Applying more of the AQAL Model to education....

Applying the Quadrants to an Integral Education

     As a first step in conceiving what a genuine Integral Education might look like, we'll take a short tour through all four Quadrants. Beginning with the UL, we must incorporate solutions which address the paradigmatic problem within the interior consciousness of the individual, which might take the form of:

• Addressing the student's (as well as the teacher's) negative beliefs about how difficult learning is supposed to be. In this regard, the research findings of accelerated learning and alternative education experts such as Lozanov, Scheele, Montessori, Steiner, and Wenger would prove very helpful, particularly their findings which strongly suggest that humans are born to learn. Likewise, the research of French psychologist Jean Piaget also suggests that learning, although aided by outside forces, is a naturally occurring and intuitive process that occurs spontaneously within children of all cultures. Such study and inquiry can only aid the student's progress in successful learning. When we become inwardly convinced of our innate abilities to learn, this conviction supercharges the entire learning process and we become comfortable with our ability to learn how to learn.
• Encouraging each student's daily positive affirmation of his or her innate ability to learn and adapt.  Without going into all the available research, it is sufficient to say that expectation really does influence perception and performance. When students become aware that how they affirm their learning experience actually affects their results, they can learn to affirm their innate ability to learn how to learn. And when this happens, they tend to get more of what they reinforce, which effectively lessens resistance to learning and actually makes the learning process more rewarding and exciting.
• Discovering each student's peculiar learning style (i.e. visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.), and then finding ways to cater to them.
• Utilizing teaching methods and covering subjects which engage multiple intelligences. Whatever intelligences might not be practical for extensive coverage in class, can at the very least be brought to attention in ways that help build increasing awareness of them in individual students (further examples of how certain lines of intelligence might be addressed is covered in the  Lines section below). Remember, cross-training between lines of development contributes to a degree of growth and development otherwise impossible by simply concentrating on a single line of intelligence.
• Incorporating visualization in the classroom to facilitate greater ease of learning.
• Incorporating the natural human capacity of the other-than-conscious mind for peripheral learning in the classroom, which refers to research that strongly suggests that the other-than-conscious mind (aka "pre-conscious processor") is constantly registering all stimuli in the field of awareness, though it is often doing so below the threshold of conscious awareness. According to learning specialist Paul Scheele, though the conscious mind is capable of processing an impressive seven bits of information per second, the other-than-conscious mind is capable of processing an amazing one hundred thousand bits of information per second. One of the ways in which Bulgarian psychologist and researcher Georgi Lozanov has incorporated the capacities of the other-than-conscious mind into the class room is by creating unique alphabet and lesson boards, lit by special lighting, which are strategically hung around the periphery of the classroom, to assist in what Lozanov refers to as spontaneous absorption of  teaching material. Lauded by at least twenty UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization) experts and many educators worldwide, Suggestopedia is a breakthrough accelerated teaching method which incorporates many synergistic elements to help draw out more of the child's innate reserves of vast learning potential (more of which will be introduced in the States section below). What follows are comments from just a few who have researched the vast learning potential of the other-than-conscious mind: "Your conscious mind is very intelligent, and your subconscious mind is a hell of a lot smarter." - Milton Erickson (eminent medical hypnotist); "The term paraconsciousness comprises also all non-verbal automated activities in their mental reflexion. It also comprises the unconscious automated elements within the limits of conscious mental activity. When we operate with various concepts, when we read or solve problems and are, on the whole, consciously concentrating our attention on some activity, we are not aware of many  elementary components which constitute these activities and are unconscious for the moment. For example: the ideas which build up notions; the letters and even the words of sentences which we happen to be reading; the unconscious judgments and premises hidden in the shortened formulas of thinking, as well as the codes and symbols. Paraconsciousness is of paramount importance for suggestopedia because we make purposeful use of many of its resources. For example, by means of a wide variety of peripheral perceptions we quickly send what is to be memorised to the long term memory. The ease of the acquisition brings about  the humanisation of the learning process.  Paraconsciousness is a substantial source for development of creativity. A lot of interesting ideas can be hinted at by paraconsciousness. Paraconsciousness embraces the unconscious sides of creativity as well as intuition and inspiration." - Dr. Georgi Lozanov (developer of Suggestopedia)

