Hippotherapy and Cognitive Development

     Based on Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the most effective way to teach is through situated learning, where hands-on activities that allow the learner to ask questions, perform investigations, and apply problem-solving skills (Lind, 1998). The Hippotherapy curriculum requires the learner to come up with new meanings and link concepts outside of the classroom, applying this new knowledge to the world surrounding them instead of just memorizing fact and figures. Relating new knowledge to personal situations helps develop life skills and requires students to reach adult goals of participation, belongingness, and identification—skills not normally imparted in a typical classroom situation (Shernoff et al, 2003).

     By approaching problems in a hands-on way and solving them with an activity, the participant should be more interested in learning. Additionally, but turning work into an activity, a deeper meaning of the learning situation can be formed because of discussion of the subjects among the learners (Williams & Linchevski, 1997).

 

Hippotherapy and Social Cognition

     Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory combines cognition with the importance of taking the participant into account and the environment that the participant is in while learning. Hippotherapy participation would take place outside of the formal classroom. While a separate environment from that of the confines of the school, the Hippotherapy facility should act like an extension of the classroom. This new classroom needs to be a place where participants can learn to be active members of society, including cognitive competencies and problem-solving skills (Bandura, 1992). The learning experiences encountered in the Hippotherapy environment should be transferred to learning strategies utilized in the classroom with the goal of improving achievement.

     These new skills that would impart cognitive and life skills would be taught through situated and applied learning. For example, math and science would be discussed in terms of agriculture. Bandura (1992) noted that educational practices should not only impart skills and knowledge on the learner, but also affect their beliefs in other areas of life. Teaching students life skills through education will help them develop a sense of self-efficacy, become independent learners, and become lifelong learners.

 

Hippotherapy and Moral Development

     Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development corresponds to the affective domain targeted by the Hippotherapy intervention. The affective domain includes the manner in which we deal with emotions, feelings, values, motivations, and attitudes. The importance of including a moral educational component in an otherwise cognitively based curriculum is that as Kohlberg noted, intellectual thought stimulates active thinking, which is a sign of formal operational thought and decision making.

     In the Hippotherapy program, adolescents would be presented with equine related moral dilemmas for discussion. Moral development and cognitive development should occur simultaneously. In both instances the student needs to develop more adequate ways of handling subject matter, and learn how to create an equilibrium between conflicting abstract knowledge that can arise as a result of formal operational thought.

     Because most moral development occurs through social interaction, the participants would be in a group situation and asked what they would do in certain situations, made more probable because they are horse related and might be experienced by the adolescent themselves, allows them to role-play and think about how they would solve a problem if they were in that person’s position. The participants will hopefully become skilled in empathetically understanding others, and develop from that a concern for maintaining harmonious relationships, and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of others.

References

 

Bandura, A. (1992). Social cognitive theory in R. Vasta (Ed.). Six theories of child development. (pp. 1-60). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

 

Bandura, A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory. In R. Diesner & S. Simmons (Eds.) Sources: Notable Selections in Educational Psychology. (p. 209-215). Guilford: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.

 

Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Schmidt, J. (1998). Stress and resilience in adolescence: An evolutionary perspective. In K. Borman & B. Schneider (Eds.) Adolescent years: Social influences and educational challenges. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook on Adolescence. (pp. 1-17). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Elkind, D. Egocentrism in adolescence. Child Development, 38, 1025-1034.

 

Lind, K.K. (1998). Science in early childhood: Developing and acquiring fundamental concepts and skills. Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from http://www.eric.ed.go.

 

Maloy, K. (1993). Toward a new science of instruction. Washing, D.C.: National Research Center on Student Learning. Retrieved October, 10, 2005, from http://www.eric.ed.gov.

 

Mislevy, R.J. (1991). Toward a test theory for assessing student understanding. Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from http://www.eric.ed.go.

 

Nakamura, J. & Csikszentmihalyi, N. (2002). The concept of flow. In C.R. Snyder & S.J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology, 89-105. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Piaget, J. (1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. In R. Muus & H. Portons (Eds.) Adolescent Behavior and Society: A Book of Readings, 66-72.

 

Shernoff, D.J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E.S. (2003). Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. School Psychology Quarterly, 18, 158-176.

 

Standard and Poor’s. (2005). Analytics framework methodology. Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://www.schoolmatters.com/pdf/Analytical_Paper_3-11-05.pdf

 

Williams, J.J. & Linchevski, L. (1997). Situation intuitions, concrete manipulations, and the construction of integers: Comparing two experiments. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Ill. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from http://www.eric.ed.gov.

All material on the National Hippotherapy Institute website is copyrighted and housed in the Library of Congress.

The Theory of Hippotherapy