Group+5

=**Part 1: Introduction and Contributions**= Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1, 1908. He was born to Jewish parents from Russia. He claimed to have a rather unhappy childhood being the only Jew in a non-Jewish neighborhood. He surrounded himself with books and lost himself in libraries. He spent much of his time studying. In graduate school, he decided to pursue the study of psychology. He became a very influencial psychologist. He died of a heart attach on June 8, 1970.

When Maslow was at the University of Wisconsin, he met Harry Harlow. He became his chief mentor. Maslow started to research an original idea with the dominance of primate behavior and sexuality. He would later go on to do more research at Columbia University. Maslow was part of Brooklyn College's faculty from 1937-1951. He continued his studying his ideas there. His lifelong research would have him thinking of human health and human potential. The people in his life and his childhood experiences had caused him to research these ideas. He wrote on human health and human potential in great length. He used other psychologists ideas but would contribute extensively to the research done before his. Some of the concepts he work on were the hierarchy of needs, self actualization, and peak experiences. Maslow's new discipline was "Humanistic Psychology." He would become the leader in the humanistic school of psychology.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs was one of his greatest contributions to the field of psychology. Characteristics of this theory are explained further. Also, we will explain the significance of this theory in today's education and use of technology.

=**Part 2: Characteristics of the Theory**=

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs can be broken into three main characteristics; physical, emotional, and achievment of one's ultimate goals. The following link can help visualize this: []




 * Strengths and Weaknesses:**

Strengths- 1- fairly logical in nature 2- gives a blueprint for what people need in order to be successful in life 3- can assist in the understanding of children who do not yet have the lower levels of the hierarchy met

Weaknesses- 1- all people do not conform to a simple pyramid theory 2- due to the individuality of others, the needs could be in a different order for different people 3- people who have not yet had the lower levels of the pyramid have achieved levels of self-actualization

- __Constructivism:__ the act of learners relating a new idea to something that they already have stored in their brain. Learning based upon previous experience and exposure. Learners then use this new information along with the previous knowledge to bulid a larger framework.

-__Maslow's Hierarchy of needs__ focuses on needs being met in order to grow and develop. If basic needs are not met learning will be a problem. The basic needs which are found on the larger bottom portion of the pyramid include the most basic aspects of life such as food, clothing and shelter. These basic needs along with love and affection and many other more specific traits found as the pyramid moves upward will lead to the success of self actualization. Once people are fully aware and accepting of themselves learning comes much more easily simply because they have many more experiences and knowlege to base new ideas upon. This heirarchy of needs is not based around direct instruction because learners use this pyramid as early on as Pre K and Kindergarten. Concepts and experiences learned in the years spent at home or in a daycare center have met the young childrens basic need and built knowledge in their minds. This concept of experience and knowledge early on will allow these children to efficiently grow and learn throughout their schooling.

media type="custom" key="7048533" I also found some other great videos on you tube.

1. Self-actualization

“What a man can be, he must be.” This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. For example one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions. As mentioned before, in order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs. Below are Maslow’s descriptions of a self-actualized person’s different needs and personality traits. Maslow also states that even though these are examples of how the quest for knowledge is separate from basic needs he warns that these “two hierarchies are interrelated rather than sharply separated” (Maslow 97). This means that this level of need, as well as the next and highest level, are not strict, separate levels but closely related to others, and this is possibly the reason that these two levels of need are left out of most textbooks.

2. Esteem All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Also known as the //belonging need//, esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an [|inferiority complex]. People with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. Note, however, that many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as [|depression] can also prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels. Most people have a need for a stable self-respect and self-esteem. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The higher one is the need for self-respect, the need for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom. The latter one ranks higher because it rests more on inner competence won through experience. Deprivation of these needs can lead to an inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness.

