Eleven Propositions for Innovative Research in the Social Studies: An Anthropological Approach to Learning and Teaching.

Social studies educators are encouraged to apply• anthropological research to their understanding of classroom dynamics and the learning process. In 11 propositions, the contributions of anthropology to more effective teaching are explored. For each of these propositions, there are a number of relevant research questions to guide classroom evaluation. The propositions examined are: (1) learning and teaching are part of cultural transmission, (2) human and animal learning are different, (3) social studies learning is a process of sending and receiving, (4) social studies learning is both active and passive, (5) a child learns about his culture through natural discovery, (6) information must be perceived as useful before it is learned, (7) social studies helps students understand their social system, (8) subculture knowledge is useful in understanding student motivation, (9) social relations influence instruction, (10) learning is an evolutionary process necessary to human life, and (11) traumatic experience increases information retention. (LP) ELEVEN PROPOSITIONS FOR INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES: AN ANTHROLOGICAL APPROACH TO LEARNING AND TEACHING by,ihomas L. Lynneson The University of Texas of the Permian Basin Vóessa, •. T,exas November, 1963 tile: *twelve propositions, d2 ELEVEN PROPOSITIONS FOR INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES: AN ANTHROLOGICAL APPROACH TO LEARNING AND TEACHING Unthropologists are beginning to investigate the learning and teaching processes associated with American schools. They may be on the verge of shedding new light on the "what," "how," "when," "where," and "why" children learn in the formal classroom, in addition to what they learn outside the classroom and how the two are connected: While it might seem unconventional for anthropologists to investigate our modern schools, a closer look will reveal that anthropologists have peen involved with the study of educational processes for some time. Their" concern has been hidden by the attention thát has bean given to the way children learn their culture in a non-Western setting. They are now ready to apply what they have learned to Ameritan society and American schools. As a result, we may be about to re-examine learning • and teaching processes from anthropological /Findings and conclusions. `these findings and'conclusions_ may redirect educational researchers to formulate and investigate new hypotheses that eventually could affect . the way content areas (including the social studies) are taught. Hntnrcpologists involved with, the development of educational research are convinced that someday anthropology will rival psychology as a discipline tor educational theory and research. this attitude was put forth by Solon r. Kimball when he wrote: "the truth is"that Anthropology has produced, o er the-years, a rich body of data and some theory, which entitles it to claim a major and often times challenging posture, vis-a-vis psychology and'other disciplines, regarding the processes of learning and its programmatic applications. " 1 Hccording to educational anthropologists, the accumulated body of anthropological knowledge associated with learning and teaching is 'waiting to be discovered by educators. Several major figures in antnropology have contributed to the knowledge including Margaret Weed, beorge and Louise Spindler, Harry Wolcott and a host of others wno have focused anthropological attention on educational processes. • While educators have been slow to take advantage of anthropological content, anthropologists are invading the domain of American educatión in order to stake their claims to the future contributions they intend to make. Unfortunately; most'schools of education are slow to acknowledge the potentials available to them from the realm of anthropology education. Anthropologists currently are searching for theoretical foundations upon which to build their new enterprise. :They are abandoning old psychological positions and turning inward for! new anthropolical learning theories and instructional Approaches that may revolutionize current educational positions. the purpose of this paper is to encourage social studies educators to investigate eleven próposi•tions that have been extracted from anthropological literature in order to determine their.value in' shedding new light on learning and teaching. They are as follows: \ Proposition 1. LLARNlNG s:rJu lEm.H1N. ARE FRJGEi-JES r4SSOCIÑTED WI•I H LUL I UhAL rRAN:r.I ilb51UN. these processes are universal to all cultures although the specifics of the processes will vary according to cultural values and technologies. Anthropological literature contains great amounts of,information on this process as the means whereby one gerieration passes the cultural torch to the next. Learning is more than a change in behavior; according to anthropologists it is an adaptive process associated with cultural transmission. The social studies curriculum is uniquely important to the processes of cultural transmission because it contains the important cultural information. , beliefs, and sk_ lis that are needed by trie student in order to sucessf ul l y achieve adult status in American society. Investigations Research questions pertaining to cuitUral transmission:, What are the optimum conditions o+ cultural transmission in the clasroomr At the present time, how important is the social studies to the process of cultural transmission in American society? Under what classroom conditions does cultural transmission occur in the sócial studies classroom? Can the• social studies curriculum help direct and shape American culture by influencing each sudkceeding generation through, the development of specifically planned goals? Proposition 2. HUMAN LEARNING IS DIFFERENT FROM ANIMAL LEARNING. Human learning is much more of a. cognitive process that evokes and relies on mental images from one's cultural experiences. The social studies should plage more empnasis cn cognitive Frccesses that are oeri•Y eo trpin our culture. It snould promote tnc development of scci.cil 1 ;1 positive mental images that l ear: to positive student behaviors. Human motivation is involved with this process am the mental world of the human being moves trom the perceived realm, to the cognitive realm (the realm ot images or mental pictures), tó the realm ot human action or human behavior. Uar mental images as well as cur perceived. needs, goals and desires come from our culture (our numan community, from which we gain our orientation. Human behavior cames trom one's ability to predict how his behavior will. be accepted by others. 'his prediction is made on past observations, experiences, and perceived outcomes.