WHY POP THEORY?!

It can be difficult trying to engage students actively in discussions about seemingly abstract concepts like theory. There is a negative mystique that exists around studying and learning about theory. Even as a student in the College Student Services Administration program, I too suffer from the challenges that exist around trying to take these grand theories and imagine how they apply to students. In an attempt to make theory more entertaining for myself and fellow cohort members, I have created the opportunity to view theory from the Hollywood perspective. Utilizing a blog-like format (mirroring Perez Hilton) I have used Hollywood celebrities as subjects to discuss four student development theories: Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, Belenkey, Clinchy, Goldberg, and Tarule’s Women’s Ways of Knowing, Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and Schlossberg’s Transition Theory.