Faculty: Helena Meyer-Knapp L3210 (ext. 6549)
and Peter Bacho L3209 (ext. 6383)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Spring quarter our efforts will be centered on determining whether, and in what ways learning, play and education contribute to our well being. Does being a learner (or a student) enhance our sense of well-being, or is it simply preparation for well-being at a later date? We will be studying learning in several settings.
We will study "learning theory" and teaching/learning to be an artist by reading Gardener's To Open Minds,. which compares the teaching of visual arts in the US and in China today.
The lives of two black children, Charlayne Hunter Gault, (In My Place) and Claude Brown (Manchild in the Promised Land) in the civil rights era in the United States and schooling in East Harlem today (Miracle in East Harlem) make a second thematic emphasis.
We will go back across the Pacific again for a short story (Home) and part of a novel about Philippine hopes for education and a new life in the US (Bolosan), and for Jill Kerr Conway's Road from Coorain, about growing up in Australia.
We will close with two kinds of "discipline:" athletic and spiritual. We will contrast Phil Jackson on coaching the Chicago Bulls with football in a small Texas town. We end with spiritual practice as learning, reading Carlos Castenada.
Students will be writing weekly responses to the readings. Each response is to take an autobiographical stance, comparing events and experiences in the book with the reader's own life. By the end of the quarter each student will have accumulated the skeleton of an educational autobiography.
In addition, you will have two choices to make: individual project v. in depth study of play and computer workshop v. writing workshop.
Individual projects: the choice of topic is as wide as the basic theme for the program. However, if you want to do a project the theme needs to be clearly organized by the beginning of Spring Quarter, and you need to demonstrate a well-developed ability to work independently. These projects will all be supervised by Peter B. Play project: will follow a lecture/workshop/fieldwork format, with some limited individually designed play "experiences" and observations. It will be taught be Helena MK
The computer workshop will teach basic e-mail and internet skills to those who need them. More advanced students will be working on making Web Pages, and preparing computer graphics and images. Helena MK teaches the computer workshop. The writing workshop will continue along the same path as the last two quarters developing students abilities as creative writers, teaching specific writing techniques, and allowing opportunities for student and faculty feedback.
CREDIT: Over the year we have given credits in family and individual psychology, cross cultural studies, computers and creative writing. Your credits will depend on the selections you make among workshops and projects. The core curriculum for the quarter will be called something like: Learning: cognitive, cultural and spiritual dimensions.