Kurt Lewin
1890-1947
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Lewin was born in Germany in 1890, emigrated to the United States in the 1930s. There, he laid the foundations for research in human relations. Lewin's contributions to the discipline of social psychology, organizational psychology established his fame as the founder of American social psychology. |
Lewin viewed learning from the phenomenological perspective
of Gestalt psychology. He showed great concern
for the integration of theory and practice. The discovery of his research
revealed that dialectic tension and conflict between immediate, concrete
experience and analytic detachment was quite crucial for learning facilitation.
His work on group dynamics and the methodology of action research led to
his laboratory training method and T-groups. Today, his methodology of planned-change
interventions forms the basis of most training and organization development
and his T-groups brings about inflential educational innovations in this
century. His Experiential Learning Model
describes learning in a cycle of four stages:
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Concrete experience |
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Observations and reflections |
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Formation of abstract concepts and generalizations |
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Testing implications of concepts in new situations |
Other resources:
http://oncvx1.roc.wayne.edu/maier/it/lewin.htm
http://wwwis.cs.utwente.nl:8080/dmrg/MEE98/misop016/node2.html