|
Over
the years Professor Bryant's teaching style was developed from
three outstanding teachers: Ron Lippitt of the National Training
Laboratory and the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research, Paul Freire, author of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
and Miles Horton of Highlander, a folk school in the Mountains
of Tennessee. In the classroom, students are encouraged to view
themselves as resources to be shared with one another and to be
less reliant upon authority-dependent relations of the faculty.
Too often faculty view themselves as the to sole disseminators
of worthwhile information, thus relegating students to passive
dependent roles with little or no important knowledge to contribute.
Role plays, simulations, and small group exercises, are the pedagogical
techniques used to help students share their knowledge, resources,
and experiences with each other in classroom discussions. Often
times it takes considerable skill to get students to feel comfortable
enough to both view themselves as resources and be willing participants
in group discussion. In this instance the teacher abdicates a
certain amount of control in the classroom and becomes both student
and teacher in the learning process. Authority-dependent relations
are thus discouraged, enhancing independence of thought, personal
autonomy, critical thinking and quality interaction or interdependence
among peers and with faculty. Since the classroom is student centered,
this creates an atmosphere for them to take charge of their own
learning. Through this process they liberate themselves from the
shackles of authority-dependent relations by becoming actors,
not spectators, and by coming together in human solidarity, creating
a belief that they can transform the world in which they live.
Active participation in the learning process requires students
to make perceptual shifts from being the object of knowledge to
the source of knowledge and from being authority-dependent to
being active teachers and learners. Group participation helps
students share their knowledge with peers, preparing them to be
open minded for teaching and learning throughout life. Another
important component of the teaching and learning process is reflecting
and integrating knowledge and the writing of weekly logs of their
experiences in and external to the classroom. By writing logs,
students are encouraged to organize information in ways that clearly
show that they understood readings, abbreviated lectures, and
seminar discussions. Students are ask to share their logs with
one other person in the class on a weekly basis before handing
them to faculty for additional comments. Thus, students obtain
feedback from both their peers as well as faculty.
|
|
Assumptions
about Knowledge and Teaching
Assumption 1: Knowledge
can be Violent and nonsustainable. Society often values knowledge
that allows one to coerce the world into meeting social needs,
regardless of its inherent violence (Palmer, 1983). Both
the direct violent application of knowledge as well as its
by-products are perhaps at the root cause of many social
and environmental problems we experience today. Violence
to the planet manifests itself in the clear-cutting of forest,
causing erosion of precious soil. Acid rain destroys thousands
of lakes and forests in the U.S., Canada, and throughout
the world. Global warming increases our vulnerability to
shifts in climatic conditions--conditions that cause floods
and droughts in various areas of the planet, contributing
to famine and other chaotic conditions. The depletion of
the ozone layer increases our risks to skin cancer. The production
of toxic chemicals, many of which are hormone disrupters
or may cause toxic-induced or aggregated diseases, threatens
our very survival of present and future generations. The
contamination of underground water supplies continues to
grow at an alarming rate, particularly in the U.S.; thousands
of toxic dumpsites across the country pollutes air, water,
and land, lowering property values and causing serious health
problems. These are examples of violent and nonsustainable
aspects of knowledge or its by- products that threaten our
very existence here on planet Earth.
Assumption 2: Knowledge
can Reduce Jobs. Scientific knowledge is used to create new
technology such as computers driven machines. Every time
we produce technology, energy is lost or pollution is created
in the process, and a net loss of jobs may result. Technology
accelerates the violent and perhaps nonsustainable conditions
under assumption one. Shaiken (1980) states that the burgeoning
influence of high technology not only threatens jobs in traditional
areas, but also in areas that promised jobs for those displaced
by the manufacturing sector. A net loss of jobs, due to capital-intensive
technology, will definitely create more control over labor
by management, as workers compete for scarce job opportunities.
In addition, worker pension funds are often invested in technology
that forces workers to the unemployment roles and then society
turns around and blames them for not having a jobs. The production
accelerated by technology increases violence to both the
environment and people dismissed from jobs.
Assumption 3: Students
can be Sources of Knowledge. Although students are seldom
seen as valuable information sources, they nonetheless can
be important sources of information. Class discussion, utilizing
student resources, can be just as motivating as classroom
lectures. Under the right pedagogical conditions students
often feel empowered and education becomes a meaningful experience
where students view themselves as resources and take initiative
for much of their own learning. When students view themselves
are resource and take initiative for their own learning,
they not only liberate themselves from authority-dependent
relations in the classroom, but they feel that they can make
a difference in the world in which they live. In the SNRE,
undergraduate students organized an ongoing environmental
justice course where they teach themselves. This is perhaps
the only course in the University where students teach each
other.
Assumption 4: Traditional
Teaching Fails to Liberate. Perhaps a heavy reliance upon
lectures foster authority-dependent relations between students
and faculty, thus creating asymmetrical relations and social
distance. Students become peripheral spectators in a drama,
where the teacher is actor (Palmer, 1983). Students are socialized
to be passive-dependent as teachers deposit information in
their mental receptacles (Freire, 1974). This authority-dependent
relation fails to liberate or engage students in critical
thinking which could empower them to take charge of their
learning. In fact, authority-dependent relations from infancy
to adulthood have become so ingrained in students that they
often feel less educated unless lectured.
Assumption 5: The traditional
lecture has real limits. It is assumed that lecture are the
most efficient way of disseminating accumulated information,
mainly because it has been done this way throughout the centuries,
and because it is assumed that students will give most of
their attention to the lecturer. However, current research
clearly indicates that college students at best can only
concentrate 15 minutes at a time (CRLT, 1978). This is not
to say that lectures are unimportant, but that students might
be better served if the 50 minute lecture formats were divided
into two 15 minutes periods, each followed by discussion.
Such a format would be more consistent with students' concentration
stamina. Also, short discussion following the lecture allows
students time to integrate the subject matter more fully.
Assumption 6: Often
fragmented and specialized knowledge is generated not only
for special interest groups, which fund a considerable amount
of University research, but for professionals who jealously
guard and monopolize scientific knowledge. As more and more
specialized knowledge comes under the control of professionals,
more and more decisions are lifted from the village square.
Professional often feel they have the specialized knowledge
to make the best possible decisions for people, thus usurping
the democratic process. Decision- making power is taken away
from people by turning knowledge into an abstraction. Specialized
jargon found in professional journals exclude the general
public and prevents them from making informed decisions.
When people feel they no longer can participate in decisions
that affect their lives, they often become alienated and
disenfranchised. Because knowledge is specialized and fragmented,
it helps create narrowly defined visions that may differ
from macro or holistic perspectives of the world. |