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SELF-ESTEEM & EDUCATION.
Term Paper ID:18628
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Examines role of self-image in learning success in social studies & science. Theories, motivation, networking, research, minority issues.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines role of self-image in learning success in social studies & science. Theories, motivation, networking, research, minority issues.
Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this research is to examine how self-esteem is positively enhanced in a curriculum of social studies and/or science. The plan of the research will be to set forth the general context in which such research has occurred since 1980, and then to discuss specific areas in which the research has taken place.
Background
Increased attention by social scientists and educational theorists to questions associated with self-concept and self-esteem has arisen from a desire to explore ways in which the educational experience can be enhanced on one hand and made more productive on the other. Accordingly, one decisive requirement is the determination of an appropriate definition of self-esteem. Such definitional work is undertaken by Allen and Stevens
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Thisimplies that to drop out of a course designed to teach the teacher how toteach (i.e., provide a specific program for career success) is to loseconfidence in one's career path. Stanley, W.B. Paperpresented at the Annual Convention of the American Association forCounseling and Development, Los Angeles, CA. 77). Cooperative learning. (1976). New York: Longman. Johnson, for example, cites social loneliness and cultureshock as experienced by the learner, as well as lack of commitment on thepart of learning institutions, as a barrier to educational achievement.She also reports a course offered to incoming minority freshmen sciencemajors at Purdue University, which is designed to facilitate students'entry into the university culture and explain the educational and careeroptions that the college offers. American Psychologist, 39, 819-832. (1986) recommendthat teachers encourage discipline-specific career development for studentswho display an aptitude for science or mathematics. (1982, April). Social studies: High school guide forteaching about human rights. In particular, they suggest that the "consistency" theory,which is predicated of a basic human need to maintain a "steady state" ofemotional control, is not necessarily an aspect of self-esteem; rather, theemotional status of an individual appears more decisive. Winnipeg: Manitoba Department of Education, CurriculumDevelopment Branch. Self-Esteem and the Learning Process Various researchers have postulated that low self-esteem has apositive correlation with low-level academic achievement, and the forum ofa social studies course, laden as it is with societal and group-interactionimplications, has suited it to becoming a focus of research. Dorgan, M., et al. Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Minorities orientation scienceseminar at Purdue University: A counseling/mentoring approach. Detroit: Detroit Public Schools,Michigan Department of Curriculum Development Services. Forexample, Cook's answer (1984) to Gerard's conclusions (which he terms"misleading") includes an emphasis on the role that individual self-esteemthat derives in a societal context from the experience of racial integratededucation at elementary and secondary levels. (1983, February 19-22). Kindergarten history-social science: A brief curriculum guide. (1986, August 22-26). Journal ofEducational Psychology, 68, 446-452. (1983, August). Frazier, L., et al. Slavin, R.E. Journal ofEducational Research, 74, 217-223. (1985). Not unrelated to this project, at least in terms of the-social outcomes envisioned, are sundry bilingual-education projects thathave been implemented in some locations. (1981, May). Borman, K.M., & Kurdek, L.A. (1983, June). In History-Social ScienceCurriculum Guide K-6. Prosocialbehavior, therefore, is considered a useful goal, both inside and outsidethe classroom, and social studies programs that are designed to illuminatethe possibilities for the increased self-esteem that can facilitate suchbehavior, ought to be encouraged. (1984, August 27-31). Predicting the careerchoice attitudes of high school students with interest and ability inscience and mathematics. (1986, October 7-1 ). Consistencyand need-fulfillment theories as predictors of eye contact behavior in lowself-esteem subjects in response to various feedback conditions. (1976).Effects of cooperative versus individualized instruction on studentprosocial behavior, attitudes toward learning and achievement. Accordingly, asa matter of public policy, Cook implies, curricula designed to createawareness of the complexity of the human community, together with anappreciation of the need for individual self-esteem within such acommunity, will be a useful tool for educational efficacy. A Canadian kindergarten socialstudies curriculum deals specifically with the relationship between studentperformance and self-esteem. (1983), observe that different behavioral measures of selfesteem (i.e., Texas Social Behavior Inventory and the Coopersmith SelfEsteem Inventory) yielded different results. The problems evident in the Anderson study can be expected to beaggravated among acknowledged career and educational minorities such asracial minorities and women. (1982). Hannigan, M.R. This appears to be the essence of so-called "prosocial behavior,"cited by Leming, as well as by Johnson, et al. Further to this