Degree Name
Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MA)
Department
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
Location
UW Tacoma Tioga Library
Start Date
17-5-2018 6:10 PM
End Date
17-5-2018 6:15 PM
Abstract
My thesis focuses on the importance of creating a new pedagogy which makes room for all types of learners, and in particular, learners on the autistic spectrum. Students on the spectrum are often put on a separate educational track, one that places them in groups of students on the same intellectual level and provides a curriculum that is quite often bellow their true capabilities. In order for learning to be developmental, the creation of what Lev Vygotsky calls zones of proximal development (ZPDs) is a crucial component, for it is within the ZPD that we learn to perform both as who we are and who we are becoming. The power of the ZPD lies in its focus on human activity (as opposed to the accumulation of knowledge), its interrelationality, its heterogeneity, its acceptance of imitation, and its use of language games. The ZPD is particularly relevant to neurodiverse communities as they exhibit a different sort of neurological wiring which demands a different style of teaching/learning. When reviewing the history of revolutionary advancements made in science, mathematics, technology and art, many of the people responsible for these advancements exhibit neurodivergent attributes. What becomes striking clear is that those who were able to succeed despite their points of neurological difference were those who were able to work outside the systematic box with the support/understanding to do so. The ZPDs offers students on the spectrum a new way of engaging and collaborating with their peers—a life space in which learning leads development.
COinS
Play and Performance: Creating Life-Spaces in which Learning Leads Development
UW Tacoma Tioga Library
My thesis focuses on the importance of creating a new pedagogy which makes room for all types of learners, and in particular, learners on the autistic spectrum. Students on the spectrum are often put on a separate educational track, one that places them in groups of students on the same intellectual level and provides a curriculum that is quite often bellow their true capabilities. In order for learning to be developmental, the creation of what Lev Vygotsky calls zones of proximal development (ZPDs) is a crucial component, for it is within the ZPD that we learn to perform both as who we are and who we are becoming. The power of the ZPD lies in its focus on human activity (as opposed to the accumulation of knowledge), its interrelationality, its heterogeneity, its acceptance of imitation, and its use of language games. The ZPD is particularly relevant to neurodiverse communities as they exhibit a different sort of neurological wiring which demands a different style of teaching/learning. When reviewing the history of revolutionary advancements made in science, mathematics, technology and art, many of the people responsible for these advancements exhibit neurodivergent attributes. What becomes striking clear is that those who were able to succeed despite their points of neurological difference were those who were able to work outside the systematic box with the support/understanding to do so. The ZPDs offers students on the spectrum a new way of engaging and collaborating with their peers—a life space in which learning leads development.