"Making Cognitive Affective Learning
Visible: The
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
via Contemplative Practice"
Dr. Maureen P. Hall
Assistant Professor
Teaching and Learning Department
School of Education, Public Policy, and Civic
Engagement
UMass Dartmouth
Overview of a SoTL Projects:
"Investigating Contemplative
Practice in Creative Writing and
Education Classes: A Play (of
Practice and Theory) in Three Acts”
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Through my CASTL Cognitive
Affective Learning affiliation, I
entered into a collaborative
partnership with a like-minded
individual (located 3000 miles away!)
EDU 612 Teaching Elementary and
Middle School Writing (at UMass
Dartmouth) and Creative Writing (at St.
Martin’s University)
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Our common identified SoTL
problem was that our students,
both undergraduate and
graduate, did not value
themselves as writers.
What We Did:
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We investigated how using reflective
writing as contemplative practice affected
our students’ sense of who they are as
writers and as teachers of writing.
We were also interested in finding out if
writing at the beginning of each class
affected our students’ perspectives on
their value of reflective writing as a tool
for learning.
We integrated contemplative practice into
our pedagogy via 2-4 common writing
assignments.
We collected data from students to gauge
how students experienced both the
newly created assignments and the
practice of contemplative/ reflective
writing at the beginning of each class
session.
Krathwohl’s Affective Domain:
Assessment Tool
Findings
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Based the data, a total of 30 of the 32 students at
the conclusion of the project valued a practice of
reflective writing at the beginning of class.
These 30 students had moved beyond Krathwohl’s
Level One category, receiving an “awareness” of
reflective writing. They also had moved beyond
Krathwohl’s Level Two category since they did not
just respond to the writing prompts, but, in their
responses, indicated that they valued the
experience, Level Three of Krathwohl’s
taxonomy.
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A total of 14 of the students indicated that they
would like to integrate reflective writing into their
lives after the course was over, Level Four in
Krathwohl’s taxonomy. They internalized the
experience to the degree that they wanted it within
their lives after the course was over. What was
unclear at the conclusion of the project was
determining if students would use reflective
writing consistently in their lives and commit to
it as a life practice, Krathwohl’s Level Five.
Findings (continued)
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When we considered the question of
how this practice of reflective
informed the students’ values for the
need of reflection in the classroom,
three distinct themes emerged in
students’ explanations of why they
valued it:
I) Preparing students’ minds for
focused work
2) Writing as therapy/ writing as
transformation
3) Sense of agency as writers,
writing community and the need for
interconnectedness.
Key Concept : Community-Personal and Professional
Connections
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Reading Parker Palmer’s (1998) The
Courage to Teach affected my research
trajectory.
Palmer talks about creating community in
the spaces of teaching and learning.
This informed my dissertation study at
UVA. I investigated how one teacher
created a community of trust in a writing
classroom. (Cognitive Affective Learning).
One important goal for each of my teaching
and learning spaces is to create a
community of learners.
Creating community with other professors
and teachers is also very important to me.
Key Concept 4: Community
(continued)
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My 2005 article: “Bridging the Heart and
Mind: Community as a Device for Linking
Cognitive and Affective Learning” both
grew out of my dissertation study and
informed my work with in-service and
preservice teachers.
My work since then has focused on
cognitive affective learning, and how an
attention to this can improve overall
student learning.
I work to create community in my
teaching and learning spaces, and I also
find community through collaborative
partnerships (With Dr. Singh, Dr. Waxler,
Dr. Bergandy, and my co-author, Dr. Olivia
Archibald in Washington State.
Implications for Further Research
on Teaching (SoTL) and Cognitive
Affective Learning
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In higher education, cognitive learning is
usually privileged over affective learning.
Affective learning involves more than just
emotions. The human brain does not
separate emotions from cognitions and,
without any attention given to students’
interest, motivation, appreciation, and
attitudes, real and enduring learning is
incomplete (Chickering, 2006; OwenSmith, 2004).
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Professors and teachers need to provide
learning opportunities that privilege
cognitive affective learning and utilize
contemplative pedagogy to enhance and
deepen student learning.
One other project...
If there is time...
Project: SoTL Investigation into a Science of
Kriyayoga Course: Using a Formative
Evaluation for Course Improvement.
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In collaboration with Dr. Bal Ram
Singh, the instructor of IST 111 The
Science of Kriyayoga, a collaborative
SoTL project was conducted.
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Dr. Singh identified the teaching
“problem” in IST 111; that is,
students did not understand
themselves scientifically.
What We Did:
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Data was collected from students in class
over the course of two semesters. I
collected data from students several times
over the first semester this course was
offered. The main question for this data
collection was “To what extent and in what
ways do you understand yourself in a
scientific way through this course?”
Dr. Singh also collected data from
students. His questions included, “Who are
you?” and “What/who is your ideal?” The
educator also conducted individual
interviews with students which provided
additional data.
New Assessment Model:
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Dr. Singh and I have created a
new assessment model for
Cognitive Affective Learning and
adapted it for this course in Indic
studies.
It is called the Hall Singh
Cognitive Affective Pyramid—or
the Hall Singh CAP Model.
Hall Singh CAP Model:
Findings
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1)
2)
3)
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There are three distinct themes that
have emerged from the data:
Body as Learning Tool
Integrated Concepts of Self—Mind
and Body
Interconnectedness of All Things.
These three themes are evidenced
by particular quotes, which have
been culled from the data and are
representative of the larger
findings.
We are distilling the data through
the Hall Singh CAP Model.