point, Leming (1985) and Stanley (1985)discovered a positive correlation between a democratically conductedclassroom, cooperative attitudes of teachers an students, and astrengthening of students' self-esteem, team-learning and studyingcapabilities, and cognitive learning skills, whether or not such studentsbegan the class as mainstreamers, minorities, or handicapped participants.In other words, the American educational handicapped participants. (1984). (1988, August 12-16). Nash, E., et al. Social studies interim grade guide forkindergarten. Accordingly, onedecisive requirement is the determination of an appropriate definition ofself-esteem. Self-concept is basic. (1984, August). (1989-199 , December-January). Children's gamecomplexity as a predictor of later perceived self competence andoccupational interest. (1987, March-April). At the same time, implicit in the findings of the "networking"study was the linkage between successful transpersonal relationships withinan academic discipline and a feeling of self-esteem. Georgia Social Science Journal, 16, 3-4. Exploring my world. (1986, April 2 -23). Improvisational dramatic activities:Key to self-actualization? 3-4).Related to the definition of self-esteem is the process of facilitating asense of accomplishment or fulfilling psychological needs. Cooperative learningin elementary school science. (1982). Johnson, I.H. (1985, Winter). The Detroit School System (1982) has an extensive (58 -page) curriculum for social studies at elementary and secondary levels,which is specifically designed to develop learning activities that stresspolitical attitudes, an appreciation of world social problems such asdiscrimination and pollution, awareness of basic human needs, and the like--all of which points toward self-esteem as an aspect of social development.Teachers are provided with documents for a human-rights curriculum,including various declarations of human rights and the Charter of theUnited Nations. . Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 9, 719-724. Slavin, R.E., & Madden, N.A. Additionally, psychodrama and sociodrama scenarios,including 1165 Ways to Say "That's a Job Well Done," are intended tofacilitate development of self-esteem among individuals. Other efforts at facilitating the admittedly difficult learningprocess for special groups appear to have borne fruit. Karabenick, S.A. Further to thispoint, work by Slavin and Madden (1979) noted that formalized (grade/goal-oriented?) discussions of issues typical of social studies classes, such asrace relations, had "limited" effect on the expression of attitudes andbehavior of students so involved in classes. Psillos, D.K., et al. School desegregation: The socialscience role. This suggests thatthe degree of success of socially oriented professional outreach--which mayderive from strong self-esteem--may be connected with professional successin fact; it pays, therefore, to make friends among colleagues. But it is the content of social studies courses as such in which themost useful details of the connection between self-esteem and curriculumcan be discerned. Gerard, H.B. This course, essentially a "lab" inpractical social science or more exactly in real-time college preparation,is intended to build the self-esteem and learning motivation by connectingthese students to upperclassmen (i.e., role models) in their major(Johnson, 1986). The purpose of this curricularintroduction of the child to a sense of a specific place in the widersociety is to show the child a connection between the facts of history andcivics, and the skills that an individual can (or ought to) achieve for thepurpose of reaching behavioral or (long-term!) career objectives. The philosophy underlying the syllabus isthat by studying the entitlement of human beings as a whole to dignity andworth regarding their individual civil liberties and the environment inwhich they live, high school students can come to grips with a sense oftheir own dignity and worth. Educational Leadership, 47, 25. Hisconclusion is that by itself the fact of desegregation did not "prove" thatminority children would be assimilated into mainstream social cultures orthat multiracial classroom experiences would upgrade the academicachievements of minorities; he called for further research. These skills, which are stated in terms of coping-in-the-world, are plainly commensurate with the objectives of social studiescourses that have been conceived for elementary and secondary education.Similar results were obtained in a study of 386 college students ofbiology, English literature, and social science, which tested whetherand/or how such students might request studying or tutoring help with theircourses. (1985). Social Studies: Appendix for elementary, middle, andhigh school guides for teaching about human rights. The units of study are designed to help thestudent make a connection between himself and the society in which he willhave to function. The computer course was formulated in a way that allowed thosecurious about computers +o learn about them in a way both interesting and"relevant" to their everyday lives. Controversy has surrounded one area of research into elementary andsecondary education vis-à-vis the notion of self-esteem. (1981). Theconclusion that may be drawn as regards the connection between social-science applications and self-esteem is that the positive correlationbetween self-esteem and achievement does no harm. Huntsman, K.H. What is important about such results is that social studiesprograms that are designed to enhance self-esteem by means of introducingstudents to the existence of relativistic or indeterminate aspects of lifecan also serve