University of Notre Dame
Phone: (219) 631-5293
Fax: (219) 631-4171
Email: Jay.W.Brandenberger.1@nd.edu
All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends of the education of youth. -- Aristotle
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
Calls for education to enhance the ability of citizens to create effective societies have continued, of course, since Aristotle. Many pedagogies (for example those of Maria Montessori and John Dewey) have emphasized the relation between education and the common good; and many who govern (in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson) stress the essential link between education and democracy. In recent decades, schools have been asked to solve complex concerns with respect to inequality, discrimination, and conflict. Throughout, Einstein's serious call-- in light of increasing social complexities--for "an essentially new way of thinking" echoes and challenges.
What is the role of education with respect to social change? What critique and enhancement of alternative pedagogies can psychology contribute through its understandings of human development and ways of knowing? What learning and cognitive processes are inherent to developing new ways of thinking, new paradigms? What pedagogical practices promote moral development and moral imagination (of creative alternatives)? This course will address such questions from the perspectives of developmental psychology and social psychology, using a variety of resources and learning models. Students will be asked to play an active role in the learning process (appropriate for such a course), and to apply their learning in relevant contexts.
Objectives
1) To examine the role education with respect to social change
2) To examine--from a psychological perspective--alternative pedagogies designed to promote social responsibility and change
3) To foster understanding of the moral aspects of education, and of means to promote moral imagination and creative social/organizational alternatives
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (1970)
The Unschooled Mind by Howard Gardner (1991)
Course readings packet at Bookstore (#226)
Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman (1993)
Democracy and Education by John Dewey (1916, 1944)
Pedagogy of Hope by Paulo Freire (1994)
by Mary F. Belenky et al. (1986)
Let imagination be your guide.
Montessori Resources on the Internet
The Center for Educational Reform
Learning Alternatives Resource Network
Review of Paradigms in Progress
University Teaching and Learning Centers
Online Educational Resources: Innovation Spotlight
Augsburg College Global Education
Sojurners Magazine-Connections
Servenet at Youth Service America
The Contact Center Web Site (Links to 8,000 Nonprofit Initiatives)
American Psychological Association
Address comments, inquires to Jay Brandenberger (phone, email address above).