Emotion and Rhythm in Critical Learning Incidents

Emotion and Rhythm

Emotion and Rhythm in Critical Learning Incidents *)

Emotion and Rhythm

HANNU SOINI

University of Oulu, Finland

MARK FLYNN

University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Emotion and Rhythm

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed the descriptions of learning provided by 234 College of education students from Finland and Canada and compared them with Whitehead’s (1962) epistemological theory of the rhythm of mental growth. The students were asked to, “Give a concrete example of a situation in which you really learned something”. The descriptions of learning provided by the students were analyzed using a constant comparative method. This analysis resulted in the identification of six primary aspects of learning: emotional significance, reflection, differing perspectives, collaboration, autonomy, and dialogue. When examined in the context of student descriptions, the aspects of learning seemed to occur in rhythmic patterns. These findings led us to conclude that Whitehead’s theory of mental growth has merit and could inform new theories of learning that take into account human aesthetic experience.

Emotion and Rhythm

There is growing interest in using qualitative methods of inquiry to study the aesthetic aspects of human learning and represent them more authentically. Important contributions can be made to theoretical psychology by studying the concrete personal experiences of learners in this way (Soini, 1999). Historically, most psychologists have reduced the human learning experience to a matter of causal relations in theories of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and in

*) Article is published in International Journal INTERCHANGE by Soini H. & Flynn, M. (2005). Emotion and rhythm in critical learning incidents. Interchange. Vol. 36,1-2,p. 78-83.

describing the mind as a ‘black box’ filled with routines and sub-routines much like a computer. The argument goes that all observations of reality, including observations of human experience, must be explained causally if they are to be considered scientific. Such a view of research confuses a particular method of science with the whole of science (Flynn, 2000; 2003). Psychologists of this bent, according to Whitehead (1967), have committed a “fallacy of misplaced concreteness” (p. 51). They believe, fallaciously, that their abstract descriptions of human learning constitute the concrete reality of that experience. Some psychologists, however, claim that qualitative approaches for studying human learning offer a legitimate methodological alternative to the dogmatic search for causality. For example, Jerome Bruner (1996) claims that “interpretive-hermeneutic” and “causal-explanatory” research methods are complementary and essential to a more comprehensive study of psychological phenomenon (p. 110). A legitimate science of psychology, in his view, must consider narrative as well as causal explanations. He claims that studying the human learning experience by means of clinical experiments alone, and allowing only causal explanations of this experience, excludes concrete personal “desires, beliefs, knowledge, intentions, (and) commitments” in the name of ‘objectivity’ (p. 123). It is the tension between interpretive-hermeneutic and causal-explanatory research that keeps the study of psychology vibrant. Without such tension, theories of learning, for example, become either mere derivatives of a “set of shallow experimental routines” or overly hermeneutic “literary theory” (p. 112). From the complementarity of interpretive and explanatory research will emerge a more and more concrete explanation of human experience, that is, an evolving science of psychology.

A Passion for Learning

Emotion and Rhythm

Psychology needs a qualitative methodology that offers a more penetrating and concrete view of human experience, that is, a view that goes beyond causality and relativistic introspection. This idea is consistent with Whitehead’s (1962) critique of a ‘false psychology’ that fails to explore the concrete experience of mental growth or learning. We are searching, like others in psychology, for some way to describe the aesthetic experience of learning more concretely (Holtzkamph, 1991). Flanagan (1954), in particular, has suggested that the concrete aspects of personal experience can be studied using a “critical incidents” technique. Critical incidents are described as situations that are sufficiently complete in themselves to make the purpose or intent of the person experiencing the incident more readily apparent. For example, Brookfield (1994) attempted to avoid banal definitions of learning that students might have been exposed to at university by asking them to describe a learning event that transformed their lives in some way. He thought using descriptions of life altering ‘critical learning incidents’ would reveal essential insights into how students felt, thought, and acted at those times. These studies, and others, led us to the design of the research that we are presenting here. Of course, as Whitehead (1967) warns, whenever we attempt to decipher or analyze human experience we should not fall victim to our own abstractions. They are only speculations that may stand the test of time or not.

