

 

Motivation

Motivation is a general term referring to goal seeking or need satisfying behavior. The level or strength of motivation of an individual in connection to a task is judged by attending and persisting behaviors.  A student who attends closely to instruction and persists until the task is completed is obviously highly motivated. The level of motivation is inferred from an individual’s behavior, but this doesn’t mean the level cannot be influenced. A teacher can arrange environmental conditions to secure a student’s attention initially and to maintain persistent effort. Motivation must always be taken into account as one attempts to make instructional system work smoothly.

When students come to school and encounter teaching –learning situations, they have interests and needs that may at times, divert their attention from the instructional objectives. Some students experience deprivation of physiological and safety need during school hours. We can then be concerned with their needs for love and belonging, esteem, self actualization and the desires to know and understand. Helping students to satisfy these needs is a primary means of developing high motivation. The need to attain success is related to social needs of students and is present in most students. Students who experience a diminished sense of belonging at school are less likely to remain motivated and engaged in school; consequently, they are more likely to drop out ( Juvonen 2006).

Punishment and threat of punishment are still widely used by teachers all too often, improperly and ineffectively.  A reward is something given to one person by another person or group which brings pleasure or satisfaction to the recipient. When a student is rewarded immediately, after some behavior and knows that the reward is given for the behavior, there is tendency for the behavior to be strengthened. If a reward is promised a student will produce the desired behavior. Punishment brings pain or dissatisfaction to the recipient.

Attitudes and values

Attitudes and values are among the most vital outcomes learned in school, for they are important in determining how the individual reacts to situations and also what he seeks in life. Thus attitudes and values serve both as mediators of responses and motivational forces. An attitude is a system of three interrelated components- cognitive (information), affective (feelings) and action-tendency (behavior). There is a difference between attitude and concept in that concept influences an individual’s acceptance or rejection of attitudes objects like persons, ideas, things, situations etc.  The attributes of individuals and of groups they belong to are important determiners of attitude acquisition and development. Of interests to education social psychology is the primary group and reference groups which the individual uses as standard against which he compares the adequacy of his behavior.

Pleasant feelings, success, and rewards produce favorable and lasting attitudes; while unpleasant feelings, failure and punishments lead to unfavorable attitudes and also in some cases, to the extinction of previously favorable attitudes. A teacher and other administrators can work on developing a program of instruction once it has been established what attitudes will lead to efficient learning. The learning of attitudes can be facilitated through:

·         Providing exemplary models

·         Providing pleasant emotional experiences

·         Using group techniques

·         Arranging of appropriate practice and encouraging independent attitude cultivation.

As Reynolds et al. (2008) emphasize, students must feel safe before learning can occur. Furthermore, the complex mechanisms underlying the problems of achievement, dropping out, and safety can easily feed off of one another to form destructive cycles.

Though home background does influence attitudes and values, some students do diverge markedly from the value system of their parents. It is important for teachers to recognize their own attitudes and values and those of their students so that they may accept, rather than discriminate inadvently against, a student who attitudes and values are different from their own. Accepting students does not mean accepting antisocial behavior or permitting highly withdrawn student to remain unattended. Regardless of a student’s values and attitudes certain behavior cannot be permitted for example fist fighting, cursing, stealing, vulgar language, destruction of property and open rebellion against the rules and regulations needed to operate a school or classroom. According to Ross (1977), the fundamental attribution error consists of people's pervasive tendency to explain the social behavior of others by overweighting the causal role of an individual's personality traits and undervaluing situational causes. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency of people to seek out and value information that corroborates their pet hypothesis, often while ignoring or devaluing contradictory information (Wason 1960).

The teacher interacts with students by speaking, writing, and making actual physical motions. Students also have some of the same means of interacting with the teacher as the teacher does with them. The teacher usually, however, controls the kind and amount of interactions. Thus when a teacher decides to lecture or to have the students study independently, there is no verbal interaction among the students or between the teacher and students. On the other hand a teacher who understands social psychology will inculcate classroom discussions, panel discussions, small group discussions, question and answer sessions to call for much interaction.

 Group cohesiveness

A cohesive group is one in which all the members wish to stay I that group: in other words, the members are sufficiently attracted to one another or to the group activity so that they wish to stay in that particular classroom or group. Education social psychology enables teachers to identify and know how to manage cliques and majority-minority patterns that emerge in their classes. If not well managed, it will lead to isolation hence affecting group activities like classroom discussions.

