“Humane Edutainment: Combining

Tradition and Innovation”

APHE Conference
Ft. Myers, FL February 24, 2011

"The foundation of every state is the education of its youth"

- Diogenes Laertius , 3 rd Century Greek Biographer
Introduction
 Agenda

 Introduction
 Genesis of the Program
 Program Goals & Target Audience
 Humane Edutainment Theory
•Cognitive Dissonance
•Transformative Learning
•Barriers and Enablers
 Humane Edutainment Praxis
 The Way Ahead
 Program Goals

Vietnam (21st Century???)

United States (19th-20th Century)

 Target Audience
Mobile Training Team

MTT

New Volunteers

School Audiences

Three Degrees

School Audiences
Cognitive Dissonance
 Transformative Learning

“Throughout their lifetime, people make meaning out of their experiences. They
build a way of seeing the world, a way of interpreting what happens to them, and
accompanying values, beliefs, and assumptions that determine their behavior.
Much of this framework is uncritically absorbed from family, community, and
culture. People do not stop to question everything that happens to them or
everything they see and hear – they generally believe their friends, accept media
interpretations of events, and follow the principles that have guided them so far.
People have a set of expectations about the world that are based on formative
childhood experiences, and those expectations continue to act as a filter for
understanding life…When something unexpected happens, when a person
encounters something that does not fit in with his or her expectations of how
things should be, based on past experience, the choices are to reject the
unexpected or to question the expectation. When people critically examine their
habitual expectations, revise them, and act on the revised point of view,
transformative learning occurs.” (Patricia Cranton)
 Transformative Learning
A Disorienting
Dilemma

Self-
Reintegration
examination

Building
Critical
competence
assessment of
and self-
assumptions
confidence

Jack Meizrow Recognition of

Experimenting
shared
with new roles
discontent

Acquiring new
Exploration of
knowledge and
options
skills

Planning a
course of action
Barriers to Change
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Just World Phenomenon”

Bernie Madoff
“She’s looking for trouble” John Walker Lindh
“American Taliban”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Empathy Avoidance”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Psychic Numbing”
Baltic

Baby Jessica Queenie

Forgea

A single death is a tragedy;

a million deaths is a statistic”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Social Proof”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Social Proof”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Bystander Effect”

Hugo Alfredo Yale-Tax Chained Dog

Kitty Genovese
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Status Quo Bias”

Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
“To do nothing is within the power of all men…”
 Barriers to
Behavioral Change
“Linguistic Relativity”

Animal Welfare?
Animal Rights?
Animal Shelter?
Animal Rescue?
Humane Education?

Benjamin Lee Whorf Ludwig Wittgenstein

(1897-1941) (1889-1951)
 Enablers for
Behavioral Change
“Consistency & Commitment”

“Men acquire a particular quality by

constantly acting a certain way….we
become just by performing just actions,
temperate by performing temperate
actions, brave by performing brave
actions.”
– Aristotle (384-322 BC)
 Enablers for
Behavioral Change
“Vicarious Modeling”

“Tell me, and I will forget.

Show me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand.”
 Enablers for
Behavioral Change
“Communities of Inquiry”
 Humane Edutainment Praxis

Forum Theatre

Augusto Boal
(1931-2009)
Humane Edutainment Praxis

Forum Theatre
Humane Edutainment Praxis
 Humane Edutainment Praxis

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.” – Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Other HE Elements

Role Playing
Other HE Elements

Traditional Arts

“Don’t let cigarettes “Develop Chicken

destroy our future” Rearing”

“Children go to kindergarten so that mothers

can go to school. The People fight against illiteracy.”

Yudisthira's Dog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0JXcPxkSGE
Other HE Elements

Brainstorming Sessions
 Other HE Elements

Feedback

Surveys Focus Groups

Other HE Elements

Communities of Practice
 The Way Ahead…

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

- Aristotle (384-322 BC)