Methodology and Results

Emotion and Rhythm

In the study presented here, we analyzed the descriptions of learning provided by 234 College of Education students, 114 from Finland (83 female; 31 male) and 120 from Canada (86 female; 34 male). The mean age of Finnish students was 23.03 + 4.49 and Canadian students was 23.90 + 6.50. The students were asked to, “Give a concrete example of a situation in which you really learned something”. The descriptions of learning provided by students were analyzed using a constant comparative method. In using this method, we extracted units of meaning, compared these units of meaning and combined them into categories on the basis of logical relationships, and reexamined them in the context of verbatim student descriptions to eliminate logical contradictions (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). From this process emerged six primary aspects of learning according to the students in our sample: emotional significance (62%), reflection (53%), differing perspectives (42%), collaboration (38%), autonomy (33%), and dialogue (24%). Because the detailed statistical findings of this study have been presented elsewhere, we include here only the percentages of students who described these aspects as elements in their learning experience (Soini, 1999). We will say that there was, generally speaking, an equal distribution of Finnish and Canadian students using these aspects to describe their learning experience. For this presentation, however, we are more interested in seeing how these aspects of learning might be consistent with Whitehead’s (1962) theory of the rhythm of mental growth. In his view, emotion is the primary feeling from which consciousness and learning grow (Flynn, 1995). Consequently, when two out of three students described the emotional significance of learning as a critical aspect of their experience we were intrigued and thought comparisons with Whitehead worthy of further study.

The Rhythm of Learning

I had observed Dad doing this before but had never done it all by myself. ...So one day we drove to the field and I watched and helped Dad check the equipment. Then we began doing the summerfallow. Dad did the first few rounds and explained how to and what to watch for. Then he let me try. He stayed and helped me. Then he left and returned home and I continued to work in the field.

Canadian Student

In discussing Whitehead’s (1962) rhythm of mental growth, most researchers seem to emphasize the cycles of romance, precision, and generalisation. While analyzing the results of this study it became clear to us how vitally important the rhythmic periods of freedom, discipline, and freedom are for learning. We wonder if researchers have overlooked, for the most part, the importance of the rhythm of mental growth. In particular, periods of freedom may have been under emphasized in our study of Whitehead’s epistemology and as he points out:

My main position is that the dominant note of education at its beginning and at its end is freedom, but that there is an intermediate stage of discipline with freedom in subordination: Furthermore, that there is not one unique threefold cycle of freedom, discipline, and freedom; but that all mental development is composed of such cycles, and cycles of such cycles” (p. 48).

Emotion and Rhythm

In comparing the findings of our research to Whitehead’s thought, we will stress the periods of freedom, discipline, and freedom which constitute the rhythm of mental growth. We will also discuss the intermingling of romance, precision, and generalisation in these periods. After all, the students did point out that emotion was the “elan vital” in critical incidents of learning (p. 49). In our analysis we found that student descriptions of learning exemplified, in many ways, Whitehead’s idea of a rhythm in mental growth or learning. These descriptions offered us a more concrete glimpse of the workings of periods of freedom and romance within periods of discipline and the growing precision of thought. For those of us involved in this study, Whitehead’s abstract idea of cycles within cycles of mental growth seemed to become more accessible and understandable. As mentioned above, however, it is important to remember that the ideas presented here are preliminary and speculative. Because of the limited time for presenting this paper, we will use only a few examples and a very brief analysis. The real purpose of this presentation is to evoke questions and serious discussion about the aesthetics of human learning.

Freedom

The period of freedom, where romance initially predominates, seems to be represented in the aspects of emotional significance and autonomy as described by students. Students reported an intuition of relevance emanating from feelings of personal and emotional connectedness with some situation or subject matter. For example:

I love physical fitness and was very excited to learn about all the muscles in the body. Even though the course is loaded with information, I devoted a lot of time to this class and learned an amazing amount.

Canadian Student

Emotion and Rhythm

This description is consistent with Whitehead’s (1962) notion that learning begins with a feeling in the learner that there are “unexplored connections” between themselves and certain situations and subjects. Moreover, these feelings of connectedness were described by students as personal and emotional. In Whitehead’s (1978) view, emotions serve as a medium between the primary experience of feelings and a growing awareness of an event that leads to consciousness of its salient features (Flynn, 1995). Emotions are the ‘elan vital’ of learning, that is, a personal feeling for the relevance of the subject is what motivates students to persevere and separates real learning from the mere acquisition of bits of information or ‘dead knowledge’. Whitehead (1962) also characterizes the period of freedom as a time of autonomy. It is time for “discursive activity amid a welter of ideas and experience” and “plenty of browsing and first-hand experiences involving adventures of thought and action” (p. 50; 52). Whitehead stresses in the initial period of freedom one’s free reign in exploring some area of interest. This a period where it is critically important that learning not be “dominated by systematic procedure”(p. 28). Here is a good example of this discursive and adventurous period with an emphasis on free ranging thought.

We were having fun and sitting together with friends. There was a nice and gentle feeling. One of us wanted to discuss the meaning of history. He suggested that in order to learn history it would be fruitful to be unaware of ones history or cultural background. Most of us had conflicting opinions and discussion flew in different directions. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we had strongly conflicting views, but afterwards I had a feeling that my opinions had changed and I really learned a lot about history.

