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Martha Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings is alive with words, such as sentience, unidirectionality, helicy, and space-time. Rogers' view of phenomena- a unitary-transformative perspective- is relatively new in its evolution (Newman, 1992). It represents a significant shift from the social and political reality of most teachers and students of nursing theory. This holistic, acausal model of reality embodied in Rogers' Science juxtaposes strikingly with the particulate view of the person and the orientation to results and outcomes emphasized in our current health care systems and is reinforced in many of our research courses. Before students can consider using Rogers' framework in their nursing practice and research, they need to step beyond these preconceptions and begin to reflect and explore the meaning of the concepts in Rogers' framework. From our previous teaching and learning experiences with Rogers' Science, we found that traditional methods of teaching-learning were not congruent with unitary modes of knowing. Creative, innovative approaches to learning that foster conceptual growth and "transformation" were not found in the literature. The purpose of this article is to describe an exploratory, participative learning approach to teaching unitary knowing relative to Martha Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings.
Order of the Class
Immediately prior to the 3-hour class on Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings, 12 (9"xl2") posters (five red, each stating one of Rogers five assumptions; four blue, listing the four building blocks; and three yellow, stating the three principles of homeodynamics) were distributed face down to class members who were asked not to look at them until instructed to do so. Red, blue, and yellow were chosen because they are the primary colors, the basis for all the hues in the light spectrum. Likewise the five assumptions, four building blocks, and three principles of homeodynamics are the basis on which Rogers' work is built.
In order to set the stage for the discussion of Rogers, we begin the class with a story about King Solomon. King Solomon was known for his great wisdom when governing the ancient Israelites. According to one story, two men solicited bets on whether or not they could trick the king into giving an incorrect answer to a question they would pose to him. The question involved whether or not a...