In the UR, to address the paradigmatic problem within the exterior realm of observable, scientific facts in the individual, we might consider incorporating:

• Various nutritional supplements which have been scientifically shown to support proper brain functioning and improved memory. While some substances, such as ginko biloba, have been shown to have no observable effect upon learning and memory, there are some which have, such as bacopa and AFA algae.
• Both right brain and left brain learning techniques. Though some researchers debunk the idea of specialized learning capabilities peculiar to each hemisphere, many techniques which combine so-called left brain tendencies (which have been labeled as logical, sequential, analytical, and objective) with right brain capacities (often labeled as intuitive, holistic, random, synthesizing, and subjective) prove to be quite useful. For example, as an alternative to traditional linear note-taking, Mind-mapping notes in class utilizes not only linguistic memory, but also adds the greater capacities of spatial/visual and associative memory in the human brain.
• Various brain/mind machines which use imbedded sound frequencies (usually binaural beat frequencies), listened to through headphones, to induce deep hemispheric synchronization. EEG studies done on some long-term users have shown that such deep synchronization actually becomes permanent to a large degree (after several years of use, of course), due to the brain's neuroplasticity (i.e. the brain's ability to grow in complexity in response to a repeated mental stimulus, such as meditation). In other words, as a result of being exposed daily (over the course of months and years) to the immense fluctuations created by the sound stimulus, the brain grows new synaptic connections and even new neural pathways (which increase communication between various parts of the left and right hemispheres of the brain) in response, and begins the consistent release of various life-enhancing neurochemicals (such as endorphins) and anti-aging hormones (such as DHEA). This growth in complexity actually leads to higher levels of functioning. One of the common benefits reported by users of some of these technologies is the emergence of accelerated learning capabilities (for example, some previously "C" and "D" students have reported becoming "A" and "B" students as a result of using such technology; my own extensive use of and experience with such technology certainly seems to confirm such claims). While one of the reasons for this increase in learning ability is surely due to increased communication efficiency within the brain, an even more profound reason is that many negative emotional influences are often spontaneously released during the course of long term use of such technology, which in turn results in less resistance to, and internal flux in, the learning process. Dr. Lester Fehmi, brain state researcher and director of the Princeton Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic, has said, brain synchronization "is correlated experientially with a union with experience, and 'into-it-ness.' Instead of feeling separate and narrow-focused you tend to feel more into it...There's a whole-brain sensory integration going on and it's as if you become less self-conscious and function more intuitively." This ‘into-it-ness' of which he speaks is one of the reasons why such technologies need to be more seriously researched in both the academic and scientific arenas.
• Lynn Freeman Dhority's twelve brain-based learning guidelines: 1) Each brain is unique. 2) The human brain can grow new synaptic connections at any age. 3) Most learning is subconscious. 4) Mind/body connections are vital. 5)The brain looks for meaning. 6) The brain develops in contact with others. 7) Learning involves whole-brain activity. 8) Language learning is influenced by specific developmental stages/windows. 9) Information is stored in multiple pathways. 10) Threat and high stress inhibit learning. 11) Emotions enhance attention, meaning and memory. 12) The brain adapts itself to its environment.

In the LL, the paradigmatic problem can be addressed within the interior and inherited Cultural values of the Collective by incorporating:

• The power of Community. Waldorf schools and Suggestopedia methods both incorporate the power of community-based learning and anchoring in their rather successful approaches to education.
• Transformative Learning. Having roots in psychoanalytic theory, critical social theory, and depth psychology, Transformative Learning was first developed as a concept by Jack Mezirow and later critiqued and re-shaped by others, such as Robert Boyd. As one writer (O'Sullivan) put it, "Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and irreversibly alters our way of being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking structures of class, race and gender; our body awarenesses, our visions of alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice and peace and personal joy." While the "terrain" covered here certainly touches the UL, the LL world of interior Cultural experience is also profoundly touched.
• Discussion of, and serious inquiry into, how Cultural world views influence development in the other three Quadrants. For example, the context in which an individual's subjective conscious experience (UL) is born is largely determined by the LL. Pervasive, culturally-influenced gender values of the LL may occasionally clash with individual biological drives in the UR. Or, as this paper states, the Social System (LR) may have evolved to a level which the current Educational Paradigm (LL) is becoming increasingly unable to handle, which results in increased tension and entropy.