A major domain in which social psychologists have substantially enhanced our understanding of the social world is that of interpersonal and intergroup relations. One of the more intriguing phenomena to emerge from this domain is the research on intergroup bias (Devine 1995). One obvious classroom application of this work is to guide teachers' organization of group work and to improve intergroup relations between students from different backgrounds or cliques. Personal attraction, performance of tasks and maintenance of group prestige have been identified as the basis of cohesiveness. Cohesive groups tend to communicate more effectively with one another and also conform more readily to the dominant group opinion that less cohesive groups.  To establish cohesiveness within smaller groups, teachers may put students together who have an interest in the same activity or common goal or put friends together in the same group. Also, the task or activity can be arranged so that the members experience success feelings or secure praise through doing the job well. In working with individuals and smaller groups, within the class so that each member experiences a feeling of success in an excellent means of encouraging cohesiveness and securing high student achievement.

 

Environment

In interactions, teacher leadership, the instructional procedures used by the teacher, student achievement and emotional security are all closely related. A balance is achieved between student-initiated and teacher-initiated talk as the teacher responds to student suggestions concerning activities, listens to students attentively, accepts student feelings, asks questions, and praises and encourages. A warm and effective environment can be maintained in an organizational or structural context characterized by businesslike approach to instruction, orderliness, flexibility and fairness. This kind of emotional climate and structure, combined with a variety of instructional methods, each to attain particular objectives, produces high student achievement, emotional security and zest for learning.

The social conditions are increasingly changing and the teachers cannot afford to be averse to these changes. The caliber of students keeps on changing in that we get students who are highly hooked to technology, lots of expectations from parents and society. What can teachers do to weather such a storm? The recourse is in education social psychology which has remained timeless in preparing and offering practical solutions for management of better institutions.  Many youths of today feel alienated from adult society, including their parents and their teachers. They feel they are not understood. Many don’t identify with the value systems of their parents or teachers. Not finding satisfaction in the world  as it is and becoming disillusioned about being able to change  it for better, many youth turn to drugs, open rebellion against adults, rejection of much of the curriculum content and code of conduct of the schools. With such a scenario the teacher’s task appears daunting but it presents opportunities of meeting the challenge. Skills and understanding of social psychology can help a teacher know how to help students solve their daily problems of living and eventually become a well-integrated person. A teacher should be concerned with personality integration of student’s life for the betterment of the institution.

Motivational, discipline and personality integration are integrally related. Every social system, including the school and classroom as a system, requires some regulation of its members to enable it to function effectively. In school settings, discipline refers to control of procedures in order to facilitate the attainment of educational objectives. Discipline procedures in the schools historically have moved from the use of force to self-discipline. Current trends as informed educational social psychological informs that discipline should be self-control as a result of learning sense of responsibility of self, other classmates, and the school. Good discipline is a function of good teaching. The teacher’s best efforts are directed at creating a classroom environment supportive of healthy personality integration and rich with learning experiences that capitalize on the enthusiasm of youth.

Developing an emotionally secure environment

Feelings of acceptance and belonging are important in achieving an emotionally secure classroom or school. Such an environment is characterized by : a feeling of general warmth, encouraging moderate expressions of emotion and feeling by students; democratic group decisions, use of non-punitive control techniques. By the time the student finishes high school, he should have fairly realistic appraisal of himself, his motor skills, his knowledge and intellectual abilities, his interests and his emotional make up. Very few institutions do give an understanding of students of students strengths and weaknesses hence needing up graduating students who don’t know who they are. Educational social psychology then becomes a mediator in such instances to help students find acceptance and appreciate their special individual selves.

In addition to motivating students to expend more effort on homework, cognitive dissonance could be used to help students persist on their academic goals for the semester. Teachers might facilitate this process by assigning students to write down their goals through a regular classroom assignment. This relatively common exercise could be strengthened by having students then try to convince a peer to adopt at least one of their goals.

To strengthen the intervention further, teachers could assign students to inform their parents of their list of goals and the reasons why they want to pursue them over the course of the year. As Cialdini (2009) notes, by trying to convince their classmates of the merits of their goals, they will likely convince themselves; by describing their goals and the reasons for their goals to audiences like their parents, they will bolster their commitment to their goals; and by posting the goals in class, the goals will remain salient for students.

 

Conclusions

We can conclude that, social psychological principles need to be adapted into actual classroom practices. Social interactions lie at the heart of classroom learning. As a result, thoughtful, new applications of social psychological principles may have multiple, large, lasting benefits for teachers and students.

 

References

Devine, P. (1995). Prejudice and out-group perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 466-524). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Cialdini, R. B. (2009). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Gehlbach, H., & Brinkworth, M. E. (2010). The social perspective taking process: Strategies and sources of evidence in taking another's perspective.