3. Love and belonging After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs are social and involve feelings of [|belongingness]. This aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally based relationships in general, such as: Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs, or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, [|social anxiety], and [|clinical depression]. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure; an anorexic, for example, may ignore the need to eat and the security of health for a feeling of control and belonging.
 * Friendship
 * Intimacy
 * Family

4. Safety needs With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior. These needs have to do with people's yearning for a predictable orderly world in which perceived unfairness and inconsistency are under control, the familiar frequent and the unfamiliar rare. In the world of work, these safety needs manifest themselves in such things as a preference for [|job security], grievance procedures for protecting the individual from unilateral authority, savings accounts, insurance policies, reasonable disability accommodations, and the like. Safety and Security needs include:
 * Personal security
 * Financial security
 * Health and well-being
 * Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts

5. Physiological needs For the most part, physiological needs are obvious — they are the literal requirements for human survival. If these requirements are not met, the human body simply cannot continue to function. Physiological needs include: Air, water, and food are [|metabolic] requirements for survival in all animals, including humans. Clothing and shelter provide necessary protection from the elements. The intensity of the human sexual instinct is shaped more by [|sexual competition] than maintaining a birth rate adequate to survival of the species.
 * [|Breathing]
 * [|Nutrition]
 * [|Homeostasis]

=Part 4= Christyl Powell-Braxton =**Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the Instructional Setting**= Most models of Maslow’s theory don’t accept direct instruction as a successful means of communicating curriculum. An excellent example of using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in collaboration with technology in the classroom is the use of pre-recorded podcasts from classrooms across the world to explore a lesson in bullying and how different cultures react. Allowing such a popular topic to be explored by the children in the classroom already raises the anticipated participation level for the lesson. However allowing the children the chance to view similar topics with students globally will allow them to look at the issue on a larger scale and increases the exposure to problem-solving strategies not readily available to their demographic area. Another option that could be used when educating students based on this theory is a concept mapping activity which the instructor links to a power point presentation that thoroughly breaks down each area of the self actualization section for a social skills group operated by the instructor during the weekly rap session. The weekly rap session would be a 15 minute period in which the instructor joins the students in a circle and discussion of the topic is centered around events intertwined with student learning. For example a topic that could be used in order to facilitate a discussion on teenage relationships could highlight the love and belonging phase of Maslow’s Hierarchy.



=The Classroom Built on Maslow's Thoery=

This classroom would consist of interactive activities and centers based upon student’s achieving self-actualization. Each child would be given the option to participate in center based activities based on class room behavior or instructional necessity. I would also incorporate an incentive based plan that would allow students to use raffle style tickets to purchase staple items: such as pencils, pens, oatmeal cups, etc. This program would become a measuring tool for students that will provide immediate rewards as well as options for delayed gratification such as: center time, free homework night, and field trip passes. The lesson will be participation based and will allow students time to become verbal, mobile, and engaged based on using various delivery styles (i.e. smart-boards, projectors, and computer based lessons). Students in my classroom will be between the 9th-12th grades and will be operating on levels below the state standards. These children will receive special education services and will have accommodations provided as stated through their IEP’s. Given the diversity in the special education student learning style, each student’s lesson will be centered around, their learning plan in the IEP. The goal for all lessons will be to give the students new information that they will in turn be able to translate into information that they can use to propel themselves forward in their learning.



=**Classroom Implementation **= Upon successful implementation of technology in a lesson involving Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs the student should be able to use software based programming to demonstrate embedded knowledge of the target topic (i.e. self actualization lesson activity would be for each student to create a five slide power point about what they view as an individual striving for self-actualization). Students that plug into lessons involving the Pyramid associated with Maslow’s Theory should walk away with a better since of what it takes to become a whole person according to this viewpoint. As the instructor another tool I would use is student’s logging into a group forum as part of the homework, to discuss the success or failures they are receiving in the school setting. In summary although this theory presents topics based on individuals obtaining wholeness, instructor's can utilize this theory to educate large or small group settings especially in situations dealing with behavior management.