And in the LR, to address the paradigmatic problem within the exterior realm of Social systems and processes, we might consider:

• Incorporating the non-threatening learning environment of Suggestopedia, which integrates classical art, aesthetics, songs, laughter, games, games in games, communication in the spirit of love, respect for man as a human being, specific gentle assignments of complicated tasks by means of  ‘communicative suggestion,' the gentle and indirect correction of mistakes, the lack of complicated homework, a stimulating atmosphere,  making use of conscious and sub-conscious processes, special lighting, and a unique method of concert listenings where lesson plans are rhythmically pulsed to the largo movement of various Baroque musical compositions in a manner that allows for spontaneous absorption of teaching material (more of which is expounded upon in the section on States, which includes the address of the official website of Suggestopedia's creator, Dr. Georgi Lozanov, for further research).
• The teacher as Presence. In Maria Montessori's famous words, "Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society."
• Environmental learning "sound systems." These are sound technologies similar to the ones mentioned in the UR, but are designed for playback over public audio systems, and have been shown to assist in inducing and maintaining states of increased focus in the classroom.

Lines

     As previously mentioned, Lines refer to individual developmental lines of intelligence, all of which touch and influence each other, yet have been shown through extensive research to develop in a manner that his highly independent. Using the Cognitive and Moral lines as examples, we can say that cognitive intelligence is necessary but not sufficient for the development of moral intelligence. As our earlier money embezzling example demonstrated so well, it is possible and quite common for an individual to possess a highly developed cognitive line of intelligence and still remain under-developed in the moral line. However, further research has suggested that extensive development in the Intrapersonal and Spiritual lines of development (e.g. via contemplative and meditative traditions, practices, and intensive self-inquiry) most often does result in a measurable rise in moral development.

     In any case, just a short tour through the reality of multiple lines of intelligence is enough to illustrate the current paradigmatic problem within our current education system of catering to only a few of the intelligences available to all human beings. And as previously mentioned, evidence suggests that the right combination of intelligent cross-training goes a lot further than rigid specialization.

     With that in mind, we might incorporate this knowledge into an Integral Education by:

• Engaging in activities which, in some way, touch upon the major lines of intelligence and encourage the student's deepening awareness of them.
• Incorporating the Kinesthetic line of intelligence into the classrooms. For example, in Suggestopedia children practice their vowel sounds as their classmates give them back massages. As certain areas of the spine are massaged, the students sound out each vowel in exaggerated, relief-filled tones (e.g. "ah," "oh," "ooh").  Various other types of light touch are also used in order to kinesthetically anchor learning in developing children.
• Incorporating the Intrapersonal line of intelligence into lesson plans.  According to cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner, Intrapersonal "intelligence, (self smart) refers to having an understanding of yourself, of knowing who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward.  We are drawn to people who have a good understanding of themselves because those people tend not to screw up.  They tend to know what they can do.   They tend to know what they can't do.  And they tend to know where to go if they need help."  Intrapersonal intelligence is the ability to really know one's own emotions, aspirations, and intentions. Incorporating this intelligence in the classroom would entail the encouragement of: the expression of one's likes and dislikes in particular activities; the communication of feelings; an awareness of strengths and weaknesses; confidence in one's own abilities; the setting of appropriate goals; a healthy ambition; understanding oneself; focusing on one's inner dreams and feelings; learning to follow one's intuition/instincts; following one's personal interests; and the virtue of originality. Waldorf schools have successfully incorporated such intelligence into class curriculum, as is evident in the school's description: "Developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, Waldorf education is based on a developmental approach that addresses the needs of the growing child and maturing adolescent. Waldorf teachers strive to transform education into an art that educates the whole child-the heart and the hands, as well as the head."
• Incorporating the Emotional line of intelligence into the classroom. As we all know, emotions exert such a powerful influence over our level of success (or lack thereof) in any level of endeavor. What makes this intelligence so crucial is the fact that it touches and influences so many other lines of intelligence, including the Intrapersonal (confidence, intentionality, self-control, curiosity, etc.) and Interpersonal (relatedness, capacity to communicate, cooperation, managing relationships, etc.) lines of development. According to Daniel Goleman, author of the 1995 bestseller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Emotional Intelligence can be divided into the following five competencies: 1) The ability to identify and name one's emotional states and to understand the link between emotions, thought and action. 2) The capacity to manage one's emotional states - to control emotions or to shift undesirable emotional states to more adequate ones. 3) The ability to enter into emotional states (at will) associated with a drive to achieve and be successful. 4) The capacity to read, be sensitive to, and influence other people's emotions. 5) The ability to enter and sustain satisfactory interpersonal relationships.  
• Incorporating Visual/Spatial Intelligence. As LdPride.net (the official website of Learning Disabilities Pride) states, this line of intelligence is best incorporated through the use of maps, charts, pictures, videos, movies, puzzle building, reading, writing, charts and graphs, sketching, painting, visual metaphors and analogies (via the visual arts), constructing, fixing, designing practical objects, and interpreting visual images.
• Incorporating Musical Intelligence: Research has suggested that children involved in learning musical instrumentation regularly perform higher in mathematical skills.

     Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list. But it may serve as a jumping off point from which a greater understanding of how a more encompassing and engaging education may be accomplished.

Levels (or Stages)

     The concept of Levels simply refers to the developmental stages which have been thoroughly researched in developmental psychology, and derives its importance in education from the notion that each level of development has a peculiar effect upon learning, that various approaches to teaching can be strategically implemented during specific stages of development. For example, according to the extensive research of French psychologist Jean Piaget, all humans, regardless of culture, evolve through several stages of cognitive development, all of which produce specific effects upon the intuitive learning process. These stages are: the sensorimotor stage (ranging from simple to complex sensorimotor skills); the preoperational stage (the use of symbols); the concrete operations stage (the use of logical operations and principles in problem solving); and the formal operations stage (which advances to logical operations within abstract contexts; adult-style thinking).

     Although Piaget's developmental scheme only addresses the evolution of cognitive intelligence, it still gives an idea of how an Integral Education could be designed to be stage-specific, though it might attempt to avoid being too narrow in its interpretation of what is developmentally appropriate. Several other such developmental schemes, along various lines of intelligence, could also be investigated.

States

     I believe one of the major paradigmatic issues of our current education system which needs to be addressed has to do with the mental states which we commonly (and mostly unconsciously) cultivate within the learning environment. And one of the major advances in our understanding of how virtually anyone can accelerate learning comes from extensive research done on relaxation techniques, visualization, and meditative practices which help to induce ideal states of consciousness conducive to accelerated learning.

     The three most basic states of consciousness which virtually every human experiences every twenty-four hour period are waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, each of which have corresponding brainwave states that have been thoroughly researched.  The waking state, the state in which most people commonly approach a learning situation, has a corresponding brainwave state that researchers refer to as the Beta brainwave state, and has been shown to be largely ineffective for many learning situations. What researchers have found regarding the dream state is that its associated brainwaves (Alpha and Theta) are not only conducive to optimal learning, they can also be induced via training in techniques of relaxation, visualization, and meditation, as well as by the use of specific musical compositions and embedded sound frequencies.

     As was mentioned in a previous section, the common presence of threat and high stress in conventional education actually inhibits learning. Experimenting with a new approach in 1964 at the Department of Psychiatry of the Postgraduate Medical Institute in Sofia, Bulgarian researcher and psychologist Dr. Georgi Lozanov discovered that by utilizing the largo movements of select Baroque compositions (averaging sixty beats per minute in tempo, which is roughly equivalent to the average human heart beat), he could effectively induce a light Theta state  (which is just short of the point where sleep begins to kick in) in students which placed them in an ideal learning state where the sense of threat and stress where all but eliminated. While students were relaxing in this state (stretched out on lawn chairs), lesson plans were rhythmically spoken in conjunction with the music, creating a virtually stress-free learning environment. To document the effectiveness of this approach, Lozanov brought in a group who had had no prior training in the French language, and used the method to teach them one thousand words in one day. These were words picked by each individual, indicating no prior knowledge of what these specific words meant. When a comprehension test was given to the group afterword, the average score was an incredible 98.08%. Apparently, when deep hemispheric synchronization (such as is afforded in both the Alpha and Theta states) is induced, along with the implementation of what Lozanov refers to as tender communicative suggestion (that is, non-hypnotic suggestion) in the spoken lessons, the brain simply operates more efficiently, with less energy required and more accuracy. Research also suggests that the Theta state (4Hz - 7Hz) opens access to deep memory. It would seem that in such a deeply relaxed state, the other-than-conscious mind is able to readily absorb and organize material in a much more efficient manner than usual, allowing that material to be more readily available as it is needed.