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Sunday 29 January 2017

Three malaises by Charles Taylor and its relevance or irrelevance for Kenyan society and education

The three malaises as identified by Charles Taylor as afflicting American society are namely; individualism, primacy of instrumental reason and loss of freedom at political level. To him he deemed as what ails the American society and goes ahead to propose remedies. In the Kenyan society which is striving to attain a middle level economy and an education system commonly known as 8-4-4 which connotes the number of years spent in each level namely primary, secondary and university. Our system of education can be termed a “culling” process or “obstacle race” whereby those who have access to the best facilities and opportunities are graded the same by the national examination which seals their fates.
The malaises identified find some relevance in Kenya and we shall examine each with corresponding examples of what is currently happening. Let’s start with the malaise of individualism which can be described as an attitude where the self triumphs without recourse to the means employed. The means could involve crooked ways but this is tolerated as what counts is the individual “makes it” in life. The apex described is characterized by attainment of lots of material wealth in terms of houses, cars, holiday destinations, club memberships and social amenities used for example schools and hospitals.  An individual who has attained the apex of individualism is allowed to flaunt their wealth. Our education system tends to favor individual students who score high test scores and this fosters the attitude that success is never collective means. There is emergence of a crop of leaders who flaunt their wealth whose means of acquisition is shaky spells doom for our society as individuals’ disregards societal ideals. The youth are demanding for unrestricted freedoms as it’s considered a precondition for attaining the individual’s desired success. Such notions as unrestricted freedom are dangerous in the society as we need people to use freedom responsible for the good of self and others.
The second malaise on primacy of instrumental reason is very recent phenomenon in our country. Instrumentalism is using reason as a means to attain certain end considering maximum utility as the fulcrum. Under this malaise we can start with the notion whereby the young people who are joining university are pursuing degrees based on the perception of which degrees has the most rewarding in monetary and prestige terms in the society. The pressure to pursue certain fields can be dictated by certain forces like the parents, friends and society. A recent study on youth trends in east African identified the generation “Y” as the most flight risk employees as they are perennially in search of “green pastures” and don’t espouse work ethos at all. Ethos like solidarity, diligence and hard work are disregarded as what counts is how much money one makes. We have lost the human caring aspect as human beings are considered useful as long as services are needed. The same culture means that employers are outsourcing much of the work so as to cut on operations costs and have optimum profits.  In Kenya currently there is a sudden upsurge in pursuit of undergraduate studies by almost everyone at the expense of technical courses because of the perception created that degree holders earn maximum returns. Under this category we have to examine the prestige attached to technology in solving all the problems that we face in society. Technology is good as it solves some of the problems and improves man’s life in the society, but the mistake of thinking that technology is the ultimate solution is misplaced. Recently the government had promised that it will supply laptops to all class one children as a solution to problems facing delivery of primary education. This is misplaced priority in a country with acute shortage of teachers, poorly equipped schools and where children suffer hunger is untenable. The government needs to address these basic issues first before turning technology as the panacea of what ails the education sector.  Technology cannot replace the human aspects of care, but can improve on efficiency and content delivery.


The last malaise as identified by Charles Taylor is at the political level whereby it’s a typical middle class problem in Kenya of not participating in self government. The middle class rant out the loudest on social media platforms but consider it a bother to participate in picketing, demonstrations or even just to vote. In Nairobi politicians have realized the majority of registered voters who turn up on the Election Day are from the low class. For the middle class as long as the government of the day exists and does the minimum to safeguards their privileges then there no need for agitations. A closer look at institutions at the local level for example schools and health centers committee members is comprised of very middle class as they consider it bothersome and since they can afford private schools and hospital there is no need to participate in improving services. The middle class have no qualms paying for services to private companies at t he expense of taking the local government to task to provide for services like garbage collection. I don’t blame this on education system as Charles Taylor would like us to belief as in our country education is about a race to cross the finish line and enjoy the fruits that accompanies such an accomplishment. In the Kenyan curriculum issues on government and civil studies is well covered from lower primary to high school and I belief this is enough to propel one to participate in self government. To the middle class comfort is enough and national ideals should be left to the civil societies and the lowly in the society.
i)                    The inarticulate debate
Articulate can be defined as clarity, distinctiveness, precision or coherence of thoughts. Charles Taylor terms his debate inarticulate which we can interpret as the opposite of the mentioned verbs. He terms it inarticulate because it’s not coherence and not a convincing philosophy that can be emulated to lead man to his ultimate end. The inarticulate debate is relativism which can be defined as “everything goes or is accepted” and there is no universal standard for morals. Each person can formulate their own our moral ideals and live with that without any question from other members of the society. The acceptance of such an ideal has been mutual respect or being true to self. Such statements are inarticulate since mutual respect demands that we correct our fellow beings when they hold ideologies that are self destructive or affect other members of the society. Those who hold or advocate for moral ideals are considered conservative or traditionalist and cannot offer moral compass to the current generation as life has changed and has led to relegation of moral ideals as hindrance to achievement in life.
True freedom is the ability to choose that which is proper to us human being and use it responsibly. The current culture is clogged with the notions that for one to “make it” in life then unrestricted freedom is a key ingredient. What is termed freedom is the “principle of non interference” in individual matters, but the truth though man is free his freedom is restricted for own good and society.

