Reconciliation: A Process of Human Balance


"Why is it, in spite of the fact that teaching by pouring in, learning by a passive absorption, are universally condemned, that they are still so intrenched in practice? That education is not an affair of "telling" and being told, but an active and constructive process, is a principle almost as generally violated in practice, as conceded in theory. Is not this deplorable situation due to the fact that the doctrine is itself merely told? It is preached, it is lectured, it is written about. But its enactment into practice requires that the school environment be equipped with agencies for doing. " Dewey, 1916.

Fall, Winter and Spring quarters
Faculty:     David Rutledge, Yvonne Peterson and Raul Nakasone
Enrollment:     75
Class Standing:        Sophomores or above; transfer students welcome.
Special Expenses:     Approximately $1,830 for an optional five-week trip to Guadalupe (La Libertad), Lambayeque and Cajamarca, Peru, during winter quarter. Students must pay a $150 nonrefundable travel deposit* by December 5th., 2005, to secure arrangements.
A complete description is at http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/scp/home.htm.
Internship Possibilities:     With faculty approval.

In this program, we will ask students to take a very personal stake in their educational development. This is not a program for students who are looking for an external, faculty-given pedagogical structure. Rather, students will be encouraged to assume responsibility for their entire coursework. Students will pay special attention to what individual and group work they plan on doing, how they plan to learn, how they will know they have learned it, and what difference the work will make in their lives and within their communities. Faculty and students will work together to develop habits of worthwhile community interaction in the context of the education process and liberation. The faculty are interested in providing an environment of collaboration, where faculty and students will identify topics of mutual interest and act as partners in the exploration of those topics.

This program is for students who already have a research topic in mind, as well as for those who would like to learn how to do research in a student-centered environment. Students will be introduced to research methods, ethnographic research and interviewing techniques, writing workshops, computer literacy, library workshops, educational technology and the educational philosophy that supports this program. We will explore Native American perspectives and look at issues that are particularly relevant to indigenous people of the Americas.

Students whose research could be enriched by being immersed in a foreign culture will have the opportunity to live in Peru for five weeks or more during winter quarter. Our access to rural communities in the Peruvian northern coast offers students the opportunity to experience volunteer community work by learning in a safe and healthy pueblo environment. Learning about Latin America through Peru will expand the concept of Native American and indigenous peoples.

In fall, participants will state their research questions. In late fall and winter, individually and in small study groups, students and faculty will develop the historical background for the chosen question and do the integrative review of the literature and data collection. Ongoing workshops will introduce students to the micro-skills needed for completing their project. Late winter and into spring quarter, students will write conclusions, wrap up print/nonprint projects, and prepare for a public presentation. The last part of spring will be entirely dedicated to presentations.

Students will use and explore Bloom's Taxonomy; the theory of multiple intelligence; the relationship among curriculum, assessment and instruction; expectations of an Evergreen graduate and the five foci; quantitative reasoning; self- and group-motivation; communication (to include dialogue, e-mail, resources on the Web and Web crossing). They will also develop skills in interactive Web pages, documentaries, I-movie editing, presentations using Microsoft Power Point and independent research.

Credit awarded in: history, philosophy, cultural competency, quantitative reasoning, communication, writing, political science, ethnography, history of the Americas, cultural anthropology, literature, indigenous arts, technology, indigenous studies, Native American studies, education and individual project work.
Total: 16 credits each quarter.
Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in: education, anthropology, the arts, multicultural studies, social work, human services and the humanities.
This program is also listed under: Society, Politics, Behavior and Change and Native American and World Indigenous Peoples Studies

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
-Gandhi

(*)TESC Business Office has set up account budget # 29025-52504 for the Peru studies abroad program.
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E-mail: nakasonr@evergreen.edu
Last modified: 05/17/2005