as coping mechanisms for the society at large. Leming, J.S. A kindergarten curriculum created in thestate of California in certain ways appears to replicate the intent of theDetroit program, as exemplified in the curriculum title, "Myself and Othersin My World" (Kern County, 1982). InW.B. (1984), for example, foundthat the self-esteem of science-education (physics) majors who had droppedout of their teacher-education courses was much lower than those who eitherhad not dropped out or had not at all enrolled in such courses. Background Increased attention by social scientists and educational theorists toquestions associated with self-concept and self-esteem has arisen from adesire to explore ways in which the educational experience can be enhancedon one hand and made more productive on the other. (1987, Summer). EducationalManagement and Administration, 15, 85-91.----------------------- 18 Such issues, all related to thequestion of self-esteem, have been explored in different ways byresearchers and educational practitioners. Paper presented atthe 96th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta,GA. Self-Esteem and Social Studies Content The study of social realities that occurs in school curricula appearslargely intended to generate for students something like a mechanism forcoping with the society at large. Emery, M. Manitoba Department of Education, Curriculum Development Branch.(1981). Tietzeand Shakeshaft (1982), for example, challenges Maslow's theory of self-actualization as biased in favor of the concept of self-worth as definedaccording to "masculine" values, which stress individual self-esteem andthe notion of "affiliation." An alternative concept of self-esteem or self-actualization, based on case histories of women's communities, ispredicated of a programmatic group orientation, emotional maintenance,empathy, and self-development--rather than more masculine notions ofindividual performance and a goal orientation--as primary social values.This is implicitly critical not only for social studies curriculum inparticular but for the entire approach to educational methods in general,for it shifts the focus of where and how self-esteem is derived. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education. Self-respect, self-esteem and themanagement of educational institutions: A question of values. Varieties of help-seeking asa learning strategy and the role of self-esteem threat. References Allen, R.F., & Stevens, R.N. The 1954 social science statement andschool desegregation: A reply to Gerard. (1982, March 21). Board of Education decision). H.Maslow's theory of human motivation and self-actualization. Bilingual education and affectiveoutcomes: The past ten years and the Mexican-American experience. Self-identity andclassroom environment. School practices that improverace relations. Social studies research--theory intopractice. Felice, L.G. Paper presented at the 7th AnnualMeeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, PQ,Canada. Computer literacy and the adultlearner. Curtis, C.K., & Shaver, J.P. Accordingly, exercises that were apart of the curriculum were created so as to encourage self-esteem,motivation, skills improvement, and problem-solving and decision-makingcapabilities. White, P. (1984). White (1987) essentially recommends that self-esteem practitioners in social science take their own advice, noting thateducational administration is inextricably bound with the larger questionof ethical and moral values, which are largely learned via education.Accordingly, if democratically run classes are to be the norm, and ifstudents are to be encouraged to extol the notion of democraticsocialization as a means of awareness of the importance of self-esteem, itfollows that the organizational climate of a school administration at alllevels ought to include a policy that encourages democratic, participativedecision-making by faculty and staff who possess strong self-esteem. Social studies: Elementary schoolguide for teaching about human rights. The former student category perceived requests forhelp as a threat to self-esteem, while the latter category, which wascharacterized in part by attitudes that involved original thinking orcomplex learning strategies, tended to provide evidence of higher self-esteem. Research on social studies curriculum andinstruction: Interventions and outcomes on the socio-moral domain. They believe that this educationalphilosophy leads students to increased self-esteem and social values, aswell as the social responsibility and confidence to pursue independentstudy (p. Meanwhile, however, Emery(1986) found a peculiarly apparent minority in the phenomenon of the adultlearner, where difficulties with motivation toward career or personaladvancement have been observed. Paperpresented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational ResearchAssociation, New York, NY. Research in Science and TechnologicalEducation 2, 127-13 . Detroit: Detroit Public Schools, MichiganDepartment of Curriculum Development Services. Self-esteem has been related to the educational environment as awhole, with the implication that an awareness of the facts of theeducational environment can lead to an awareness of the facts of theenvironment of the culture. In a preschool, elementary, secondary, or college educationalenvironment, the ability to learn with relative ease is frequentlyassociated with the ability to integrate socially. Moreover, Leming and Stanley, respectively, indicate that teamworkand cooperation in the learning process need not stop at the doors of theclassroom but can occur "during both instructional and free time" (Leming,1985). Review of Research in Social Studies Education 1976-1983. Within the Detroit Schools social studies curriculum design, anelementary-school guide for teaching human rights and teaching aboutracism, sexism, and genocide (Frazier, et al., 1981) is intended to conveya sense that knowing the basis for human rights in society will increaseindividual students' self-esteem and mutual respect. One study of malescientists tracked the phenomenon of "networking" as associated with careeradvancement and self-esteem, in an environment where limited opportunitiesfor academic advancement are in abundant evidence. Conversely, slowlearners may have difficulty integrating into the extracurricular socialmainstream, or those who are socially isolated in the educationalenvironment may have difficulty learning. Generalizing about sex role andself-esteem: Results or effects? Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Ruraland Small Schools Consortium, Bellingham, WA. Less clear,however, is whether bilingual programs as such have the effect of enhancingself-concept; Felice cites the fact that (for example) Mexican Americans,even those who have not assimilated into the mainstream American culture,do not as a class necessarily perceive a negative self-concept. (1979). In thisconnection, Bridle and Frandsen (1983) found that the ability to gratifyemotional needs is an important index of reinforcing an individuals senseof worth on one hand, and motivation toward higher educational achievementon the other. Inother words, the American educational system will not be destroyed if astudent fails to raise his hand before presenting an opinion in civicsclass. Theconclusions about the relationship between positive self-concept andachievement are hardly surprising, according to Felice. Such definitional work is undertaken by Allen and Stevens(1985), who cite six aspects of a favorable self-concept and the self-actualization that teachers and social-science practitioners ought toattempt to elicit from elementary school students: affection, a sense ofbelongingness, evidence of task or thought competence, uniqueness vis-à-visthe group, usefulness to others, and influence over others (pp. On this view, therefore, the emotional or psychologicalenvironment in which social studies occurs may turn out to be as vital asthe content of the curriculum itself. Borman and Kurdek's investigation (1984)of elementary school children at play elicited a positive connectionbetween the level of play complexity and self-esteem and confidence inphysical, social, and intellectual capabilities. In research-orienteddisciplines, for example, the principal measure of self-esteem and hencecareer success for scientists who had limited exposure within the academiccommunity was found to be that of scholarly-journal publication (Anderson,1983). Paper presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of theAmerican Sociological Association, San Antonio, TX. Considerthe success in biology instruction in elementary school curricula cited byHannigan (1989-199 ), who notes that the concept of cooperative learning,which emphasizes experiential-experimental study of scientific phenomena,encourages students in the idea that they can deduce important aspects ofknowledge from evidence provided by the experience of the experiment. The units are titled "Myself and Others," "My School andIts Neighborhood," and "Changes in Me and My World." Beginning with therelationship between one's psychology and body, the scope of study isgradually enlarged so that the focus is increasingly social in nature.Increasingly complex self-discovery is designed to illustrate to the childwhat his role in society can best be, and to encourage an attitude ofpositive self-concept throughout (Manitoba, 1981). Anderson, E.V. Toward areconstruction of organizational theory: Androcentric bias in A. Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Superintendent ofSchools. (1981). Paper presented at the 9th Annual Convention ofthe American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. Detroit: DetroitPublic Schools, Michigan Department of Curriculum Development Services. It was found that students who experienced academic life as aprocess of rote memorization or regurgitation were likely to ask fellowstudents for academic help, while those who experienced academic life as alearning process in which complex, indeterminate educational activity mightoccur were more likely to request help from professors or formal tutorialstructures specifically suited to the task of facilitating learning(Karabenick, 1988). Thecourse includes an awareness of other cultures besides the mainstream, anemphasis on conflict resolution, democratic values, listening skills, mapskills [for awareness of the wider world], and of course the self-esteemassociated with development of social, civic, and cognitive skills andtraining in utilization of the senses. Meanwhile, Lee, et al. Tietze, I.N., & Shakeshaft, C. The purpose of this research is to examine how self-esteem ispositively enhanced in a curriculum of social studies and/or science. Paperpresented at the 1 th Annual International Bilingual Bicultural EducationConference, Boston. Detroit Public Schools, Michigan Department of Curriculum DevelopmentServices. The high schoolcurriculum (Nash, et al., 1981) is developed according to the achievementof specific learning goals, associated with stressing the mutualinterdependence of all humanity. In this regard,Dorgan, et al. . American Educational Research Journal, 16, 16 -18 . Implications for furtherstudy arise when the nuts and bolts of the content of specific learningexperiences are analyzed; whether a goal or achievement