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Conference on Kurt Lewin’s Influence on Contemporary Psychology Larry Sherman (Treasurer of the IASCE) was invited to convene a symposium for the International Conference on Kurt Lewin: Contribution to Contemporary Psychology, which was held in Bydgoszcz and Mogilno, Poland, 10-12 September, 2004. Along with Richard Schmuck (the first President of the IASCE) and his wife Patricia Schmuck, the trio of IASCE members presented a symposium that focused on Lewin’s influence on contemporary American education, especially the roots of cooperative learning in Lewinian theory and the role of “action research.” Cooperative Learning as a pedagogical “action” which one can use to ameliorate more positive human relations in diverse groups was a primary focus of our symposium. We also discussed IASCE’s 25th Anniversary Singapore conference where we participated in a panel devoted to the history of the IASCE. The role of Lewinian theory as it came down to us through Morton Deutsch, one of Lewin’s last students, was mentioned as a primary influence for David Johnson who studied with him. All three of us were students of students of Kurt Lewin as well: Sherman was a student of Jacob Kounin who studied with Lewin at the University of Iowa in the late 1930’s; Richard and Patricia Schmuck were students of Ronald Lippitt who also studied with Lewin at Iowa during the late 1930’s. In a sense we are the “grandchildren” of Kurt Lewin. Additional ideas brought out during our symposium included the notions of democratic/autocratic/laissez-faire leadership, classroom management, and ecological psychology issues developed by Kounin, and the role of other Lewin colleagues, especially Kenneth B. Clark and Stuart Cook who gave highly influential testimony to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas United States Supreme Court resulting in the decision to desegregate American public schools (this year marks the 50th Anniversary of that momentous Supreme Court decision which changed the landscape of American education). Our Powerpoint slides for this symposium are available at: http://www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/Lewin_symposium.htm. One entire day of the conference took place in Mogilno, Poland, where we dedicated a large bronze plaque that was affixed to Lewin’s childhood home in Mogilno. We also visited the local historical museum where an entire room was dedicated to various artifacts and displays celebrating the life of Kurt Lewin. The three of us were quite proud to have been part of this celebration of the life of Kurt Lewin, “The Practical Theorist.” Check out the IASCE website at www.iasce.net. If you have content or links to add, please sent them to IASCE co-president Lynda Baloche at LBALOCHE@wcupa.edu.
Larry
Sherman (left), Richard Schmuck (center) and Patricia Schmuck (right) |