For Taylor such ideas are inarticulate as it lacks coherence with mans nature and moral relativism is not an ideal at all. Lack of transcendence of self is a characteristic of this debate which does not recognize the spiritual component of man. The debate conforms with materialism in that man is considered as purely matter and all his actions can be reduced to material understanding. Morality is in the realm of spirituality which is subjected to the principles of materialism will fail hence admission of relativism. The idea that man in a free state without restrictions of morality attains optimum achievement is reductionist view which characterized the inarticulate debate. 

Aquinas theory of education as wisdom , A Kenyan context

The aim of MacKay report in the establishing 8-4-4 system of education was geared towards self-employment especially in the informal sector. The original 8-4-4 has undergone piecemeal changes over the three decades it has been in existence. For example the number of examinable subjects in the final year of primary and secondary level has reduced from seven to five and ten to seven respectively. The system laid emphasis on Mathematics, English and vocational courses like art, craft, home science, business, agriculture, carpentry, woodwork, masonry and electricity. Over time these vocational subjects have been dropped with the flimsy excuse that it was expensive to implement. The current version lays lots of emphasis on language (English and Kiswahili), mathematics and sciences. With such a change teachers have turned into experts of preparing students for national examinations and not preparing them for life after school.
Aquinas in his theory of education as wisdom based his arguments on understanding of who is a person and what can be good for such a being. He says that a person is a composite unity endowed with material component which is relied upon as the basis for intellectual knowledge. For Aquinas wisdom is the ability to discern what is good for the person and genuinely pursue it. He says there are two levels of wisdom namely created which is the realm of science that is interested in the natural world and uncreated wisdom which man discovers and leads him to know God and be open to His transcendence. The vision of St. Thomas is that they should be united as its proper for man.
In our education system there is the emphasis on science which unfortunately does not answer the deep questions that disturbs man. True wisdom should involve enabling students to be reflective hence opening up to God. The 8-4-4 system is currently centered on  social prestige  whereby there is an emphasis to get the best grades which its hoped will lead to a good job and one is able to join a certain privileged class in the society who have gotten great returns from education. Our system is like a series of sieves whereby it allows only the best in the tested subjects to go through and the rest are discarded. Our system has no room for reflection on what kind of lives students should lead after schooling. Aquinas says education should foster in learners ability to understand their own lives and order it to finality (God). Our system which emphasizes recall rather than understanding leaves very little room for such kind of reflection to occur and our students know very little beyond what they learn in class by “drilling method”. Passing examinations has been termed a matter of “life and death” as a child is not open to other possibilities beyond exams.
The problems of not approaching education as wisdom is evident as employers complain that graduates of our education system lack key skills namely communication, teamwork and professional behavior. An environment that glorifies the highest grade cannot impart such skills which are crucial not just in the workplace but also in a person’s life. Wisdom is the ability to choose what is truly good for the person but with the impartiality in our education such is untenable. We need to approach education from a holistic view as man is a unity of body of soul and needs to develop the two harmoniously in order to lead a balanced life. As presently designed the education system leaves the students tired as the curriculum is extensive and have to be studying all year round even during school holidays since the ultimate prize is to attain the highest grade.
Let’s turn our attention to virtue which has been defined as a stable good habit. Aquinas contends that acquisition of virtue is the hallmark of education. He says that there is a precondition to rely on intellectual instruction to impact virtues which is initial possession of virtues by the learners. This means that before children join school parents should have laid the foundation in virtues so that teachers can only broaden their views. In our education system there is emphasis on social studies and religious education which is hoped will enable students attain social virtues. This noble intention is however lost in the race to attain high grades in these subjects and in the process children don’t reflect on what has been learnt and its application in their lives. Reducing virtues to intellectual instruction does not constitute wisdom as even at university students do not understand why they should take classes in ethics. This attitude can be attributed to non-reflection of foundational knowledge in social ethics in primary and secondary level.



We can conclude that education as wisdom leads to development of full capabilities of students rather than insistence on some sectors. Such an education will lead to living and working in dignity as life is opened to God through uncreated wisdom. Our system doesnot make room for such wisdom and no wonder we have youth who cannot confront certain questions about life. Making informed decisions which is a characteristic of a prudent person is lacking in our education as currently formulated. Lastly is that wisdom fosters lifelong learning as opposed to learning to pass examinations? We can say our aim in education is not wisdom as envisioned by Aquinas but passing examinations with the hope of getting a good job with no idea with what to do thereafter.