orientation isappropriate for an authentic learning experience is another aspect of this. Johnson, D., Johnson, R., Johnson, J., & Anderson, D. Psillos, et al. This idea is furtherdeveloped by Rusnak and Dorow (1987), who advocate a social studiesclassroom model that teaches elementary and secondary students to developself-motivated instruction within a classroom that is run along democraticrather than hierarchical lines. Theplan of the research will be to set forth the general context in which suchresearch has occurred since 198 , and then to discuss specific areas inwhich the research has taken place. Lee, C.C., et al. Slavin (1983) develops this theme under the term "cooperativelearning," particularly as regards the social science secondary schoolcurriculum. The self-esteem of pre-servicephysics education students. but what is it? To put itanother way, student motivation is an important outcome of positive self-esteem, even as properly applied motivational techniques can lead to betterscholastic performance. Felice (1981) reviewed studiesthat suggested that bilingual or bicultural programs are most successful atimproving or acknowledging the importance of participants' self-image. This is the basis for conclusions reached byCurtis and Shaver (1981) after the successful application of a remedialsocial-studies course program aimed at increasing the self-esteem ofdiagnosed slow secondary school students. Improving slowlearners' self-esteem in secondary social studies classes. But the direct experience ofminority and mainstream students working together on class assignments (aswell as on sports programs) did have a positive effect on expressions ofattitude. Bridle, M.J., & Frandsen, K.D. They focus on the factthat such students frequently reject such aptitude because of problems withself-esteem, lack of parental encouragement (a function in significant partof socioeconomic family status), peer derogation of such disciplines, and amore general lack of student maturity where attitude toward eventual careerchoice are concerned. Additionally, upontracking these students from third to sixth grade, they found that thesense of personal competence was positively related to increasing abilityto engage in increasingly complex game-playing, social interaction, andability to discriminate realistically between career and future studyoptions. Paperpresented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Speech CommunicationAssociation, Albuquerque, NM. Rusnak, T., & Dorow, E.B. Nor has theexperience of sundry local school environments borne the aims of Brown out. Cook, S.W. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education. (1983, April 12). The idea ofincorporating improvisational role-playing into the educational process issupported by research of college-level subjects by Huntsman (1982), whichfound that psychodramatic exercises increased college students' sense ofself-confidence, self-esteem, spontaneous modalities of expression, and anability to relate to others in social contexts, to the extent suchexercises allowed the students to explore and enhance self-actualization. Children's Theatre Review, 31, 3-9. An adult education project geared towardcomputer literacy, which was located in Washington and Idaho, was found tobe most successful where an effective social-outreach connection could bemade. Allof this is consistent with the development of self-esteem. (1981, March-April). While the degree of intellectualchallenge was an important feature of the course design, they found that"anticipated positive feedback from significant others" (which can be seenas an aspect of extracurricular social integration) was also important (p.22 ). American Psychologist, 38, 869-877. To put it another way, the relativists could cope better with notknowing the precise answer than could their more rigidly structuredcounterparts. Indeed, Lee, et al., found that the degree ofmaturity toward career choice had a strong correlation with parentalattitudes and self-esteem, although some of the negative aspects of thiscorrelation might be overcome via a programmatic attention to the notion ofteacher-student mentoring. Stanley (Ed.). Nor would any conclusions reached by studiesof the connection between sex roles and self esteem on one hand, or theacademic environment as a class and self-esteem on the other, be any betterthan the design of the study that sought to measure data. Social Studies 78, 76-79. The actual controversy, however, among social scientists, arose becauseGerard's conclusions about the need for additional research appear to havebeen colored as it were by an acceptance of rather than simply an analysisof the nature of racial bias in elementary and secondary schools. Writing in 1983,Gerard analyzes whether social science as a discipline had a useful role toplay where there were questions of evaluating the efficacy of schooldesegregation (since the 1954 Brown v. Some challenges to traditional motivational theory that drives theconnection between social studies and self-esteem have been noted. Self-Esteem: The Special Case of Minorities Women and minorities, who may not be socially integrated for variousreasons, or who for various reasons may perceive themselves or be perceivedby others as unable to learn optimally, have been the focus of research inthis connection. Self-esteem, networks, andproductivity in academic science. In particular, Cook cites asinvalid Gerard's claim that the social science discipline (specificallycited in Brown in 1954) has had no role to play in enhancing, viacurricular development, a sense of individual self-esteem.
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