     A startling example of the kind of effects which can occur when more efficient and accelerated learning states are used in the classroom comes from 1997's Superlearning 2000: New Triple Fast Ways You Can Learn, Earn, and Succeed in the 21st Century by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder. In it they describe some of the rather amazing and unexpected benefits experienced by young students when their French teacher began using Lozanov's Suggestopedia methods in class. While Bach's Goldberg Variations played in the background, students lounged peacefully on lawn chairs and listened to their lesson plans spoken rhythmically to the music, and did so while being immersed in profoundly relaxed states in the Alpha to Theta range. Not only did this teacher find that her worst students were now getting As and Bs, she also noticed something she never expected: her students began giving her numerous reports of how much better they were getting along with their families and other children, and her student's parents were reporting how much more well-adjusted their previously troubled children were behaving as a  result of having attended her class. This and many other examples from extensive research very strongly indicate that not only do such accelerated learning states release the stress which inhibits learning (this stress itself being a natural by-product of our current inefficient, linear educational paradigm), they also are conducive to releasing profound emotional trauma that can often lead to neurosis. In other words, this new paradigm introduced by Lozanov not only makes learning much easier and more organic, it also helps to produce healthier and more emotionally balanced human beings. This, of course, also has implications in the development of Emotional Intelligence.

     So we find that these kinds of states give us access not only to our deep memory potential, but also open us to profound emotional healing. As Dr. Georgi Lozanov writes (from http://dr-lozanov.dir.bg/, his official website):

     "First of all, in our medical psycho-therapeutic practice we have witnessed many a time fits of super recollection of a number of details from life, which have connection with the disease. This is not about Freud's ungrounded sex hypotheses but the simple hypermnesia (super recollection). Most often this hypermnesia showed a tendency to complete healing. The better, the more systematically and the more emotionally the patient recollected, the more stabilized his/her recovery was. There are two Bulgarian psycho-therapeutic methods, those of N. Krastnikov (1929) and K. Cholakov (1933), with which the healing effect is based on hypermnesia. That is something we later noticed with suggestopaedia. The students have a considerably enhanced memory and a by-product of suggestopaedic learning is the healing stabilization [italics mine]. This was something which the seven Bulgarian professors also detected. Those were specialists who under the request of the Ministries of Education and of National Health had to give a qualified opinion about the possible injuries suggestopaedia might have on health. However, they reported that suggestopaedia can be even a psycho-therapeutic method."

     Furthermore, not only does forty years of experience with Lozanov's methodologies suggest the supercharging of both long-term memory and emotional healing, it also repeatedly demonstrates what Lozanov refers to as a provoked hyper-creativity. Again,  Lozanov writes:

    "Intuition is activated and states similar to inspiration arise. These are outwardly expressed in a decidedly greater creative manifestation of personality. A number of experiments have shown that the manifestation of artistic, musical and even mathematical abilities (in accordance with any given person's manifested and potential abilities) increases considerably both quantitatively and qualitatively. Suggestological experiments have shown the possibility of accelerated creative self-development. Here again we find the same psychophysiological laws that are characteristic of hypermnesia (some absolutely the same and others with certain modifications according to the nature of the reserve phenomena)."

     Other methods of learning which have successfully incorporated the induction of accelerated learning states, such as Learning Strategies Corporation's PhotoReading Whole Mind System, Lynn Schroeder's and Sheila Ostrander's Superlearning program, and the Brain Management program by Subliminal Dynamics, can be easily researched on the internet, if further interest ensues. Athough healthy skepticism is always advised in such matters, I believe understanding how our mental states affect the learning process is crucial in developing a new paradigm for an Integral Education.