UO Alumni Works

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Browsing UO Alumni Works by Author "Collen, Robin Latshaw"

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    Handle With Care: A Pedagogical Theory of Touch in Teaching Dance Technique Based on Four Case Studies
    (Texas Woman's University, 2002-12) Collen, Robin Latshaw
    The purpose of this study was to investigate how human touch may be used within a modern dance technique class to facilitate effective teaching ,and learning. This inquiry was based on two initial assumptions: (a) touch is an effective teaching and learning tool for modern dance, and (b) a modern dance technique class defines its own culture within which pedagogical touch can be,\ natural and integral experience. Two qualitative traditions of inquiry were used: the phenomenological study and the multiple case study. Fieldwork took place at four institutions of higher education. Methodology centered on interviews, participant observation, and questionnaires. Memos \Vere written from transcribed interviews, questionnaires, and videotaped observations. A list of relevant coding categories of emergent themes was developed. Nel Noddings' theory of care in moral education was used as an initial framework for a theory models approach to analysis and interpretation of the data. Laban Movement Analysis was used as an analytical tool. The effective use of touch requires teachers to acknowledge their own philosophies of teaching and learning, and to recognize the importance of students' backgrounds with touch and dance. In this context teachers develop environments for learning through touch. Teachers mentor touch, enabling students to fully engage in the learning process as touchers and touchees. Teachers develop methods for integrating touch into the flow of their classes. An emphasis on student-to-student-touch experiences engages students in tactile dialogue, providing students with practice in caring, paying attention, remaining flexible, cultivating relationships, searching for appropriate responses, and kinesthetic empathy. A pedagogical theory of touch was developed. Three core constructs are: (a) the inside/outside nature of dancing, and of learning movement; (b) the importance of student histories; and the significance of intentional touch. The necessity for teachers to account for these foundational elements to insure the effective use of touch, was stressed. Meta-dance Practice is a teaching and learning theory which was developed in this study. This theory-which describes and explains touch-based teaching and learning experiences that move beyond dance technique--resides within the paradigm of constructivist learning and embodies themes of moral education.