Learning for Peace and Coexistence Action Research to Improve Student Attitudes

• Main Author: Seema Arif
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Management and Technology 2018-05-01
• Series: UMT Education Review
• Subjects: participatory action research; em ancipation; teaching with technology; innovation
• Online Access: https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/uer/article/view/125

Living in 21st century means living in a totally new world full of challenges both for the educators and the learners. The aim of a postmodern university is to enable human beings to live more meaningful and satisfying lives by promoting social justice, peace and harmony in the world. It can only be achieved by teaching students critical thinking or developing among students the capacity to look at problems from various perspectives and thus reduce the chances of conflict. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve student’s higher order thinking skills and attitude towards life and learning. For this purpose specific activities were designed for undergraduate students enrolled in the course ‘Introduction to Psychology’, so that they may become more aware of their cognitive processes, increase their perspective-taking, revisit their rational skills, and be able to establish new links with their society and culture. Innovations through visual media and psychological testing were introduced in four steps backed with formative assessment. Qualitative feedback was collected by the end of the course from the students about the course material, teaching methodology, and the innovations used describing how they personally relate to this experience. The results show that students like innovative technology used in the classroom and some even related to it as the most relevant and meaningful experience of their lives.