ADAPT Program (Accent on Developing Abstract Processes of Thought)
Date of this Version
March 1978
Abstract
ADAPT Anthropology focuses on the discovery of various social “rules” that govern social relationships. These rules are investigated through a combination of observation and participation, a traditional method in anthropology. Students use the learning cycle paradigm, first exploring relationships between people and events, then inventing new combinations of these events as a means of informing the relationships, and finally applying what they have learned to a new set of events. In this essay, I shall consider three elements of my approach to Piagetian learning in anthropology. The first element is the successful use of the learning cycle paradigm. The second element is the difference between a quantative based learning cycle, as in physics or mathematics, and a qualitative based learning cycle, as in anthropology and other non-physical or natural scieuces. The third element is the difference in task group focus of students.