Infusing Humanistic Activities into Cognitively Oriented Curriculum

by Harry Morgan

In our current quest for excellence, we often miss the essential nature of it. It is trendy to use such terms as "back-to-basics," "gifted education," and "excellence" to describe a new teaching strategy or innovative educational program. It is also true that many of these programs designed for children are really intended to benefit others.

Children chosen for many current gifted programs are preselected, based on an intelligence test. Other indices are used in some cases, but children are still excluded in advance of oppor- tunities to demonstrate their "gifted- ness" in a planned program. We may never know the emotional damage done to childhood friends when some are

Harry Morgan is Chairman of Early Child- hood Education at West Georgia College in Carrollton. He is author of The Learning Community (Charles Merrill).

labeled gifted and removed from the natural group, while others remain be- hind (Parkey 1983; McDermott 1983; Franks and Dolan 1982). But we do know that paper-and-pencil activities cannot display the whole of a learner's potential, and that children have skills available to them in some situations and not in others. It is, therefore, important to provide as many learning oppor- tunities as possible to enable all chil- dren to experience their own excellence (Pirozzo 1982).

The Theory

Educators have considered at least two domains in teaching and learning: cognitive and affective development. Cognitive development refers to the growth of intellectual knowledge of an objective nature. It includes the ability to analyze situations and sequences with the support of thinking skills re- lated to remembering and reasoning. Current jargon refers to this as infor- mation processing. This process is

]2 DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

complex and not easy to pinpoint. We also know that cognition is develop- mental and age-related. We have learned from Piaget that certain mental abilities and strategies that children employ in solving problems change as they get older. Affective development also involves cognition, but its em- phasis lies in humanistic activities such as feelings and emotion, friendship, identity, and a sense of self-worth. To focus solely on cognitive skills (back- to-basics?) in a child's schooling 'would perpetuate a dangerous one-sidedness. In today's world, it seems that our tendency as parents and teachers is to promote learning activities of a con- crete objective nature, with discrete utilitarian goals, leaving an area of hu- man potential largely unexplored and underdeveloped (Taber 1984; Vaughn 1982).

There are times when direct instruc- tion is necessary because it works best for some subject matters in some situa- tions; for example, instruction on the safe use of equipment or on the forma- tion of letters. But even here, if chil- dren can actively participate cogni- tively and affectively, their learning potential is maximized to a greater ex- tent (Vukelich and Golden 1984).

The Practice

Journals that children make and write in are useful for providing a well- balanced approach to teaching and learning. When maintaning journals is a class project, it is essential that adults in the class maintain a journal as well. Journals can contain photographs (taken in the classroom or brought from home), art work, cut-and-paste proj- ects, various textures and fiat materials of a humanistic nature that children themselves decide to place in them. There will be various skill levels in the classroom and the journal development will provide an open window on the child's world through the many activi- ties associated with this project. This allows for a nonthreatening, diagnostic environment where ideas emerge for future projects and lessons.

As children wish to write a descrip- tion, label a photograph, or design a cover, some will be able to work alone or even assist others because they have developed writing skills at an earlier

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age. There will be others who will need some help in spelling a word or two, or hints as to the best display for a group of ideas. For some others you will be their scribe because of poor skills or an un- willingness to risk while being ob- served. As a scribe, you should write precisely what is dictated (skip the grammar!). Resist the urge to become the correcting adult at this juncture.

Sometime later, after trust is estab- lished, you can say, "Charles, that is not the way people write in b o o k s - - let me show you how." The prior estab- lishment of trust is essential because Charles will probably not want to ex- pose his problem to someone who might use such information against him. As a skill grows in this trusting and c o o p e r a t i v e a t m o s p h e r e , a

positive-valuing of self can emerge as the child defines himself or herself as a competent learner (Taylor 1984).

Integration of Theory and Practice

Teaching strategies that ensure par- ticipation begins with an awareness of humanistic values.

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1. Does this activity allow children to relate the knowledge being taught to their personal experiences?

2. Does this teaching technique advance the child's feelings of self- worth?

3. How can I plan this activity so that it helps children to interact with adults in an atmosphere of trust and cooperation?

4. How can I promote an anxiety- free test-taking atmosphere and con- vince children that what I find out about them will not be used against them?

The Birth Month Graph is a useful humanistic project with potentials for cognitive and affective outcomes. Children are often unaware that their "birthday" is the day they were born, and that "years old" refers to how long ago their birth occurred. This activity raises that awareness and enables chil- dren to learn mathematical concepts related to the bar graphs and other types as well, through the use of pictures and displays. As a group project, construct a display (as in the illustration) from a large (24" × 36") poster board and mark it off in 2" squares (smaller if you need more spaces). Have the children cut 1" squares from paper provided them for their name. Those who can

write and cut and paste on their own should be encouraged to do so. For some others, once again you will be their scribe. This part of the activity should be conducted as any other cut- and-paste project.