Finnish Student

The kind of wandering thought described here leads to wonder and a growing desire for more precise knowledge. Wonder is grounds for what Whitehead calls the “setting in order of a ferment already stirring in the mind” that occurs during the period of discipline (p. 29). Real learning is “dominated by wonder” emanating from within the individual (p. 50). The student quote about farming that introduces this section of the paper is also a good example of such discursive learning. She observed and wondered about her father’s work in the fields but never considered exactly how to do this work, that is, she freely attends to the salient features of her experience without systematizing them.

Emotion and Rhythm

Discipline

Discipline is a period of time where precision in thought and action is predominant. Subordinate, but still vital to this period, are elements of freedom and romance. The periodic nature of learning, and the idea that there are periods of freedom within periods of discipline or ‘cycles within cycles’, is evident in student descriptions of their experiences. These phenomena are evident in the aspects of reflection, differing perspectives, collaboration, and dialogue. As was the case in the period of freedom, autonomy seems to be omnipresent in the learning incidents described by students.

It is interesting that, according to students, time for reflection in learning was almost as important as the emotional significance of the subject or situation. An example of precise reflection founded in emotion was provided in this student’s description of her experience following the death of a loved one.

I learned much about myself, my family, and the people around me. I found that there is a part in every human being that brings out a sheer kindness. The good in people comes out in the depths of tragedy. In this way, I feel true learning must be experienced.

Canadian Student

Emotion and Rhythm

In this case, the discovery of a compassionate humanity in others is founded in the emotion of grief. The young women whose experience is cited here made this discovery autonomously. There is freedom in the period of discipline, that is, “... the only discipline important for its own sake, is self-discipline, and ...this can only be acquired by a wide use of freedom” (p. 55). Thus, while being a period of precision the student in this example still freely notices the salient features of experience along the way and chooses which of these to include in the growing body of “general rules” that guides her life (p. 57 ). This period of learning is at once free in exploration and disciplined in observation. As Whitehead claims, there are always cycles within cycles, periods of freedom intermingled with periods of discipline. There is never “one unique threefold cycle of freedom, discipline, and freedom”, rather, learning and life are “composed of such cycles, and of cycles of such cycles”(p. 48). This intermingling of self-discipline and freedom is also evident, for example, in the discursive thought and activity of students who explore history collaboratively in the example quoted above. The free ranging external dialogue that transpired, in that case, was punctuated by periods of self-discipline where students carefully attended to the differing perspectives of others and changed their own thinking as a result. Elements of self-discipline and freedom, and the importance of exploring differing perspectives, also appeared in student descriptions of foreign travel.

I went to France and saw how they talk, ate, and lived. All this was so very different from what I had taken in French class that I was astounded.

Finnish Student

Emotion and Rhythm

The thinking of this student, while becoming more and more precise, is characterized by periods of autonomous reflection, a kind of inner dialogue. No one points out to the student the differences between her experiences in France and what she learned in French class. Real learning, according to some students, is a very personal experience that involves reflecting on previous assumptions and altering these assumptions on the basis of new knowledge. Learning, in these cases, is a kind of inner dialogue. That is not to say that collaboration with others is not important. Learning, as the student descriptions of learning we use in this paper indicate, is at once personal and social (Jarvilehto, 1998a; 1998b). For example, one can alter their assumptions while talking with peers, walking the streets of Paris, or listening to a lecture. As one Canadian student described this latter case, the lecturer was “incredibly interesting and, in turn, I critically examined my own memories to try and see if they were reliable or not!” Learning, according to students, is a matter of adjusting one’s thoughts while freely exploring the salient features of the environment, that is, a matter of self-discipline and freedom. This seems to be consistent with Whitehead’s conception of learning as a rhythmic process.

Returning to the student quote at the beginning of this section, we can see the period of discipline as a time of focusing on the salient features of farming, a beginning of organized thought and action. One day, rather than just observing and wondering about the summerfallow, the young woman began to help her father check the equipment. He explained to her how to do the fieldwork she had been observing, briefly helped her with the work, and then left her alone. Consequently, the young woman no longer has the freedom to simply observe, she must now do the summerfallow herself. She now focuses on the salient ideas and procedures of the work explained to her by her father. As Whitehead (1962) would say, she “adds value to bare experience”, that is, she adds knowledge to the feeling of wonder she experienced during the period of freedom (p. 50). The young woman’s description of this learning experience incorporates aspects of collaboration, differing perspectives, dialogue, and a growing autonomy as illustrated above. She now enters the period of freedom and generalisation where her work in the field is guided by new found knowledge and capabilities gained during the period of discipline and precision.