Becoming A Brilliant Star William G. Huitt, Ph.D. Department of Psychology & Guidance Valdosta State University Valdosta, GA

Take a moment to reflect on what you see in this graphic.

Becoming A Brilliant Star There is much discussion in education and psychology about the need to "develop the whole child." But what exactly does that mean?

Becoming A Brilliant Star In order to answer that question one needs to have some view of the nature of a human being and the purpose of this life.

Becoming A Brilliant Star The Brilliant Star model is designed to provide a guide for parents, educators, and others responsible for developing the qualities of children and youth to: develop educational and schooling curricula select pedagogical methods and materials identify methods of assessment and evaluation

Becoming A Brilliant Star The Brilliant Star approach focuses attention on three critical issues facing young people today: vision character competence

Becoming A Brilliant Star Vision Dreams and goals of what is possible and desirable to do

Becoming A Brilliant Star Character The habits or patterns of thinking, feeling, willing, and behaving that relate to right and wrong, to justice and equity, and to morality

Becoming A Brilliant Star Competence The knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills that link to successful performance

Becoming A Brilliant Star All three issues are intertwined and difficult to isolate, although our experience suggests these can be observed separately in people.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Core elements: Spiritual Soul Relationships with self, others, and unknowns Purpose of life The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Core elements: Character Being good Morality Ethics The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Core elements: Personal Style Temperament Personality Learning style The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Physical Bodily functioning Relation to nature The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more internal):

Becoming A Brilliant Star Ten domains (5 are more internal): Awareness Perceiving Initial understanding Consciousness The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Ten domains (5 are more internal): Cognition Thinking Reasoning Knowledge base The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Ten domains (5 are more internal): Affect Emotions Values The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Ten domains (5 are more internal): Conation Will Volition The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Family Mate selection Spousal relationships Parenting The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more external):

Becoming A Brilliant Star Friends Establishing friendships Maintaining friendships Networking The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more external):

Becoming A Brilliant Star Work and Career Training Job Entrepreneurship The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more external):

Becoming A Brilliant Star Wealth and finances Definition of true wealth Material wealth Stewardship The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more external):

Becoming A Brilliant Star Social Equity of gender and ethnicity Peace Regional, national, and global governance The Brilliant Star is comprised of three core elements and ten domains. Ten domains (5 are more external):

Becoming A Brilliant Star It is in these ten domains that one is expected to develop competence.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Spiritual development, character, and personal style are central to development and are shown in the middle of the star.

The Brilliant Star Model

Becoming A Brilliant Star Vision relates to all of these domains in that one's ideas about possibilities and desires leads one to set goals and strive for excellence in each area.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: Human beings are considered as spiritual beings –Knowledge base for curriculum development includes science, history, religious scripture, the arts, and philosophy

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: The "systems" or "organismic" perspective provides the foundation. –individual seen as living system interacting with the social and cultural context in which one lives

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: The "systems" or "organismic" perspective provides the foundation. –compatible with several divine philosophies and modern scientific views

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: A person's character is seen as foundational to development in the ten domains of competence. –character is associated with the quality of one's life, especially in terms of moral and ethical decisions and actions

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: A person's character is seen as foundational to development in the ten domains of competence. –data regarding character must come from actual behavior or, at a minimum, reports of actual behavior

Becoming A Brilliant Star Four fundamental principles guide the development of the Brilliant Star model: WYMIWYG -- What You Measure Is What You Get –any construct or domain that is not consistently attended to through assessment and evaluation will decline rather than develop

Becoming A Brilliant Star A variety of educational programs have been developed to address the important concerns of vision, character, and competence. The foundation of the majority of these programs has been based on principles identified through philosophy or science.

Becoming A Brilliant Star A variety of educational programs have been developed to address the important concerns of vision, character, and competence. In addition, most programs have focused on one aspect or domain (e.g., academic achievement or self-esteem or character).

Becoming A Brilliant Star Unfortunately, many of these programs have been a disappointment to their founders. One reason may be that the programs were not founded on the best information provided through scientific investigation and research.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Unfortunately, many of these programs have been a disappointment to their founders. However, another reason may be that the programs were founded ONLY on the principles of science.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Unfortunately, many of these programs have been a disappointment to their founders. Fundamental truths offered by spiritual or religious teachings of the major world religions were not utilized.

Becoming A Brilliant Star Unfortunately, many of these programs have been a disappointment to their founders. Since vision and morality are fundamental to all religious teachings, the omission of religious scripture may be significant.

Becoming A Brilliant Star The purpose of this website is to provide materials and resources that can be used to begin to remedy this deficiency.