With the chart complete, and the children's name squares finished and in their possession, arrange a group meet- ing to explain this activity. Following a discussion on the chronological mean- ing of birthday, children are asked to reveal the month they were born in, and one at a time are allowed to paste their name on the displayed poster accord- ingly. The teacher's square should also be on the graph.

After all of the names have been placed on the display, children will begin to observe that some months have more names than others. Here, affec- tive and cognitive concepts will emerge according to the humanistic skills of the discussion leaders.

Elias and Maher (1982) in their pro- gram utilized a TV format for infusing humanistic activities into a public school program for handicapped and nonhandicapped children. The pro- gram was based on problem-solving procedures to facilitate social growth. In another project using small group activity, Nickerson and Prawart (1981) concluded that their humanistic ap-

proach could serve as a model for work- ing on racial harmony in the classroom. An acceptance of diversity by children and adults shotdd be an essential goal for schooling at all levels (Lane 1985). Well-planned group activities that en- able children to interact with peers and adtilts promotes the joy and excitement that knowledge acquisition can pro- vide. For many children, it is an active participation in their own learning that calls forth their best skills. Also, teacher observations of the child's per- formance, in the learning environment, often provides greater validity in as- sessing that child's needs and potentials (Rimm 1982).

In an activity designed for hearing- impaired children, ages 8 to o, par- ticipants were provided opportunities to explore their feelings and share them with other group members. The "feel- ing wheel" (Meadow and Larabee 1982), was the humanistic activity used in conflict resoluton, self-awareness, and promoting an understanding of emotions in the group.

These are but a few examples of humanistic activities that have been employed to promote cognitive and af- fective goals. With these descriptions as starting points, thoughtful caregivers and teachers can design and implement their own activities.

REFERENCES Borowy, Thomas D. and McGuire, John M.

"Experiential Versus Didactic Teaching: Changes in Self-Actualization," Journal of Humanistic Education and Development 21 no. 4 (June 1983): 146-152.

Burnette, Paul C. "A Self-Concept Enhancement Program for Children in the Regular Class- room," Elementary School Guidance and Counseling 18 no. 2 (December 1983): 101-108.

Curtis, Sandra. "The Joy of Movement," Day Care and Early Education 12, no. 1 (1984): 18-21.

Elias, Maurice L., and Maher, Charles A. "Social and Affective Development of Chil- dren: A Programmatic Perspective," Excep- tional Children 49, no. 4 (January 1983): 339-346.

Franks, Beth, and Dolan, Lawrence. "Affective Characteristics of Gifted Children: Edu- cational Implications," Gifted Child Quarterly 26, no. 4 (Fail 1982): 172-178.

Johnson, Ruth Ann. "Helping Children Like Themselves," Day Care and Early Education 7, no. 4 (1980): 14-16.

Lane, Mary. "A Child's Right to the Valuing of Diversity," Childhood Education 6I, no. 2, (1985): 160.

Laskin, Pamela L. "On Teaching Students to Write," Humanist 43, no. 3 (May-June 1983): 10-12.

McDermott, W. Basil. "The Gifted and the Fu- ture: Why Our Best Are Scarcely Good Enough," Roeper Review 4, no. 4 (1982): 2-3.

Meadow, Kathryn P., and Lavabee, Gail. "The Feeling Wheel: A Sharing Activity," Teaching ExceptionalChildren 15, no. 1 (1982): 18-21.

Nickerson, Jacqueline R., and Prawart, Richard S. "Affective Interactions in Racially Diverse Classrooms: A Case Study," Elementary School Journal 81, no. 5 (May 1981): 291-303.

Parkey, William W., et al. "Self-Concept as Learner: An Overlooked Part of Self-Concept Theory," Journal of Humanistic Education and Development 22, no. 2, (December 1983): 52-57.

Pirozzo, Ralph. "Gifted Underachieve~," Roe- per Review 4, no. 4, (April-May 1982): 18-21,

Rimm, Sylvia, et al. "Identifying Creativity: A Characteristic Approach," Gifted Child Quar- terly 26, no. 4 (Fall 1982): 165-171.

Sponnier, Isadore L. "Holistic Education: Teach- ing in the Affective Domain," Education 103, no. 1 (Fall 1982): 11-14.

Taber, Gary Divisson. "The Affective Domain and 'A Nation At Risk',>~ NASSP BulIetin 68, no. 470 (March 1984): 49-52.

Taylor, Jackson, "The Language of Feelings: A Program in Affective Education," Momentum 15. no. 1 (February" 1984): 47-49.

Vaughn, Trefor. "Creativity: An Interactive Process," Gifted Education Internat~;onal 1, no. 1 (1982): 6-9.

Vukelich, Carol, and Golden, Joanne. "Early Writing: Development and Teaching Strate- gies," Young Children 39, no. 2 (January 1984): 3-8. J~

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