Samenvatting

Touching happens fewer and fewer by the results of the automation and industrialization (Sluijter, 2002). For some reason, touching is not as usual as it has been in former times. Nowadays, touching became a taboo, especially the growing publicity and the influences of
the media upon it, makes that touching more and more disappears out of daily life. The other side tells that the effects of touching are very surprising. Loving and intentionally touching is good for the total health (Sluijter, 2002). In Denmark and Sweden, physical contact in education became a method to teach students to grow up in an atmosphere of solidarity. Many researches support the positive effects of touching. The percentage of bullied children in schools decreases and children who suffer of trouble of attention benefit from regular touching (Sluijter, 2002). Except of these effects, the
social emotional development will be stimulated by frequent touching. Students acquire lots of social skills, learn to communicate and behave better (Sluijter 2002; Oden, 2005). The mechanism which lies behind this method is the hormone Oxytocine will be produced after a
loving touch. After an intentional loving touch, receptors in the skin send a signal to the hypophyse in the brains. The receptors are connected with the emotional brain. Depending on the 'emotional load' of a touch, a certain amount of Oxytocine will be produced. The hormone Oxytocine gives a feeling of well being and inclination to tend other people (Sluijter, 2002). The research of this thesis about the influences of physical contact on the social emotional
development of students has found place on Murrays Bay Intermediate School (MBI School) in Auckland, New Zealand. The students have been taught a lesson with different tasks with components of cooperation, physical contact and communication in it. Afterwards, the students filled in a questionnaire to get to know how they experienced that lesson. The results of this research can be found in chapter seven and seem to support in the social emotional development.
New Zealand offers quality education. Intermediate education (year 7 and 8) is a part of the compulsory schooling in New Zealand. Intermediate education offers a wide curriculum, extra
specialization and several extracurricular activities to prepare the students for college. Especially MBI School offers lots of opportunities for students to explore their environment
and to develop their personal skills and talents. The education of MBI School is based on two
theories (www.mbi.school.nz):
• Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
• Anderson's revised taxonomy
These theories describe a way of teaching which learns students to become more
independently. Besides, the theories point out not to focus on one aspect, but concentrate
more on the whole range of competences (www.mbi.school.nz). MBI School has a wide look
upon education and the development of education. MBI School is always accessible to
innovation and alternative ways of teaching. Preparing students for college means teach them
how to use their knowledge in the society where they live with others.
Especially in the stage of puberty, the total development of year 7 and 8 (beginning to
become adolescent) students can be described as 'confusing' (Beemen, 2002). Changes of
the body have big influences on their self-image, their behavior and social contacts. Social
cognition is a skill they learn and develop in stage of puberty (Beemen, 2002). "Sociale
cognitie is het waarnemen en interpreteren van de gevoelens en gedachte van anderen en
het denken over de ander als persoon" (Beemen, 2001, p. 205) [Social cognition is the
perceiving and interpreting of the feelings and the thoughts of other people and the thinking
about the other as a person]. Physical contact is not self-evident for everyone, especially not
in puberty, though the method of physical contact seems to support students in their social
emotional development (Beemen 2001; Sluijter, 2002). This research, which has found place
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on MBI School, shows that students react very positive on physical contact and cooperation.
Using the method of physical contact trains the student's capacity of social cognition. The
implementation of the method within (physical) education does not have specific demands.
Simple games and activities can be enough to obtain the wished effect. It can be seen as
another way of thinking, which lends its fundaments of the theories about adaptive education
and cooperative learning. The method connects knowledge with social skills. So
implementation of physical contact can be seen as an overarching of different skills which are
required for success in life. Fact is that physical contact and tactile stimulation must be
reintegrated in education to invest in the domain of personal experiences of the students. Lots
of activities are developed for MBI School to make it easier to implement physical contact and
tactile stimulation in daily activities and physical education (PE). These activities (described in
part two) can be seen as a recommendation to MBI School and can be divided in different
categories below. MBI School will experience the positive effects of this method if they use
the activities of the practical part on a frequent base. One activity a week is enough to
experience these positive effects of touching (Sluijter, 2002). It will improve the atmosphere in
the class!
The activities are divided in different categories to connect the aims of this method with the
aims of the subject PE. In this way, the practical part can be easily integrated in the PE
curriculum on MBI School.
The activities:
1. Strategy activities
2. Activities with physical contact
3. Teambuilding activities